Oranmore/Maree’s juniors make no mistake in replay

Oranmore Maree 1-14

Caltra 0-11

Ivan Smyth at Duggan Park

ORANMORE/Maree’s full forward line of Declan Gill, Colm McGovern and Alan Greene kicked 1-13 between them as they proved too difficult for the Caltra defence to handle in this county Junior B football final replay at Duggan Park on Friday night.

The winners used their pace to greater effect in this encounter by playing the ball quickly in to their inside forward line and this led to Oranmore/Maree kicking more scores in the opening half of this game than they did in the drawn final (12 scores compared to 10).

This victory sealed back-to-back promotions for Oranmore/Maree after they were crowned Junior C champions last year and it highlights the talent coming through the club with underage player Alan Greene producing a Man of the Match display as he kicked five points from play. An early Colm McGovern goal helped Oranmore/Maree lead by 1-1 to 0-2 and despite Caltra hitting back, Oranmore/Maree dominated the remainder of the half.

The victors kicked 10 of the final 12 points of the opening half as they powered 1-11 to 0-5 ahead at the break. The North East Galway side struggled to mount attacks as they were guilty of poor passing when trying to carve out opportunities, while their shot accuracy was poor, kicking nine wides in the contest. Caltra showed plenty of spirit in the second half, outscoring their opponents by six points to three but the damage was done in the opening 30 minutes.

The sides exchanged frees at the start of the game before Mike Finnerty moved Caltra ahead for the second time in the game. However, this would be the last time they would hit the front as Oranmore/Maree struck a decisive blow in the sixth minute. A well-worked team move ended with a long ball floated in to the Caltra defence and Colm McGovern was on hand to palm the ball to the back of the net. Caltra struck back through Ronan Kelly to reduce Oranmore/Maree’s lead to one.

Caltra carved out a goal opportunity when Mike Finnerty’s point effort fell short but Oranmore/Maree corner back Tom Hamilton managed to scramble the ball out for a ’45 which Caltra missed. They kicked another wide moments later and they were punished for squandering these opportunities with Oranmore/Maree kicking the next five scores to surge clear. Gill converted a free before Alan Greene kicked another score.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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