Fintan Fenner leads the way for Beara in U19 decider

Castlehaven's comeback fell short in the end. 

CELEBRATIONS: Beara captain Fintan Fenner celebrates with his team after their victory over Castlehaven in the U19 Premier 1 football final at Bantry. Picture: Dan Linehan

Beara 2-10 

Castlehaven 2-7

Fintan Fenner inspired Beara to victory over Castlehaven in Saturday’s Bon Secours U19 Premier 1 football championship county final at Wolf Tone Park in Bantry.

Castletownbere’s rising star dominated proceedings and accounted for half the winning side’s total during an impressive individual performance.

Beara were full value for their victory on the back of a sizzling first half display. They may have only kicked two points in the second period but did enough to hold off a spirited Castlehaven comeback and earn this rural division’s latest crop of emerging talent another notable win.

Down 12 points at the break, Castlehaven fought back superbly courtesy of two quick-fire goals. The Union Hall-Castletownshend club reduced the deficit to three points heading towards full-time but, despite a couple of late efforts, Beara held on for a U19 county title to add to the U18 equivalent won the previous year.

Saturday’s free-flowing Premier 1 county decider was dotted with terrific first-half scores from the likes of Fenner, Lee Kelly, Tommy O’Sullivan and Ben O’Sullivan.

In contrast, Castlehaven struggled to get going and repeatedly turned over possession to a Beara defence brilliantly anchored by goalkeeper Killian Murphy (who produced some terrific stops), Shane Collins, Darragh Harrington and Sean O’Shea.

The divisional side lead 2-8 to 0-2 at the conclusion of a one-sided opening half thanks to superbly crafted goals from the boots of Fenner and Lee Kelly.

Castlehaven hit back twice in two minutes shortly after the resumption. First, Jamie O’Driscoll and then Robbie Minihane found the back of the net.

The loss of Jack O’Neill to a black card didn’t deter Michael Maguire, Sean Browne and Minihane from edging the Haven to within a goal of their opponents.

Yet, four minutes into injury-time, former Cork senior and match referee Sean Levis blew the final whistle to kick-start lengthy Beara celebrations.

Scorers for Beara: F Fenner 1-5 (0-4 frees), L Kelly 1-1, T O’Connor (0-1 free), T O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan and D Crowley 0-1 each.

Castlehaven: R Minihane 1-1 (0-1 mark), M Maguire 0-3 (0-2 frees), J O’Driscoll 1-0, S Browne 0-2, J O’Neill 0-1.

BEARA: K Murphy (Castletownbere); D Harrington (Glengarriff), D Harrington (Urhan), S Collins (Glengarriff); D Crowley (Urhan), S O’Shea (Adrigole), D O’Sullivan (Adrigole); F Fenner (Castletownbere, captain), A O’Sullivan (Urhan); B O’Sullivan (Adrigole), L Kelly (Castletownbere), G O’Shea (Adrigole); T O’Connor (Adrigole), L Harrington (Glengarriff), T O’Sullivan (Adrigole).

Subs: C McElhinney (Glengarriff) for B O’Sullivan (51, inj), T Sullivan (Adrigole) for F Fenner (59, inj).

CASTLEHAVEN: B Crowley; D O’Callaghan, J Bohane, S O’Connell; U O’Donovan, L McCarthy, O Daly; T O’Mahony (captain), J O’Neill; F Collins, A O’Donoghue, R Minihane; S Browne, J O’Driscoll, M Maguire.

Subs: J Buckley for U O’Donovan (ht), D Maguire for A O’Donoghue (54).

Referee: Sean Levis (Muintir Bháire).