Lucan thwart Paul’s brave fightback to take ‘C’ title

There were goals galore on St Brigid’s Astro Turf Pitch last Friday afternoon, as Lucan CBS (Coláiste Phadraig) emerged on the right side of a 12-goal thriller with five points to spare over St Paul’s College (7-5 to 5-6) in an open and exciting Dublin Schools Juvenile Football ‘C’ decider.

Lucan had started the game in bright fashion, and thanks to a stunning hat-trick from Conor Cane (including an expertly taken penalty) they held a 15-point advantage (6-2 to 1-2) at the midway stage.

However, Paul’s of Raheny displayed tremendous spirit after the restart to reduce the deficit to four points, and they had an excellent opportunity to bring the Lucan lead down to the bare minimum late on. Netminder Conor Callaghan was on hand to pull off an outstanding save, however, and Emmet Allen then responded with an insurance point to get Phadraig over the line.

This success represented Lucan’s first piece of silverware since their football and hurling double back in 2003, and with a brace of goals also coming from inside duo Caoileann Daly and Daire Newcombe, the hard work done by the squad (under the guidance of Ger Lyons, Bobby O’Sullivan and Eoin Dunne) since the start of September has paid full dividends.

Mustered

Also taking place on Friday was the Dublin Schools Juvenile Football ‘E’ Section 1 final in UCD, which went one better than the game in Brigid’s, with a total of 13 majors mustered up between the two sides. It was Coláiste Chilliain who were ultimately the happier team in the end, as they finished with a 12-point cushion (7-11 to 6-2) over Cabinteely Community School.