AGHYARAN................ 1-10
BRACKAVILLE........... 1-10
Aghyaran and Brackaville will have to do it all over again to decide the destination of the grade three U21 title after playing out an entertaining draw in a competitive encounter at Killyclogher yesterday afternoon.
The St.Davogs led 0-9 to 0-5 at the break and when midfielder Aidan Connolly converted a penalty two minutes into the second period they looked odds on to take the silverware but wind assisted Brackaville had other ideas.
The Roes refused to throw in the towel and when centre half forward Sean McNally found the net nine minutes they were right back in contention before the same player landed a late equaliser.
With the game in injury time Brackaville looked the more likely winners but they missed a few chances although no doubt they will be relieved to get a second chance after being so far behind at one stage.
Gary Leonard, Ronan McNamee, Aidan Connolly and Conor McNamee all played well for Aghyaran while Brackaville had good performances from the likes of Dara McGuinness, Daniel Coleman, Tomas Corey, Con Gervin, Ciaran Gervin and Ryan McIlhatton.
It was Brackaville who opened the score with a great effort from full forward Daniel Coleman but by the seventh minute Aghyaran had turned things around to lead thanks to points from Sean Byrne and Connolly.
Brackaville may have been playing against the elements but they were playing some good controlled football early on with another well taken Coleman point leaving the sides on level terms.
Gradually though Aghyaran began to get a grip of things with Connolly very much to the fore in the middle of the field. Connolly, Conor McNamee and Conor O'Hare all weighed in with quality scores to leave it 0-5 to 0-2 by the 20th minute. Brackaville looked to be in trouble but an excellent score with the outside of the boot from Sean Anderson coupled with a successful free from Ciaran Gervin reduced the deficit to the minimum.
It was the St.Davogs though who had the finishing kick to the opening half as Rodger Leonard, Conor Dolan and Connolly all registered to give them a four point cushion at the interval.
The second half was only two minutes old when a high ball in from Connolly saw Chris McGrath get a push in the back and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Connolly took responsibility and made no mistake with his conversion past Brackaville keeper Gerard O'Hanlon for a 1-9 to 0-5 lead.
At that stage Brackaville had it all to do but to their credit they didn't give up as they kept battling away.
Ryan McIlhatton and Ciaran Gervin reduced the deficit with points before a long free from the latter broke for Sean McNally to drill the ball to the Aghyaran net.
The Roes were still three points adrift but they had all the momentum now as Aghyaran struggled to hold onto their lead.
Gervin and McIlhatton both pointed to reduced the deficit to the minimum before Aghyaran were reduced to fourteen men when centre half forward Rodger Leonard was sent off for a second yellow card offence.
With the game in injury time McNally seized another loose ball to send over the equaliser and Brackaville had their chances to win it but Dara McGuinness and Gervin both missed although at the end of the day a draw was probably a fair result.
