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Lory Meagher Cup: Sligo win thriller

Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch lifts the Lory Meagher Cup at Croke Park.

Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch lifts the Lory Meagher Cup at Croke Park.

Lory Meagher Cup Final

SLIGO 4-15 LANCASHIRE 2-20

By Michaael Devlin at Croke Park

Having come up short in the 2015 and 2016 finals, it was third time lucky for Sligo as they captured the Lory Meagher Cup in a thrilling climax against Lancashire.

The pulsating contest went right down to the wire before a brilliant solo goal from full forward Kevin Gilmartin put Sligo ahead by a point with two minutes to go, and they held on to the final whistle.

Cue the scenes of elation at the final whistle as veteran team captain Keith Raymond accepted the silverware for the Yeats County.

Edmond Kenny and Ronan Crowley were outstanding for Lancashire, but their combined total of 2-17 still wasn’t enough on the day.

Sligo got off the mark first in the opening minute through Gary Cadden, before Raymond followed up with a free shortly after.

Crowley opened Lancashire’s account from a simple free in the fifth minute before Gilmartin struck for the game’s opening goal, firing home from inside the box after his initial effort was hooked.

Sligo then pushed out their early lead to five points in the ninth minute when a Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch effort was then helped over by Lancashire goalkeeper Vincent Morrissey. James Fitzmaurice point and another Crowley free followed up for the Exiles.

That man Gilmartin was involved in goal action yet again, this time guiding in a long delivery from Raymond for his second goal, before Eoin Comerford stretched the gap to seven from a free, his first of the day.

A couple of Lancashire scores came via another free from the accurate Crowley and JJ Dunphy, but Ronan Cox and Eoin Comerford twice kept Sligo in the driving seat with points.

Lancashire full forward Kenny then dragged his side back into the game, landing two points before collecting a long ball from Nathan Unwin to tee up the onrushing Crowley, who gave Declan Reidy no chance.

Comerford cancelled out another Crowley free, but the Bandon marksman’s partnership with Kenny in the full forward was beginning to flourish, and he collected a Crowley pass to find the net on the half hour mark, adding a point soon after.

Sligo were then awarded a penalty when O’Kelly-Lynch was apprehended and Comerford duly converted, but a Crowley placed ball brought the half to a close with things all square.

The second half as a nip and tuck affair, with points from Sligo’s Joe McHugh, Raymond and Comerford were cancelled out by three tidy scores from play from Crowley.

A pair of Kevin Banks points followed, with again Crowley and Kenny doing the business for Lancashire at the other end before the Exiles rattled off three points in a row, courtesy of Kenny (2) and Daragh O’Brien.

Back came Sligo though, and McHugh and Banks registered points, before the brilliant Kenny brought his personal tally to 1-8 with a pair of scores.

A Comerford free cut the lead back to two before Gilmartin completed his hat-trick late on with a brilliant individual goal that put Sligo’s name on the cup.

Scorers for Sligo: Kevin Gilmartin 3-0, Eoin Comerford 1-5 (4fs), Kevin Banks 0-3, Joe McHugh 0-2, Keith Raymond 0-2 (2fs), Ronan Cox 0-1, Gary Cadden 0-1, Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch 0-1.

Scorers for Lancashire: Ronan Crowley 1-9 (6fs), Edmond Kenny 1-8, James Fitzmaurice 0-1, JJ Dunphy 0-1, Daragh O’Brien 0-1

SLIGO: Declan Reidy; James Weir, Conor O’Mahony, Tom Brennan; David Collery, Keith Raymond, Niall Feehily; Ronan Cox, Gary Cadden; Joe McHugh, Eoin Comerford, Kevin Banks; Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch, Kevin Gilmartin, Larry Cadden.

Subs: Tony O’Kelly Lynch for Larry Cadden (43), Niall McDermott for Gary Cadden, Kieran Prior for David Collery (56), Matthew Davey for Conor O’Mahony (61), Mark Burke for Niall Feehily (69).

LANCASHIRE: Vincent Morrissey; Liam Knocker, Ross Mullins, Justin Cleere; Daragh O’Brien, Greg Jacob (c), Nathan Unwin; Stephen Duncan, James Fitzmaurice; Darren Crowley, Tommy Dunne, JJ Dunphy; Daire Maskey, Edmond Kenny, Ronan Crowley.

Subs: Sean Hannon for Tommy Duane (56), Shane Dunne for Stephen Duncan (61), Sean Power for JJ Dunphy (69), Colm Larkin for Daire Maskey (71).

REFEREE: Kevin McGeeney (Roscommon).