Odhran Quinn was the hero of the hour with a hat-trick as Abbey Vocational School won the Donegal Under-16 ‘A’ county final at O’Donnell Park.
Abbey Vocational School 4-12 Carndonagh Community School 5-7
By Charlie Collins, Donegal Sport Hub
In a goal-fest, Quinn’s hat-trick earned the Donegal town scholars a narrow two-point win against a gallant Carndonagh, who fought right to the finish with a pair of late goals bringing them to within inches.
After Kieran Farren put Carn ahead, Abbey reeled off four-in-a-row as Daniel Gallagher (2), Ryan Brogan and Shay Travers landed points.
Carn bagged a goal when Farren’s free dropped short and Jonathan Toye hammered home from close range.
They got another on 18 minutes when Farren blasted past Enda O’Hagan from a penalty after he had been fouled by Brian Fegan.
Abbey sneaked in front when Quinn tucked in a rebound after Thomas Quinn’s shot came back off the post.
On the stroke of half-time, Carn got in for a third goal as Conor O’Donnell fetched a long ball, held off two defenders and slotted home.
The lead was short-lived, however and Jamie Crawford struck from play to tie things up, 1-7 to 3-1 at the break. Abbey might well have led, but for a wonderful save by Carndonagh goalkeeper Pauric O’Donnell as he denied Thomas White after a fine break by Gallagher.
The teams were tit-for-tat early in the second half and Abbey got a penalty of their own after Crawford was fould and Quinn fired into the bottom corner.
With seven minutes to go, Quinn completed his hat-trick with a classy finish after Shay Travers did the spadework.
And they added another three-pointer with White fisting home after Travers’ shot caused consternation.
Carn weren’t to be outdone and Farren blasted a 20-metre free to the net on 58 minutes to set up a grandstand finale.
Just into added-on time and O’Donnell whacked a free beyond O’Hagan to bring the Inishowen men to within two points, but Abbey held on for a famous win.
Abbey Vocational School: Enda O’Hagan; Eoin Gorrell, James McHugh, Eoghan Corley; Cathal McGlynn, Brian Fegan, Shane Meehan; Jamie Crawford, Michael Coughlan; Odhran Quinn, Daniel Gallagher, Ryan Brogan; Cathal Feeney, Aidan McHugh, Shay Travers. Subs: Thomas White for A.McHugh, Ryan Coughlan for J.McHugh, Ciaran McGrory for Quinn.
Carndonagh Community School: Pauric O’Donnell; Matthew Mullarkey, Ronan Kelly, Keelin White; Oisin Devlin, Anthony Doherty, Donal Doherty; Gavin McDaid, Conor O’Donnell; Jake Harkin, Kieran Farren, Lee McLaughlin; Mikey Friel, Jonathan Toye, Jason Lynch. Subs: Pearce McCarron for Harkin, Sean O’Neill for Lynch.
Referee: Robbie O’Donnell
