O'Dea wonder goal powers Spink to 2020 Junior 'B' football championship

LAOIS GAA 2020 JUNIOR 'B' FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

SPINK 1-14

GRAIGUECULLEN 0-13

Spink produced a spirited comeback to claim the 2020 Junior 'B' football crown on Sunday morning and dash the Graiguecullen hopes of rounding off a great weekend for the club after their seniors qualified for the 2020 senior football final on Friday night.

With Laois senior hurlers – Sean Downey, Paul Simms and Charles Dwyer to the fore, Spink trailed by five points at the first water break before narrowing it to just a single point by half time and edging the second half to take home the cup.
Spink started well and a Mark Kehoe free in the opening minute opened the scoring but they would then go on to not score again until the 17th minute of the game.

Graiguecullen felt their way into the game. Dean Malone missed narrowly for a goal but Brian O'Rourke did level the game in the sixth minute before they went on to take control before the water break.

They landed five points in as many minutes before the water break with Padraig Murphy landing two along with Peter Branagan, Dean Malone and the aforementioned O'Rourke all getting on the scoresheet to leave them 0-6 to 0-1 ahead.
The pep talk must have worked for Spink and they came out a different animal. A Paul Simms free got them motoring again before a superb long range effort from Sean Downey had it back to a one score game.

Simms and Brian O'Rourke traded scores but before the half time whistle, Simms added a brace of scores to leave just the minimum between them at half time with Graiguecullen leading 0-7 to 0-6.

Graiguecullen went on to lead by three points with 20 minutes to go with Padraig Murphy, Dean Malone and substitute Mark Doogue adding scores to make it 0-10 to 0-7.

Within the space of three minutes and before the second half water break, the sides were level as three in a row from Mark Kehoe, Simms and Michael Downey left it all to play for coming into the last quarter.

They traded scores and with nine minutes to go, they were still deadlocked. In a crazy 30 seconds or so, the whole game changed. Paul Simms first edged Spink ahead before a long and mazy run from Aaron O'Dea saw the substitute sent an inch perfect shot to the corner of the net to put Spink four points up.

Graiguecullen now needed a goal but Spink held firm. Padraig Murphy and Peter Branagan added points for Graigue but Spink had their tails up and points from Michael Downey and Paul Simms ensured their four point cushion in the end.

SPINK
SCORERS: Paul Simms 0-8 (0-4fs), Michael Downey 0-3, Mark Kehoe 0-2 (fs), Aaron O’Dea 1-0, Sean Downey 0-1

TEAM: Rory Nevin; James Hennessey, Kieran Bowe, Noel Duggan; Eoin Simms, Patrick Gorman, Enda Kehoe; Sean Downey, Pauric Lawlor; Michael Downey, Charles Dwyer, Mark Kehoe; Paul Simms, Tony O’Shaughnessy, Eoin Fitzpatrick. Subs: Cathal O’Shaughnessy for Nevin (22m, inj), Aaron O’Dea for Fitzpatrick (39m), Jamie Drury for Hennessey (44m), Seamus Miller for T O’Shaughnessy (58m)

GRAIGUECULLEN
SCORERS: Padraig Murphy 0-5 (0-3fs), Brian O’Rourke 0-3, Peter Branagan 0-2, Dean Malone (mark), Mark Doogue and Liam Kearney 0-1 each

TEAM: Craig Doyle; Stephen Alysbury, Wayne Humphreys, Conor Holohan; Adam Kerfah, Liam Kearney, Jamie Malone; James Bolton, Patrick Murphy; Barry Regan, Padraig Murphy, Lee Nolan; Dean Malone, Peter Branagan, Brian O’Rourke. Subs: Alan Malone for Regan (16m), Mark Doogue for A Malone (38m), Kevin Smith for Holohan (54m), Michael Loughman for O’Rourke (58m), Oisin O’Reilly for Kerfah (59m)

Referee: Clifford Ward (Portarlington)

No change in attendance cap as times set for 2020 Senior football and hurling finals this weekend

Laois ladies footballers power on to All Ireland semi final

Doheny and Conlon go the distance but Portlaoise man comes up short