Louth GAA club | Fechins defeat Knockbridge to win Maurice Murphy Cup

Leading by seven points at the break, St Fechins had to work hard for this victory against a resilient Knockbridge side as they captured the Maurice Murphy Cup title in the final played at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda last Monday night.

The Fechins were on the front foot from the off and had three points on the scoreboard inside the opening two minutes. The first two were scored by centre-half Ciaran Brennan quickly followed by one from distance from David Stephenson.

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Knockbridge responded with a good long-range point from midfielder Stephen Hoey, but over the next ten minutes, they were outscored by four points to one.

The south Louth side's points came off the sticks of midfielders Danny Morgan and Sean McConnell alongside efforts from Danny Cleary and David Stephenson (65f).

Knockbridge's sole reply in this period was a good point from Ricky McKeown before the Fechins struck for the games only goal on 12 minutes scored from close range by the hard-working Seaghan Conneely, 1-7 to 0-2.

That lead soon became 10 points with successive points from Sean Kerrisk and Morgan, again, this time from the right wing.

Badly in need of scores to get themselves back in touching distance of their opponents, Knockbridge grabbed welcomed points from David Kettle (2), Robbie Wallace and a Ricky McKeown free, in-between which Kerrisk fired over from long range.

A point from a David Stephenson 65 metre free was responded to by a late Mark Tyrell point to leave Knockbridge trailing by 1-11 to 0-7 at the turnaround.

The arrival of black clouds over the Drogheda venue led to tricky conditions for both teams on the resumption.

The second half was a very low-scoring affair with Knockbridge certainly putting it up to the eventual winners who had to work hard for the victory.

They cut the arrears to five points with a good point from Robbie Wallace from the left wing added to by a pointed 65m free from Ricky McKeown on 45 minutes minutes.

It took the Fechins 17 minutes of this half to account for their first score with Sean Kerrisk firing over a 20-metre free awarded for a foul on Danny Morgan.

The sides exchanged the next two points before McKeown fired over a free which be would his team's last point of this encounter on 57 minutes. The Fechins sealed the victory with late points from Morgan and substitute Micháel Byrne. 

Afterwards the 'Maurice Murphy Cup' was presented to the winning captain Donal Ryan by County Board Chairman Sean McClean alongside family members Maurice Murphy (jnr) and Josephine Maguire.

St. Fechins: Dan O Neill; Cormac McAuley, Paddy McCarthy, Conor Higgins; Cathal Ryan, Donal Ryan, Cathal Moynagh; Danny Morgan (0-3), Sean McConnell (0-1); David Stephenson (0-3, 2f), Ciaran Brennan (0-2), Sean Kerrisk (0-3, 1f); Luke Black, Seaghan Conneely (1-0), Danny Cleary (0-1).

Subs: Micheál Byrne (0-1) for L Black (29), Ross Berkery (0-1) for C Brennan (36), Shane Curtis for C Ryan (50), Shane Reilly for D Cleary (56).

Knockbridge: Mark Wallace; Ronan Mulholland, Brian Coughlan, Conor Kerrigan; Daire McKiernan, James Costello, Mark Tyrell (0-1); Stephen Hoey (0-1), Robbie Wallace (0-2), Ricky McKeown (0-4, 3f),  Aidan O Brien; Ryan Holland, David Kettle (0-3), Dara Toner.

Subs: Jake McNamara for A O Brien (38), Ronan Byrne for R Holland (38), James Searson for C Kerrigan (42), Kevin Plunkett for D Toner (48).

Referee: Derek Ryan.