When the Under 21 Championship was drawn up the pundits were predicting a Ballinderry, Kilrea final.
Then Ballinascreen, who tore up the form book by dispatching Ballinderry, were then shown the exit by Desertmartin. And so to a Desertmartin – Kilrea final, the latter with an impressive victory over Magherafelt to reach the final stages.
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The match had been scheduled for May 17th but to a communication error from CCC the match was rescheduled for Saturday 23rd, at Slaughtneil.
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Kilrea got of to a scintillating start notching up 1-03 to no score in the first twelve minutes. A brilliant save from the ‘Martin’s keeper Walker stopped them from adding another. Damage limitations may have been seeping onto the neutral spectator but not Desertmartin. Right – corner forward Paul Mc Govern opened Desertmartin account when he lobbed the keeper and found the back of the net. Two more points from McGovern left one between the sides. Kilrea upped the tempo and added two impressive points from play. Donal Murray added two points, one a 50 to leave a point between the sides at the break.
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The second half saw the ‘Martins hit a purple patch with goals from Donal and brother Declan Murray and give Desertmartin a lead of five points. Kilrea hit back and it was tit for tat until Kilrea found the net and reduced the margin to points. Two minutes later they found the net again to lead by one. Roared on by a large crowd of Desertmartin supporters the lads dug deep with points from Declan Murray and Paul McGovern the under dogs looked like they were heading for victory. A hotly contested free to Kilrea deep into injury time put paid to that as Kilrea pointed to level the match.
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And so to extra time. Kilrea got of to an impressive start when they found the net in the second minute of extra time. Many’ an other team would have capitulated to this onslaught but not so. With dogged determination and steely resolve they fought their way back and a tremendous goal from Declan Murray saw the side’s level again. Fatigue was setting in on both teams and Desertmartin’s Enda McGuckin who had given a gutsy display through the hour succumbed to cramp was substituted for Kieran Burns. Kilrea stretched their lead with two superb points from play. Then Steven Gormley found the net with a brilliant goal. Superb defending from captain Connor Monaghan, Ryan Murray, Owen Hegarty and Cahir Madden was forcing Kilrea to try for scores with no accuracy achieved. A well intercepted ball from Mark Murcan found Gregory McGovern, who had worked like a Trojan throughout the game pin pointed a pass to Paul Mc Flynn who split the posts to give Desertmartin a two point cushion. The Desertmartin supporters by this time were at fever pitch gave a mighty cheer when referee Sean McGuigan called for the ball with an almighty score of Desertmartin 5-10 , Kilrea 4-11
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Well done lads