St James’ carry the day

Date Published: 29-Apr-2008

SALTHILL/Knocknacarra relinquished the title they captured a little over three months ago when defeated by a better-balanced St. James’ side in the U21 A West Board final at Pearse Stadium on Saturday evening.

With perfect playing conditions and two strong sides littered with talented young footballers, the couple of hundred souls that turned up expecting a cracking city derby would have been disappointed with what unfolded.

For long periods, the decider was played at a pedestrian pace that lacked the intensity and bite of a championship final. That said, James’ stepped it up a gear when they needed to and they had that extra bit of class in key positions and had the composure and skill to pick-off crucial scores which, ultimately, was enough to carry the day as they ran out deserved winners.

The Mervue/Renmore men started brighter with the energetic corner forward Ronan O’Connell causing problems in the Salthill defence early on and he was instrumental in two moves that set-up Paul Conroy and David O’Connell for early scores in quick succession.

Wing-forward Eoin O’Mahoney opened the scoring for Salthill on seven minutes after a useful cross field ball from full-forward Gearoid Ó Leidhinn but, amazingly, the……………………