London SFC Final replay

ST KIERNANS 0-13 FULHAM IRISH 0-8

By Conor Martin

St Kiernans defended their London Senior Football Championship crown in a dominant 0-13 to 0-8 win over West Londoners Fulham Irish.

St Kiernans controlled the game from the word go as an impressive first-half display all over the park was the catalyst for them.

James Moran and Marcus Mangan got Kiernans account up and running early doors as the North London side set the pace.

St Kiernans worked extremely hard at the back and, as well as turning the ball over on a number of occasions, the pressure they put on Fulham’s attackers led to Fulham hitting a number of wides.

Willie Brazil and Tom Waters would extend The Magpies lead out to four as the men from Barnet took control.

Cormac Hughes got Fulham on the scoreboard at last in the 12th minute but Fulham failed to use any momentum from their opening score as they struggled to compete with Kiernans high intensity.

On the hunt for another London SFC title Chris Farley and Kenny O’Connor both pointed as Kiernans healthy lead remained intact and those two scores would be first two of five unanswered scores.

A trio of frees were then converted by the men in black and white courtesy of Farley and Mangan who joined in and split the posts twice with his frees.

Matthew Walsh got a second point of the afternoon for Fulham just before half-time with a free of his own but yet another Marcus Mangan free before the break gave Kiernans a eight point lead at the interval.

Fulham Irish came out looking for a route back into the game after their poor first-half and opened the second-half scoring thanks to a Niall O’Leary free which was followed by another converted Walsh free.

Kevin McCarthy responded with Kiernans first point of the second-half to keep Fulham at a comfortable distance.

O’Leary kept Fulham’s faint title ambitions alive with two converted frees but Kiernans kept their stranglehold on the game everytime Fulham looked to be gaining momentum.

Fulham’s frustrations seemed to be getting the better of them, which played into the hands of Kiernans who were awarded frees all over the pitch as Fulham struggled to break them down.

Kiernans responded with two more points of their own thanks to an O’Connor free and McCarthy’s second point of the afternoon.

The men from West London kept pushing for a route back in to the game late on as they kept their scoreboard ticking over with a point from Michael Murphy and converted mark from Walsh.

But it was too little too late as Kiernans saw out the game comfortably to claim back to back London SFC titles.

Scorers for St Kiernan’s: M Mangan 0-4 (2f); K McCarthy, K O’Connor (1f), C Farley (1f) 0-2 each; J Moran, W Brazil, T Waters 0-1 each.

Scorers for Fulham Irish: N O’Leary 0-3 (3f); M Walsh (2f); M Murphy (1f, 1m) 0-2 each; C Hughes 0-1.

St Kiernans: Dan McDonagh; Geoff Kingston, Caoimhin Carty, Keith Curran, Dave Carrabine, Eoin Walsh (Captain), Dave Rogers, James Moran, Oran Kerr, Willie Brazil, Chris Farley, Tom Waters, Kevin McCarthy, Kenny O’Connor, Marcus Mangan Subs: Mark Mulholland for Willie Brazil, Joe Rock for Kenny O’Connor, Sean Tucker for James Moran, Chris Griffin for Kevin McCarthy, Matthew Tierney for Dave Rogers

Fulham Irish: Andrew Walsh; Ruairi Duffy, Michael Clarke, Paddy Naughton, Ronan Sloan, Hurl Dockry, Daire Rooney, Cormac Hughes, Jack Goulding, Niall O’Leary, Chris Duggan, Matthew Walsh (Captain), Martin Hughes, Michael Murphy, Fiontan Eastwood. Subs: David O’Connor for Hurl Dockry, Ruaidhri O’Connor for Ruairi Duffy, Conal Gallagher for Daire Rooney

Referee: Colm Lynott (London, St Clarets)