De La Salle College 4 - 13 St. Josephs CBS Drogheda 3 - 5

De La Salle College took the Louth Colleges Under 16 title back to Dundalk following a strong second half performance at a blustery Ardee. Both sides put in a great effort in difficult conditions with some super scores taken on both sides.
St. Josephs played with the aid of the breeze in the first half but it was the Dundalk school which started the brighter. De La Salle opened the scoring in the first minute through Ciaran Bellew with Joe Rogan squaring it up for Joes a minute later. However they were not to score again until the 16th minute with their opponents adding a further three points to their tally through Patrick Reilly(0-2) and Gerard Mc Sorley. It was then that St. Josephs made use of the elements and hit the long ball into their forward line with Anthony Lynch, Jake Mc Cabe and a fine Cian O Brien effort leaving the score even. In the 23rd minute St. Joes hit the first major of the game with a goal fit to grace any arena. Anthony Lynch stormed through from midfield and smashed the ball to the Dundalk net from distance. This left the goal separating the sides and this was reduced to two a minute from the interval with a Gerard Mc Sorley free.

The game was won in the first ten minutes of the second half when De La Salle scored 1-4 without reply to take a strong hold on the game with Patrick Reilly hitting the goal. St. Josephs reduced the arrears to four but the Dundalk school built on their lead with a further goal from Raymond Mulholland and points from Gerard Mc Sorley and Darren Mc Mahon. St. Josephs to their credit never gave up and in the 21st and 28th minute hit goals of their own through Jamie King and Conor Smith to reduce the deficit to five, but De La Salle capitalized on some tired legs from their opponents to hit two goals in the last minute.

Full credit to both schools and their mentors for serving up a high scoring affair. A feature of the game was some of the fine scores taken. Two in particular which warrant a mention were the goal from Anthony Lynch in the first half and a point from De La Salles corner forward Conall Smith in which he sold a number of dummies before slotting over. De La Salles victory was built on a good work ethic and they had the edge on their opponents for large sections of the game. Full credit to St. Josephs however as they kept battling right until the end and the scoreline does not fully reflect the effort they put in.

Scorers:
DLS- Patrick Reilly 2-5, Gerard Mc Sorley 0-3, Liam O Leary 1-0, Gareth Hall 0-2, Raymond Mulholland 1-0, Conall Smith 0-1, Ciaran Bellew 0-1, Darren Mc Mahon 0-1.
St. Josephs- Anthony Lynch 1-1, Conor Smith 1-0, Jamie King 1-0, Jake Mc Cabe 0-2, Joe Rogan 0-1, Cian O Brien 0-1.
De La Salle College, Dundalk
Mentor: Kevin Brady
Cathal Doran (Kilkerly Emmets), Darragh Smith (St. Josephs), Aidan Mc Nally (St. Brides), Conor Gonnelly (Naomh Malachi), Ciaran Bellew (Kilkerly Emmets), Fiachra Sheridan (Glyde Rangers), Ricky Mc Keown (St. Brides), Michael Keane (St. Brides), Gareth Hall (St. Brides), Liam O' Leary (St. Josephs), Darren Mc Mahon (St. Mochtas), Gerard Mc Sorley (Dundalk Gaels), Raymond Mulholland (Kilkerly Emmets), Patrick Reilly (St. Brides), Conall Smyth (St. Josephs), Rian Hand (Kilkerly Emmets), Cathal Mc Kenna (St. Brides), Paraic Marry (St. Brides), Sean Mc Donnell (St. Brides), Thomas Muckian (St. Brides), Emmet Mullen (Naomh Malachi), Sean Thornton (Geraldines), Peter Lynch (Stabannon Parnells).