An Cheathrú Rua 0-09 Naomh Pádraig, Uisce Chaoin 0-08
Galway's An Cheathrú Rua are All-Ireland JFC club champions after edging Donegal’s Naomh Pádraig, Uisce Chaoin 0-09 to 0-08 at Croke Park.
Fionan Ó Conghaile was the hero for the Connacht side as he produced the winning score six minutes into additional time with the game seemingly destined to go to extra-time.
An Cheathrú Rua had suffered a dramatic fall from senior to junior in Galway in recent seasons but they recovered in the perfect fashion and are the third side from the Tribe to win the trophy after Clonbur (2012) and Ballinasloe (2013).
It was heartbreak for the Muff men though whose first ever Donegal title took them on a journey that nearly ended with the ultimate honour at this level.
Naomh Pádraig hit the front through a Kevin Lynch free but their opponents hit back with scores from Ó Conghaile and Padraig MacDonnacha.
Lynch and Ó Conghaile exchanged points in a low-scoring start as the Galway side failed to make their dominance pay with a series of wides.
The Ulster side took advantage with Cormac McColgan landing a monster score and Lynch hitting a third to put them back in front, 0-04 to 0-03, and things got even better when Lynch added a close-range free before Myles MacDonnchadha brought his side back to within a point as they teams headed for the interval.
Feargal Ó Sé levelled it up on the restart before Lynch and Caolan McColgan put Naomh Pádraig 0-07 to 0-05 ahead 10 minutes into the second half.
Crucially, they’d only manage one more score from there with Ó Conghaile and Ó Sé drawing An Cheathrú Rua level before Paudie MacCormac edged them ahead with a free.
Naomh Pádraig’s Caolan McColgan thought he had secured extra-time late on, but there was still time for Ó Conghaile to write his name into the history books.
