Carn played Termon on Sunday in the All County Division Two Championship Final in Convoy – and edged them out in a thrilling contest.
With Carn missing their inspirational midfielder and captain, Conor O’Donnell this was a game that was going to test the metal of this team.
The game was played on the excellent surface of St Mary’s Convoy and it was Termon who settled the quickest with Conor Grant opening up the scoring. Carn were showing some signs of nerves on the ball and Termon turned over the ball once more with Jamie Grant finishing off a fine move with a point.
Carn were gradually settling into the game and after some good play between Kieran Farren and Fionn McClure, Fionn sent a lovely ball over the top to Jason Lynch, Jason broke past his marker and blasted the ball to the back of the net to put Carn in the lead.
Termon were playing in early ball at each chance but the Carn defence were doing well with Adam McLaughlin out first to every ball. Carn were breaking forward and were turned over, and an early ball into Jamie Grant left him with the easy task of firing the ball over the bar to level the game up.
Back again came Carn, and after some good work from Donal Doherty, he played the ball to Anthony Doherty who fired over a lovely point from all of forty yards from out on the right. Jamie Grant again levelled the game up with a point from play.
Back again came Carn and it was Donal Doherty who fired over to put Carn back into the lead. Carn won the resulting kick out and the ball was played into Jason Lynch, to fire over the bar to open up a two point lead.
Termon came straight back at Carn and were through on goal with the despairing Carn defence trying to close them down all they do is give away a free which Steve McDaid converted.
Termon attacked once more but the ball was turned over by Adam McLaughlin, then as the ball was being out of the defence they lost possession and gave away a free. The free was taking quickly and the home defence were caught napping as Kieran Black finished well to the back of the net to put Termon back in front.
Termon won the kick out and Kieran Black broke forward to fire over the bar to make it a three point game.
This Carn team are full of character and after some good build up play from Donal Doherty and Kieran Farren, the ball was played to Padraig McLaughlin to fire over a point for Carn.
Next up for Carn was Kieran Farren to open up his account for the day and he had the final say of the half after Lee McLaughlin made a brilliant run forward before he was fouled on route to goal, Kieran converted a free to send the teams in level on a score of Carn 1:06 Termon 1:06.
Termon were first out of the block at the start of the second half with a point from Conor Grant. Carn attacked once more and as Lee McLaughlin was breaking through the middle he was impeded. Kieran Farren scored the resulting free.
Carn were forced into a change when the impressive Adam McLaughlin had to retire after picking up a heavy knock, he was replaced by Christopher McDaid. Carn were having a strong spell and were starting to fine space inside and Kieran Farren was fouled as he broke through.
He placed the ball and fired over another cracking point to put Carn back into the lead. Next it was Termons chance to attack and it was that man again, Stephen Black who fired over from long range. Antony Grant then put Termon back in front before the impressive Jason Lynch scored a fine point for Carn to level it up once more.
Carn attacked again and when Lee McLaughlin found Fionn McClure on the run, he curled over a lovely point to put Carn back into the lead.
This seesaw battle was not over by a long shot, and Termon attacked once more and after some good work by Stephen Black, he found Conor Grant inside to fire the ball to the back of the Carn net to put Termon two up with just over ten minutes remaining.
Back again came this resilient Carn team and after good work by Darren Donaghy, he played the ball to Padraig McLaughlin who then played a defence splitting pass through to Kieran Farren to score a point. Carn attacked once with Kieran Farren causing lots of problems with his pace out on the right, as he was cutting inside he was fouled, and put the resulting free over the bar for his fifth point of the game and tie it up once more.
Termon broke forward again and it was Conor Grant with a free that put them in the lead again with five minutes remaining. But this Carn had lost too many big finals to let this one go without a fight and they broke forward again, after some good work out on the right by Kieran Farren, the ball found its way to Fionn McClure in front of goal, just as he was about to fire for goal. His angle was blocked.
He turned on to his weaker right foot an blasted to ball to the bottom corner of the net to put Carn two up with a few minutes left. Will Quinn then came on for Carn to add some fresh legs up front. Back again came Termon as they tried in vein to break down the Carn defence, Darragh McCormack was having a cracking game cutting out each and every ball as they tried to fashion a late goal. Carn attacked again and Kieran Farren played the ball to Will Quinn who then played the ball into the danger area.
Termon overturned the ball and broke forward once more as they tried to get that all important late score. Stephen Black launched a long high ball into the Carn box and as Shaun McLaughlin and Steve McDaid contested for the ball, it went wide. Form the resulting kick out, the loudest cheer of the day came from the referees final whistle sounded to leave the Final Score Carn 2:12 Termon 2:10.
The scenes of joy from the jubilant Carn team and well travelled supporters will have lasting memories for this group of players.This was a cracking game, a very tough one for Termon to loose but for this Carn team who have lost so many big games, it was a great one to win. For Termon Caolan Gallagher, Kieran Black and the two Grants, Antony and Jamie stood out.
For Carn there were stars all over the pitch, Paddy Monagle had a solid game in goals, the defence were solid overall, Cormac Monagle had a very solid game keeping his marker scoreless from play.
Padraig was always cool on the ball, set up some good attacks and managed to get on the score sheet himself. Donal Doherty and Anthony Doherty covered every inch of sod on the pitch from midfield. Lee McLaughlin had a great battle with Caolan Gallagher, with Fionn McClure and Kieran Farren causing lots of problems out on the flanks. Jason Lynch had his best game of the year inside scoring 1:02 on the day.
The team was Patrick Monagle, Adam McLaughlin, Darragh Lafferty, Shaun McLaughlin, Padraig McLaughlin, Darren Donaghy, Cormac Monagle, Anthony Doherty, Donal Doherty, Kieran Farren, Lee McLaughlin, Fionn McClure, Jason Lynch, Lorcan Bradley, Darragh McCormack, Subs. Christopher McDaid, Darragh Doherty, Will Quinn, Tony Lafferty, Daniel McCallion.
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