Mannion inspired Caltra U-21s get job done in style

Date Published: {J}

Caltra 2-13

Renvyle 1-6

Noel Carney at Pearse Stadium

CALTRA won the County Under-21 B Football Championship final with greater ease than they would have expected, but the final score-ine does not do justice to the tremendous effort put in by the West GPC title-holders who battled gamely without much reward at Pearse Stadium last Sunday.

Renvyle, whose divisional championship campaign ended many months ago, had to line out without a number of players, including county man Cathal O’Neill who is currently sidelined with a cruciate injury but, in fairness, there was no doubting the superiority of the winners who proved themselves the better team on the day.

In fact, Caltra really should have won by a bigger margin but their forwards were extremely wasteful, kicking several bad wides in each half and some of their points from close in should have been goals.

Nevertheless, they will not worry about that now as they bask in the glory of winning a county title that gives the club a real boost.

A game that had no less than six 45s awarded, none of which were converted although one did result in a Caltra goal, started on a low key note and after ten minutes each team had just a solitary point to show for their endeavours. County minor hurler Cathal Mannion drove a close in free between the posts after Michael Kelly had been fouled, while Renvyle team captain Peter Wallace did likewise at the other end.

Caltra, coached by Barry Downey, Noel Meehan and current senior players Paul Gately and Brian Kilroy, were winning plenty of ball but were making heavy weather of putting it to good use until Michael Kelly got one point and Cathal Mannion landed another at the end of a well worked passing movement that started when Renvyle gifted them possession.

Those scores gave them a 0-3 to 0-1 lead coming to the end of the first quarter but Rory Lavelle was on hand to cut the gap when he rounded off a counter-attack by the Connemara lads.

Subsequently, Renvyle goalkeeper Shane Kerrigan prevented a certain goal when he brilliantly tipped a Kealan Beckett drive over the bar from point blank range ,but he was helpless as further points by the Mannion brothers Padraic and Cathal who scored after Kerrigan had again done well to stop a Caltra goal effort in a melee, made it 0-6 to 0-2.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.