Connacht Tribune

St Gabriel’s finish in a blaze of glory to capture B crown

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St Gabriel’s 1-18

Naomh Anna 1-11

AN incredible second half turnaround saw St Gabriel’s crowned U20 B county champions at Pearse Stadium last Saturday. They trailed Naomh Anna, Leitir Móir by six points at the interval and were still three behind heading into the final ten minutes, but they absolutely blitzed their opponents in the closing stages to secure a memorable victory.

Both sides contributed hugely to a brilliant contest that was full of open, attacking football and contained some terrific scores from both sides. You could pick any number of Gabriel’s players who stood up when needed in that crucial final quarter,but Seán Bleahene had a remarkable afternoon, kicking five outstanding points from play while assisting another four scores for his team throughout the 60 minutes.

The final score doesn’t reflect the close nature of the game, Gabriel’s goal came with virtually the last kick, but the foundation of their victory was through their ferocious workrate. Time and again in the second half, Leitir Móir struggled to clear their lines and give themselves any bit of breathing room, and it was an aspect of Gabriel’s play that manager Martin Broderick was particularly pleased with considering it was something they had focused on all year.

“We were working on that in training sessions. Declan Rynne, and the whole management team, were brilliant doing the training. We do this drill, 4-on-1, to bottle a lad up and not let him out and we did that on the pitch today. We won a fair few turnovers, forcing them to overcarry or through dispossessing them,” explained Broderick.

St Gabriel’s had plenty of time to work on the training ground due to the ridiculous drawn out nature of this year’s U20 competition. Their victory in the North Board final the weekend previous week was their first game since March while Saturday’s county final was Leitir Móir’s first match since Good Friday, nearly eight months earlier.

For more,  read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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