All-Ireland JFC Final: New York celebrate three-in-a-row

​All-Ireland JFC Final

New York 0-20 London 2-13

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

Substitute Emmet Loughran struck what proved to be the winning point as New York made it a three-in-a-row of All-Ireland junior football championship titles.

Not for the first time, however, Brian Coughlan stole the show for the Big Apple side with nine points and a terrific Croke Park display.

The junior championship was reconstituted in 2022 to cater for mainly overseas teams and New York have reached all four of the finals, winning the last three.

Powerful full-forward Coughlan has played in each of them, kicking the winning point in the 2023 final though Loughran's 58th minute point separated the teams this time.

A couple of two-pointers from Gearoid Kennedy proved significant too as New York built on Friday evening's semi-final win over Warwickshire in Abbottstown with an impressive triumph.

Prior to that, New York overcame USGAA at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage and have matched the feat of their hurling counterparts who won the Lory Meagher Cup final at Croke Park back in May.

London were chasing a seventh title and their first since 1986 but slipped to back-to-back final defeats to New York, despite pushing them all the way.

Their last score of the game came from Ryan O'Connell whose long delivery bounced dangerously, evading everyone and going over. A flicked goal at that stage would have won the game for them though New York were just about good value overall.

Mick Healy's New York came from three points down at half-time against Warwickshire in Friday evening's semi-final to eventually win by four points

Second-half goals from Jack Healy and sub Colm Shalvey did the trick on that occasion and they brought that momentum to the bigger stage, hitting the ground running.

Coughlan fired seven points in the first-half alone. It was a haul that included points from frees and open play as well as a two-pointer.

Kennedy landed his first two-pointer as well though with a stiff wind behind them, it was the least New York required.

They created three decent goal chances too but couldn't convert any of them. Coughlan had a palmed effort saved on the line by full-back Patrick O'Connor while London goalkeeper Caolan Doyle denied both Lorcan Kennedy and Healy.

And London were sharp enough at the other end to rack up the scores that kept them right in the game despite the impact of the wind.

They got the brighter start when Ali Carney punished New York's failure to get a sixth minute kick-out away, rounding the goalkeeper and slotting to an empty net.

But they couldn't build on their 1-1 to no score lead and fell into New York's slipstream as early as the 16th minute when Coughlan slotted his second from play.

New York points from Ian Kavanagh and Danny Corridan sandwiched a two-pointer from Coughlan and left the holders 0-10 to 1-3 up after 22 minutes.

London, who also had to come from behind to win their semi-final on Friday evening against Kilkenny, finished the first-half strongly.

Noel Maher booted his fifth two-pointer of the weekend and back-to-back free conversions by Conor Redican left London in a healthy position, trailing by just 1-7 to 0-12 at half-time.

New York stretched the gap out to five points after the restart, thanks in part to Kennedy's second two-pointer, 0-15 to 1-7.

But London refused to lie down and impressively wiped out the deficit with a brilliant Redican solo goal and yet another two-point from the excellent Maher.

They were tied again at 2-12 to 0-18 with six minutes to go as the game hung in the balance.

New York points from Lorcan Kennedy and Loughran ultimately won the game, Kennedy's score proving to be the winner.

Scorers for New York: Brian Coughlan 0-9 (1tpf, 2fs, 2 45s), Gearoid Kennedy 0-4 (2 tp), Emmet Loughran 0-2, Danny Corridan 0-1, Ian Kavanagh 0-1, Garvin Lee 0-1, Jack Healy 0-1, Lorcan Kennedy 0-1.

Scorers for London: Conor Redican 1-3 (3fs), Noel Maher 0-4 (2 tp), Ali Carney 1-0, Caolan Doyle 0-2 (tp), Christopher Morris 0-1, Eoin McGivney 0-1, Sean Hickey 0-1, Ryan O'Connell 0-1.

New York: Pat Guerin; Paidi Mathers, Dylan Curran, Rory O'Riordan; Ian Kavanagh, Kevin Rafferty, Aaron Traynor; Gearoid Kennedy, Conor Mathers; Lorcan Kennedy, Jack Healy, Garvin Lee; Ronan Melly, Brian Coughlan, Danny Corridan.

Subs: Emmet Loughran for Melly h/t, Colm Shalvey for Lee 38, James Donovan for Conor Mathers 42, Eoin Kennedy for Corridan 53, Chris Mulvihill for Gearoid Kennedy 60.

London: Caolan Doyle; Jack Power, Patrick O'Connor, Eoghan Reilly; Eoin McGivney, Ryan McCready, Donncha Byrne; Noel Maher, Conor Redican; Matthew Joyce, Christopher Morris, Matthew Tierney; Ryan Kearney, Sean Hickey, Ali Carney.

Subs: Kieran Clarke for Morris h/t, Brendan Rice for Joyce 37, Ryan O'Connell for Kearney 48, Michael English for McGivney 48, James Cawley for Maher 53.

Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois).