AIB All-Ireland Club Junior Football Championship Semi-Final – Glenbeigh-Glencar (Kerry) 4-14 Louisburgh (Mayo) 0-13

Glenbeigh-Glencar (Kerry) defeated Louisburgh (Mayo) by 4-14 to 0-13 in the AIB All-Ireland Club Junior Football Championship Semi-Final on Sunday January 29th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Darran O'Sullivan's wonder goal for Glenbeigh Glencar in today's @AIB_GAA Junior Club Semi Final.#TheToughest #GAA pic.twitter.com/xOiOL9HlGc

— SidelineEye (@sidelineye) January 29, 2017

Darran O’Sullivan’s classy goal helps Glenbeigh-Glencar to Croker climax

Report by Eoghan Cormican for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Glenbeigh-Glencar 4-14 Louisburgh 0-13: They were accused of being mentally frail when having come up short in Kerry, but in securing passage to next month’s All-Ireland JFC final, Glenbeigh-Glencar showed nothing but character and self-belief.

In dismissing the challenge of Mayo and Connacht champions Louisburgh yesterday, Aidan O’Shea’s charges maintained the impressive record of Kerry clubs in the All-Ireland junior competition — Glenbeigh-Glencar are the 10th Kingdom outfit in 12 years to reach the All-Ireland junior football decider.

What embellished this latest semi-final win was it was achieved against the backdrop of a lightning start from Louisburgh which yielded seven unanswered points in the opening seven minutes. The Mayo outfit could do no wrong during the opening exchanges, with James Dowd (0-2), Kevin Gibbons (0-2, 0-1 free), Michael Gibbons, Austin O’Malley and Pádraic Prendergast (free) finding the target.

By way of contrast, their opponents could hardly catch possession, never mind a break. Five of goalkeeper Rory O’Connor’s first six kick-outs were fielded by a Louisburgh player, while their defence offered little by the way of resistance to the pace and movement of Kevin Gibbons and James Dowd.

Crucially, though, the Kerry champions kept their heads. There was no panic. Darran O’Sullivan showed his class to prise an opening in the opposition rearguard for their first point after 11 minutes. Tommy Cahill raised a second white flag and while Austin O’Malley fired over at the other end, Glenbeigh-Glencar were slowly settling into proceedings.

Kevin Courtney, having been put through by Gavin O’Grady on 18 minutes, delivered the opening major of the contest. And when Courtney kicked his first point, arriving as it did after two on the bounce from wing-back Caolim Teehan, the sides were level at 1-5 to 0-8.

Pádraic Prendergast briefly returned the Mayo side in front, but a Gavin O’Grady goal on 24 minutes nudged Glenbeigh-Glencar ahead and they didn’t once look over their shoulder thereafter.

The interval scoreline had them 2-6 to 0-10 clear and thoughts turned to a final appearance at Croke Park when Darran O’Sullivan rifled in goal number three.

Courtney nabbed his second and Glenbeigh- Glencar’s fourth entering the final quarter and while O’Sullivan, O’Grady and Courtney will receive much of the plaudits, it should be noted following Louisburgh’s early avalanche, the winning defence limited their opponents to just six points for the remainder of this semi-final.

Scorers for Glenbeigh-Glencar: K Courtney (2-3); G O’Grady (0-2 frees), D O’Sullivan (1-3 each); T Cahill (0-2 frees), C Teehan (0-2 each); J Brosnan (0-1).

Scorers for Louisburgh: K Gibbon (0-2 frees), Pádraic Prendergast (0-3 frees), J Dowd, A O’Malley (0-3 each); M Gibbons (0-1).

GLENBEIGH-GLENCAR: R O’Connor; S O’Sullivan, J Hoare, C Doyle; J Brosnan, P Kilkenny, C Teehan; C McGillycuddy, F Griffin; Danny O’Sullivan, Darran O’Sullivan, T Cahill; K Courtney, G O’Grady, D Griffin.
Subs: B Murphy for Danny O’Sullivan, J McKenna for D Griffin (both 44 mins); V Hoare for Doyle (48); D McGillycuddy for S O’Sullivan (51); C Purcell for Teehan, P Griffin for Cahill (both 57).

LOUISBURGH: D O’Malley; E O’Malley, M O’Malley, R Prendergast; Paul Prendergast, J Dawson, A Moran; Pádraic Prendergast, P O’Malley; J Gibbons, A O’Malley, P McDonnell; J Dowd, K Gibbons, M Gibbons.
Subs: O Lally for McDonnell (34 mins); D Pender for Paul Prendergast (38); E O’Toole for P O’Malley, T Dawson for J Gibbons (both 45); J Gibbons for Moran, J Reilly for M O’Malley (both 54)

Referee: B Cawley (Kildare).

Fixture Details

29.01.2017 (Sun)
AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Junior Club Championship Semi-Finals
Cusack Park, Ennis 12.30
Louisburgh (Maigh Eo) v Glenbeigh-Glencar (Ciarraí)
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Cill Dara)
(E.T. if Necessary)