De La Salle College captured the U15 Gaelic Football Eamonn Martin cup in style against Ennistymon of Clare on Monday last in Lattin in Co Tipperary on a score line of 1-9 to 0-5. De La Salle led from the off and were very unlucky when an early James Aylward goal was controversially disallowed as it was deemed to be a square ball. While De La Salle had most of the possession in the first half, they struggled to get scores. Mark Fitzgerald kept the scoreboard ticking over while Evan Hayes and Alex Keane worked hard in the forwards to show for the ball and were a constant threat. In fact most of De La Salle’s scores came from frees which was a reflection of their dominance up front. The backs and the goalkeeper, Luke Horgan, worked tirelessly and were solid as ever. Despite this dominance, De La Salle only led by a single point at half time, 0-4 to 0-3.
The second half saw a renewed determination and everyone upped their game significantly. With much more movement in the forwards, the scores started to come, both from frees and from play. Sean O Dwyer set up James Aylward who with cool deliberation slotted the ball past the Ennistymon goalkeeper for the only game of the match. This goal was the catalyst for the rest of the game with De La Salle ruling the roost for the last 20 minutes. Even when reduced to 14 men for an unfortunate red card, De La Salle kept their composure and with two points from Evan Hayes and a lovely dummy and point from Patrick Fitzgerald, it was only a matter of time before a Munster Gaelic Football title returned to De La Salle College for the first time since 2004.
