London SFC: North London Shamrocks prevail

London SFC Final

North London Shamrocks 1-11 St Kiernans 1-8

By Conor Martin at McGovern Park

North London Shamrocks were crowned London Senior Football Champions for the first-time ever after they deservedly beat St Kiernans.

Played against the backdrop of wind and rain in west London, St Kiernans were the ones who settled quicker as Conor O’Donoghue and Sean Tucker helped the three-time London champions land the first couple of blows.

Adam Dunne then passed up a great chance to get North London Shamrocks first score of the game, but his attempt on goals went wide when it should really have been a score. However, the north London side would finally get on the board in the eighth minute when Sean McGonagle pointed.

St Kiernans would soon restore their two-point advantage when Tucker grabbed his second point of the afternoon with a nicely converted free tight in front of the posts, but their advantage wouldn’t last for long. Michael Carroll and Joe McGill helped tie things up by the 14th minute.

Things would get even better for the first-time finalists when Ruairi Rafferty was played in and fired home to give North London Shamrocks the lead for the first time. Carroll and Rafferty followed up their opening scores with another point each to extend the Shamrocks lead to five.

They were also aided by the tireless work rate of their backline and were able to turnover multiple promising St Kiernans attacks. Tom Waters was the man who ended a lengthy period where Senan O’Grady’s men went scoreless when he raised a white flag, converting a free. O’Donoghue was then denied by Graham Brody at point-blank range in the North London Shamrocks net.

Ciaran Diver would add another score for NLS, but their healthy lead would be shortened when Brody fumbled the ball from a Waters shot and trickled into the net to give St Kiernans a real boost before the whistle went for half-time with North London Shamrocks leading 1-6 to 1-4.

Kiernans had the advantage of the wind in the second-half and were quick out of the starting blocks when David Rogers scored the first point of the half before North London Shamrocks increased their lead to four thanks to a point from play from McGill, which was followed up by a Daniel Clarke free and another Rafferty score.

Both teams would lose a man each to a black card as the second-half progressed. St Kiernans lost Kevin McCarthy, while North London Shamrocks lost Johnny Sweeney.

Waters and Oran Kerr kept St Kiernans ambitions alive as they closed the gap to two before Thomas Lenihan pushed the lead back to three. Waters, who was one of the standout Kiernans players, scored another point for his side only to receive his marching orders for an off-the-ball incident moments later. Jamie Gillen was also sent to the sideline as injury-time approached.

North London Shamrocks were able to deal with the late St Kiernans surge, and Diver sealed their first-ever senior London title with a fine point deep into injury-time to round off an impressive history-making team performance.

North London Shamrocks: Graham Brody; Nathan McElwaine, Liam Kelly, Eoin Flanagan; Sean McMonagle (0-1), Conor McGonigle, Adam Dunne; Michael Carroll (0-2), Ultan Boyle; Daniel Clarke (0-1,1f), Joe McGill (0-2), Michael Miller (Captain); Ruairi Rafferty (1-2), Conor McKelvey, Ciaran Diver (0-2)

Subs: Oran Hilley for Sean McMonagle (30+6’), Thomas Lenihan (0-1) for Ultan Boyle (HT), Johnny Sweeney for Michael Miller (45’), Paddy Dolan for Conor McGonigle (58’)

St Kiernans: Dan McDonagh; Geoff Kingston, Keith Curran, Eoin Walsh; David Rogers (0-1), David Carrabine (Captain), Conor O’Donoghue (0-1); Caomhan Doolan, Oran Kerr (0-1); Killian Brady, Marcus Mangan, Tom Waters (1-3,1f); Danny Doyle, Sean Tucker (0-2), Kevin McCarthy

Subs: Kevin Henry for Danny Doyle, Jamie Gillen for David Rodgers (both 46’), Rob Reid for Keith Curran, Chris Morris for Marcus Mangan (60+5’)

Referee: Mark Hanley (Cú Chulainns).