Danske Bank Corn Uladh final
Shimna College, Newcastle 1-14 Newbridge College, Loughbrickland 2-1
WHILE Shimna College built up a strong lead early in this game and were well on course to collect their second provincial title by half-time, it took a player-of-the-match performance from their goalkeeper Ollie Reid to see them over the line in Bryansford yesterday afternoon.
Reid pulled off at least three top saves in the last 10 minutes and Newbridge also hit a shot off the post as they laid siege to the Shimna goal late on.
The Loughbrickland school also missed a few openings during the first half as well.
Shimna – winners of their first-ever provincial GAA title, the Danske Bank Bearnageeha Cup a couple of months ago – took full advantage and led by 1-7 to 0-1 at the break.
Gerald Smyth was the Newcastle goalscorer with Darragh Russell accounting for five of the points, while Aidan Byrne posted Newbridge’s only response, the first score of the game.
Although Jackson Drake hit two goals for Newbridge in the second half, Russell tagged on four points and Shimna maintained their half-time lead.
The late onslaught, however, saw their defence under a lot of pressure and they held out due to the excellent play of Conor Adair and Zach Hughes along with the heroics of Reid between the posts.
Scorers
Shimna G Smyth 1-2, D Russell 0-9, D McGrath, T Heaney-Sloan and C Scott 0-1 each
Newbridge J Drake 2-0, A Byrne 0-1