ST FECHINS 2-16 GLEN EMMETS  1-9

St Fechins ended a 27 year wait for a championship victory when they turned on the style to defeat Glen Emmets at Dunleer on Sunday afternoon.

The Termonfeckin side turned in a splendid team display to justify their favourites tag, while Man of the Match, Ronan Holcroft, led the scoring with a total of 2-9.

St Fechins played with the wind in the first half and thanks to a goal from Holcroft's penalty with the last kick of the half, were leading by 1-10 to 0-1 at the break.

The Tullyallen side gave their all in attempt to get back in touch with an impressive third quarter display, but St Fechins were always able to move up a gear when required and ran out comfortable winners.

Holcroft added a second goal near the end and although Keith Farnan added a consolation goal for Glen Emmets in injury time, there was no denying the Termonfeckin side leaving captain Harry McArdle to lift the Christy Bellew Cup on his team's behalf.

The game followed a similar pattern to the Senior Hurling Final that preceeded it, with the hot favourites establishing an early dominance with the aid of the wind. Altough the underdogs refused to give up the fight, the gap was too much to claw back even with the aid of the elements.

St Fechins manager, Tony Kearney, will be pleased to see that his side executed the gameplan just about perfectly from the first whistle. After just a minute of play, Ronan Holcroft set the tone for the hour with a well taken point - his first of an impressive tally of 2-9.

Accuracy from distance was a feature of the Fechins display along with hard work and good team play, and those traits had them 0-5 to no score ahead inside 12 minutes. Holcroft kicked the first three before David Collier and Ryan Sheridan followed suit with well taken efforts.

Colm O'Neill added a sixth at the start of the third quarter but the Emmets finally got off the mark on 21 minutes through a Keith Rooney free.

At that stage the deficit was not insurmountable for the Emmets, but the Fechins, sensing the need for a greater cushion heading into the second, raised their game again.

With the Emmets defence under increasing pressure, Bevan Duffy and Jamie King pointed before a brace from Ronan Holcroft made it 0-10 to 0-1 on 27 minutes.

The Termonfeckin men were given a great lift in injury time when Mark Hynes was body-checked inside the square and Holcroft confidently fired home from the penalty spot.

The Fechins No 15 added another point just after the break before the Emmets enjoyed a mini revival with three successive points from Eamonn Mullen and Stephen Healy (2) to make it 1-11 to 0-4.

Holcroft added two more with Eamonn Mullen and Healy on target for the Emmets, before a Stephen Murphy free from inside his own half bounced over the bar followed by a Damien Grimes effort.

At 1-13 to 0-8 on 45 minutes there was still a very slight chance for the Emmets but they just couldn't create the goal-scoring opportunity they needed and St Fechins quality once again shone through.

The green-and-whites regained control in the final quarter and when Eoghan Duffy set up Holcroft for the second goal on 50 minutes, the celebrations could begin among the Fechins supporters.
Holcroft's ninth point on 58 minutes made it 2-16 to 0-8 before Keith Farnan kicked a point and added a consolation goal after Eamonn Mullen's penalty had been saved.

From a long way out there was no argument about Ronan Holcroft winning the Man of the Match award, but this was by no means a one man show. St Fechins played as a team from the opening whistle and continued to do the right things throughout.

The defence was rock solid and led by David Collier, they gave very little space to their opponents. John McGlew and Bevan Duffy had the upperhand in midfield, while the attack worked well as a unit with Niall and Brian Devlin catching the eye.

For a bitterly disappointed Glen Emmets this is a game they will want to forget. They were unable to get into any rhythm apart from a brief spell in the second half, with Colin Carolan, Stephen Murphy, Stephen Healy, Eamonn Mullen and Keith Rooney trying hard.

ST FECHINS: Mark Savage; Brendan Fanning, David Collier 0-1, Paul Dillon; Mark Hynes, Conor Haughney, Harry McArdle; John McGlew, Bevan Duffy 0-1; Jamie King 0-1, Colm O'Neill 0-1, Ryan Sheridan 0-1; Brian Devlin 0-1, Niall Devlin 0-1, Ronan Holcroft 2-9. Subs: Fergal McNally for P Dillon (10), Eoghan Duffy for M Hynes (40), James Devereaux for F McNally (53), Leo Cunningham for R Sheridan (53), Derek Younger for J King (58).

GLEN EMMETS: Fergus Barnett; Aidan Monahan, Tom Grimes, Colin Carolan; Danny Whyte, Stephen Murphy 0-1, Gordon Healy; Keith Lynch, Stephen Healy 0-2; Ian Cusack, Eamonn Mullen 0-3, Ronan Grufferty; Keith Rooney 0-1, Eamonn Taaffe, David Bracken. Subs: Andrew Mooney for R Grufferty (15), Damien Grimes 0-1 for E Taaffe (34), Martin Morgan for I Cusack (38), Keith Farnan 1-1 for S Healy, Keith Boylan for D Whyte (54).

REFEREE: Gerry Malone.

[Report: Eunan Whyte]