Another Reserve Title for Clontibret

Saturday 3rd November saw Clontibret collect another reserve title when they added the Crawley Cup to their collection of trophies for the season when they had three points to spare over Cremartin in Ballybay.

Clontibret looked to be in trouble in the early stages as the game turned into something of a Gregory Flanagan show as the former county player wrecked havoc on the Clontibret defence, hitting a goal and three points in the opening 10 minutes. Clontibret took immediate remedial action by switching the experienced Brian Morgan onto the Cremartin danger man and thereafter that threat diminished.

The switching of Morgan was not the only reason though that Flanagan’s influence waned as Cremartin themselves contributed to their own downfall by not capitalising sufficiently on possession and simply wasting too many chances. Even with their increasing control Clontibret still found scores hard to come by and it wasn’t until the 18th minute that they drew level.

Two minutes later they took the lead for the first time and once they got their noses in front they pulled away and clinched victory with a goal from a penalty two minutes into stoppage time. It finished Clontibret 1-7, Cremartin 1-4.

Teams and Scorers:
Clontibret: Michael Thompson, Christopher Fanning, Kevin Ward, Colin Duffy, Philip Rooney 0-1, Fergal McGuigan, Aidan Leonard, Thomas Greenan 0-1, Marius McGarrell, Damien Mone 0-1, Brian Morgan, Darren Murphy, Francis McNally, Kevin Gormley 1-4, Shane McMahon. Subs: Padraig Boyle for D Mone, Kieran Greenan for F McNally.

Cremartin: Brendan McNally, Ronan Burke, Michael Boyd, Declan Mulligan, Michael Malone, Declan Farrell, Paul Carragher, Gerard Malone, Barry Grimley, Philip Markey, Gregory Flanagan 1-3, Ciaran Carragher, Ryan Carragher, Michael Morgan, Cathal Atkinson. Subs: Christopher Farrell for P Markey, John Tomany for M Boyd, Eddie Mulligan for M Morgan, Shane Burke 0-1 for C Atkinson, Stephen Bishop for R Carragher.

Referee: Martin McMahon (Aughnamullen).