St Declan’s Stone smashes Lucan in heroic comeback

ST DECLAN’S COLLEGE 6-6 LUCAN CBS 2-9

DAIRE WALSH – 28 NOVEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

Full-forward Tadhg Stone was the hat-trick hero at Tom Russell Park yesterday afternoon, as St Declan’s College produced a second-half goal-blitz to win the Juvenile ‘B’ Football decider, writes Daire Walsh.

Lucan had enjoyed a dream start to the proceedings when half-forward Emmet Allen finished brilliantly to the net with just two minutes on the clock, and although Daire Finn and Sean Lundberg quickly replied with points for the Cabra school, CBS re-asserted their superiority with similar efforts from Ben Coffey (two) and Allen.

The impressive Coffey secured his side’s second three-pointer of the contest with an emphatic close-range finish after 25 minutes, but thanks to Sean Clerkin’s deflected finish past Lucan netminder Andrew Carroll one minute before the interval, Declan’s deficit had been reduced to three (2-3 to 1-3) in time for the second period.

Matters became even rosier for Declan’s four minutes after the re-start when a 50-metre free by Conor Carberry drifted in off Carroll’s head for a fortuitous goal, and even though Coffey brought parity to the tie 41 minutes in, after their north Dublin rivals had briefly taken the lead, quick-fire goals by Finn and Stone (his first of the day) suddenly had Declan’s six points to the good.

Lucan’s were somewhat shell-shocked following this scoring burst, and despite doing their level best to keep in touch with four points from Coffey (who finished with 1-6 to his name) and one from substitute Evan Walshe, further majors by Stone, in the 54th and 59th minutes respectively, ultimately sealed an outstanding triumph for St Declan’s.