St Finians Swords Come out on top in the Go-Ahead Ireland Junior 1 Football Final

 Image Courtesy Paul Barrett

ST FINIAN’S, SWORDS 0-18

ST FINIAN’S, NEWCASTLE 2-4

St Finian’s, Swords produced an impressive performance at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon to secure the Go-Ahead Ireland Junior 1 Club Football Championship title at the expense of St Finian’s, Newcastle.

Previous winners of a Dublin Junior ‘A’ Football Championship in 2000, the Swords men laid the foundation for their triumph with a dominant opening period display. Their Newcastle opponents (junior county champions as recently as 2018) dug deep in the second half to ensure it wasn’t entirely plain sailing, but their namesakes weren’t to be denied a hard-earned success for the 2025 season.

It was Finian’s Swords who flew out of the traps in this game as corner-forward Scott Brennan knocked over a brace of excellent scores from play inside the opening three minutes of the contest. Matthew Murray also found the range at the end of a fine team move, before the impressive Brennan knocked over a two-point free to move the northsiders five points clear.

This lead was increased to six when wing-forward Killian Ryan expertly curled between the posts from a right-hand angle and it got even better for the Swords outfit when Conor Halpin superbly split the uprights off the ground for another two-pointer.

Senan Crosbie also added his name to the scoresheet off a subsequent move and in the wake of Ryan kicking his second point of the action, Finian’s Swords had developed a 10-point cushion with just under 17 minutes on the clock in the Donnycarney venue.

While they did have some missed opportunities either side of the first-quarter mark, Finian’s Newcastle were struggling to impose themselves on the play in the same manner as their Swords counterparts.

Brennan increased his already-impressive personal tally with another point from close-range and the Newcastle defence breathed a sigh of relief when Crosbie flashed a goal chance agonisingly wide of the left-hand post.

Finian’s Newcastle introduced Niall O’Grady and Josh Aherne as substitutes on the stroke of 20 minutes in a bid to bring fresh impetus to their play and they did start to increase pressure on the Swords attack as the first half progressed.

They were also beginning to see more of the ball inside the opposition ‘45’ and the Newcastle outfit finally opened their account when industrious centre-forward Jamie Power kicked a fine point in the 29th minute.

Yet Finian’s Swords remained in firm control and thanks to a point from marauding defender Dylan Gray, they brought a commanding 0-12 to 0-1 buffer into the interval.

While Finian’s Newcastle were left with a mountain to climb on the resumption, the sin-binning of Swords defender David Butler before the break left them with a numerical advantage for the opening eight minutes of the second period.

This offered Newcastle a new lease of life and by the time Butler returned to the field of play, they had cut significantly into their deficit. After he had joined O’Grady in kicking a point from play, inside forward Laurence Harney hammered a low shot beyond the reach of Stephen McNally for a 34th minute goal.

Harney also converted a close-range free to leave five points between the teams and – by extension – ramp up the tension in this showpiece affair.

Nevertheless, Finian’s Swords continued to pose an attacking threat and they benefited substantially from being restored to their full compliment on 38 minutes. In addition to Brennan registering another score, Halpin bagged a successful ‘45’ and a two-pointer from play to leave Swords nine points to the good (0-16 to 1-4) moving into the final-quarter.

This once again left Finian’s Newcastle with a mountain to climb, but the determined Aylmer Road side gave themselves a fighting chance when O’Grady’s speculative strike floated into the Swords net for their second goal on 54 minutes.

Yet Finian’s Swords quickly reinforced their authority with a two-pointer from Ryan and this helped to ease them towards a deserved victory in the end.

Scorers – St Finian’s, Swords: S Brennan 0-6 (1 F2), C Halpin 0-5 (1 F2, 1 P2, 1 ‘45’), K Ryan 0-4 (1 P2), D Gray, M Murray, S Crosbie 0-1 each. St Finian’s, Newcastle: L Harney 1-2 (0-1f), N O’Grady 1-1, J Power 0-1.

St Finian’s, Swords: S McNally; E O’Connor, A Mallon, D Gray; D Butler, J Dempsey, C Collier; B Caffery, A McGuirk; K Ryan, M Murray, S Crosbie; D Hattie, C Halpin, S Brennan. Subs: O O’Hea for Murray, L Kavanagh for Dempsey (both h-t), N Foster for Collier (42), F Martin for Crosbie (52), P Dunne for O’Connor (60).

St Finian’s, Newcastle: E Burke; D Guthrie, R Scott, M Molloy; C Coyle, S Freeney, A Burke; S O’Reilly, R Higgins; S McCarthy, J Power, C Burke; C McCarthy, B Tobin, L Harney. Subs: N O’Grady for Tobin, J Aherne for Coyle (both 20),Cormac McCarthy for Power (h-t), I Boran for C Burke (48), C Spillane for O’Reilly (54).

Referee: Craig McKeown (St Anne’s).