Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC
Tier 3 final
Down 4-13 Westmeath 1-18
DOWN claimed the U17 Seamus Heaney Cup with victory over Westmeath in Breffni Park on Saturday.
Captain Barra McEvoy held the old Leinster MFL trophy aloft, capping off a dream day that saw the Kilcoo man return a brilliant personal haul of 2-4.
His first green flag was mesmerising, picking the ball up 45 metres from goal and showing bucketloads of determination, hunger and skill to haul his side back into the contest.
Paul McGovern and Daire O’Brien also netted for Benny Coulter’s charges, who responded in a manner he would have been proud of after falling 0-07 0-02 behind early on.
James McHugh was outstanding for The Midlanders, kicking 11 of his side’s scores, largely thanks to his proficiency from frees.
With 15 minutes to go, his side looked well placed with their two point advantage, but Down scored 1-7 in the final quarter, finding another gear when the match was in the melting pot.
Having been knocked out of a fiercely competitive Ulster Championship, The Mournemen defeated Meath and Limerick before putting Leitrim to the sword in a dominant semi-final display.
The Seamus Heaney Cup is their second piece of underage silverware in a matter of weeks, joining the U20 Hurling B Championship in the Mourne trophy cabinet.
Tier 2 semi-finals
Cavan 0-16 Tyrone 1-10
Donegal 1-13 3-12 Kildare
CAVAN powered into the Tier 2 All-Ireland MFC final against Kildare with a convincing win over Tyrone at Clones.
Trailing by five points midway through the first half, they seized control of the contest to turn it around and set up a meeting with Kildare in the decider.
Nathan Quigley led the way with a seven points haul, while a strong bench helped the Breffni lads tighten their grip on the tie down the home strait.
Tyrone were the dominant force in the opening quarter, racing into a 1-4 to 0-2 lead with points from Eoin Long Peter Colton and Sean Corry, before Long gathered a Davin McKeown cross to smash home a 15th minute goal.
But it was Cavan who reacted positively, reeling off six of the last seven points of the half to go level.
Odhran Madden, Andrew Hill, Quigley and Fiachra Brady, with the equaliser, sent them in at the break on 1-5 to 0-8.
With Jamie Clarke an immense figure at midfield, they continued to impose themselves on the contest, but didn’t go ahead for the first time until the 48th minute, when substitute Ultan O’Reilly sent over two points in quick succession.
Quigley’s accurate place-kicking helped the stretch the lead, and while the Red Hands had late scores from Lorcan McMurray and Corry, they were unable to halt the Breffni charge, with substitute Charlie Fallon nailing a couple of scores to seal the win.
Kildare goals were the undoing of Donegal in the other semi-final, as Finn Dowling and Paddy Ryan buried two majors in a minute.
Donegal never managed to overturn what was a four-point half-time deficit, despite an opportunistic goal from Luke McGuinness leaving just a point between the sides.
Their hard work was undone as Ryan grabbed a second goal and his side’s third, re-establishing a cushion that saw the Lilywhites on their way to the All-Ireland MFC second-tier decider.
Cavan C McConnell; A Dowd, C Doyle, S Mackle; F Brady (0-1), O Maguire, A Hill (0-1); J Clarke, T Gilsenan; S McCabe, R Nwaneri, O Madden (0-2, 1f); N Quigley (0-7 (4f), F Crowe (0-1), S O’Reilly.
Subs J Shehu for Crowe, U O’Reilly (0-2) for Gilsenan, T Shiels for McCabe, C Fallon (0-2, 1m) for S O’Reilly.
Tyrone R Donnelly; D McKeown, P Goodman, M McNamee; S Corry (0-2), A Quinn, T Meenan; E Donaghy, J Mulgrew; D McAnespie, P Colton (0-1), E Mansell; P McGoldrick (0-2), D Devlin (0-1, f), E Long (1-2).
Subs S McDermott for Mansell, L McGeary for Devlin, J Concannon for Donaghy, L McMurray (0-2) for Long, S Og Teague for Meenan.
Referee P Coyle (Meath).