Enniscrone Win Senior Emerging Cup

St Joseph’s Foxford 10-13  Jesus & Mary Secondary School Enniscrone

Jesus and Mary Secondary School emerged victorious in the Schools Senior Emerging Cup after an absorbing final at the Sportsground.

There was a nail-biting finish as Foxford threw the kitchen sink at Enniscrone but they held on for a superb victory and full credit must go to both teams for a magnificent clash.

The excellent Bradley Nealon had Enniscrone on the front foot early on as he gathered his own chip through defence to set up prime position. After a Foxford high tackle, Nealon was on hand to make it 3-0 with the penalty.

Peter McTigue hit back for Foxford on 15 minutes thanks to an opportunistic try as he pounced on the loose ball after it popped out of a ruck to score. 17 wide with con

Enniscrone were back in front five minutes later with Nealon the creator as he raced clear down the left before hacking the ball back inside.

Eoin Hallinan reached the ball first to score under the posts and Nealon’s conversion made it 10-5.

There was time for another score before the break after a thrilling Enniscrone move ended with Foxford giving away another penalty and Nealon made no mistake to put his side eight points to the good at half-time, 13-5.

Knowing they would need at least two scores in the second half, St Joseph’s Foxford were exerting most of the pressure but much of the play was taking place in midfield and Enniscrone were defending well.

The pressure finally told on 61 minutes when Foxford no.8  Liam Keane Murphy barged over in the left corner following a lineout with Bolton’s conversion just wide and the lead was down to three.

Nealon saw a penalty drop just short as Enniscrone looked to increase their lead. The match ended with the Enniscrone line under siege but they just held on to spark huge celebrations at the final whistle.

St Joseph’s Foxford squad Conor Bowes; Lochlann Maloney, Ruairi Naughton, Cody Landy, Aaron Thornton; Ryan Casey, Jack Duffy; Peter McTigue, Nathan Herbert , Ben Burke; Fionn Stephens, Sean Malone; Ciaran Bourke, Ethan Naylor, Liam Keane Murphy, Alan Kielty, Michael Bolton, Conor Feeney.

Jesus and Mary Secondary School Enniscrone: Daniel Cuffe; Mark Caffrey, Eoin Hallinan, Josh Ellis, Ciaran O’Dowd,  Bradley Nealon, Conal Duffy; Aaron Duffy, Colm Connolly; Niall Carden; Jarlath McMahon, Shane Sweeney; Rian Grimes, Stephen Tuffy, James Boland.

Replacements: Jason Tuffy, Darren Finnerty, Alan Duffy, Eoghan-Rua McGowan, Daniel Clarke, Luke Munnelly, Fergal Boland, Tomás Forde, Eamonn Kilgannon, Sean Carrabine.

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