Wolfe Tones First Ever Cup

Wolfe Tone Final 15/3/14

St.Brendans Manchester 0-07 v 1-07 Wolfe Tones Liverpool

The Wolfe Tones of Liverpool created history when they beat St.Brendans by a goal in a tight encounter to claim their first ever piece of silverware for the club. Since the club’s inception in 2010, they have failed to see out a final on a winning score-line; however this all changed on Saturday. A gutsy second-half performance against a hellish breeze, seen the boys in green, white and gold across the line.

The Wolfe Tones won the toss and decided to play with the strong wind at their back. Through wayward shooting, poor passing and failure to retain possession however, they didn't capitalise on this advantage. It took 10 minutes before they raised the green flag, when a Nigel Grennan free opened their account. St.Brendans quickly replied however before the Wolfe Tones went ahead through a Darragh McCullough effort. This was cancelled out yet again, as the Brendans got on the scoresheet from a free. Down at the other end the Wolfe Tones were still making hard work of their chances. Two super runs from Caomhan Scanlan and captain Conor Lamph failed to produce scores and long-range efforts from McCullough, Peter Cosgrove and Cristy Harkin harmlessly went wide. With 8 minutes to go, Scanlon came out to the middle with Grennan going the opposite way; this had the desired effect. Consequently, the latter managed to get onto long balls, while the former fetched a few balls in midfield to put the Brendans under pressure as the half came to a close. As the half-time whistle went the score read Wolfe Tones 0-04 v 0-02 Brendans. No doubt the Manchester men the happier bunch of with the wind to come on the second half.

The Wolfe Tones had it all to do in the second half but a classy effort on the restart from Grennan settled the nerves, but on came the expected onslaught from Brendans to add a flurry of scores. The Wolfe Tones defence managed to get their act together however and started to keep the scoring to a minimum after the initial wave-and-wave of maroon attack. Richie Barry’s clever kickouts helped negate the threat of a wind-assisted Brendans and in turn mounted attacks for the Tones. Then came a decisive moment in the game when a Tone’s goal was harshly ruled out for a square ball, to still leave the Brendans two points ahead. Instead of this deflating the Liverpool men, they rose to the challenge and strong running from Harkin, Scanlon and Lamph, who also hit the bar; paid dividends. The former two also hit classy efforts from long range to show their new-found belief on the scoreboard to leave the Tones one point up. The Wolfe Tones resurgence then came in the form of a goal when a Grennan effort broke to the onrushing substitute Damien Murphy who simply tapped it into the empty net. This left the Tones four points up. A late siege at the goal of Barry and Co only yielded one point, as the Wolfe Tones deservedly won their first ever trophy.

Anyone wishing to join the Wolfe Tones for football (men and ladies) or hurling for the upcoming season, contact Cathal on 07593923421

Wolfe Tones: Richie Barry (Cork); Gabriel Clerkin (Louth), John Eustace (Wicklow); Johnny Cleary (Tipperary), Peter Cosgrove (Monaghan), Mickey Gallagher (Donegal); Nigel Grennan (Offaly, 0-03 (1f)), Cristy Harkin (Donegal); Conor Lamph (Armagh, (c)), Darragh McCullough (Tyrone, 0-02), Ryan Power (Derry); Caomhin Scanlon (Dublin, 0-02), Adam O’Hare (Antrim). Subs: Damien Murphy (Tyrone, 1-00), Jim Devlin (Tyrone), Kevin Moran (Kerry), Darren Corr (Tyrone), Conor Harpur (Tyrone)

Manager: Cathal Harkin (Derry)