CELEBRATION TIME?Manulla’s Declan Tonra wheels away after scoring the only goal of last Sunday’s Connacht Gold Super Cup final.?Pic: Michael Donnelly
Final
Manulla 1
D Tonra 15
Westport Utd 0
Colin McDonagh
Castlebar
WHEN Manulla last lifted the Connacht Gold Cup, or the Chadwicks Cup as it was known then, the Black Eyed Peas stood top of the music charts with ‘Meet Me Halfway’. Before kick-off last Sunday afternoon, Manulla manager Tom Healy would have asked his players to at least meet him and their loyal supporters halfway too.
Few of those who travelled in blue and white to Milebush would have believed what the afternoon had in store for them. Not many had fancied Manulla, some had even written them off. But when Declan Tonra headed home at the back post after 15 minutes, many doubters turned into believers.
Westport United, playing in their 15th major final since 2000, had lost only two until before Sunday. That just puts Manulla’s achievement into some context.
“I have to commend the players, they were absolutely fantastic,” said winning boss Tom Healy. “We came into this game with five or six lads injured … but ... the lads saw out the game as we were under a lot of pressure at the finish. Westport never gave up and they asked all the questions, but our defence was absolutely brilliant today.”
Healy’s ‘biggest fear’ was going a goal down early on, but the breakthrough came at the other end. The eventual winners started this showpiece encounter brightly and began to gain a foothold in the game. It wasn’t long until they took the lead. Conor Byrne’s corner was pinged delightfully to the back post and upped popped Tonra. Despite several bodies on the United line, his header was judged brilliantly and Manulla had a dream start.
The Covies took their time initially to respond but came within inches of equalising on 23 minutes when Manulla failed to deal with a Colin Cameron cross. The ball fell to Phil Keegan but he couldn’t find the target.
Manulla were proving difficult to break down and when Keegan thought he had breached the rearguard five minutes before the break, Cillian McGlade was on hand as he expertly dispossessed the Westport danger-man.
John Brennan obviously wanted more from his men after the restart, but again Manulla were proving a tough nut to crack. Jamie Fallon blazed over from a David Hoban cross and Martin Geraghty headed wide after Joe Lawless’s delivery. It took 77 minutes for Manulla goalkeeper James Jennings to make a save when he stopped Dave Cameron’s low drive.
At the other end, Manulla were proving dangerous on the counter-attack, and Martin Geraghty had to rely on every inch of his pace to catch up and dispossess Gary Concannon as he raced in on goal.
At this stage United had Mark MacNally on the field, and when Danny Scahill’s cross found his head, it seemed for all the world that parity would be restored. Remarkably, Jennings managed to claw it away for a corner – “How he kept that ball out, I don’t know,” Tom Healy reflected afterwards. From the resultant set-piece, Lawless saw his goal-bound header cleared off the line by a combination of McGlade and Rory Martyn.
Keegan then set up Pat Moran but he fired over, and with only three minutes of normal time remaining, it looked like United had run out of ideas. But deep into stoppage time, Moran found himself in space at the back post. His effort was heroically blocked by Keelan McDermott and the drama continued 60 seconds later when MacNally’s effort bounced onto Vinny O’Malley’s head only for the veteran striker to see his effort rebound off the crossbar and away to safety.
It was sheer heartbreak for the Super League champions as there was to be no fairytale ending for the Covies. Referee Damien McGrath blew the full-time whistle and Manulla had clung on to be crowned Challenge Cup winners for the fourth time in their history.
Manulla
J Jennings; R Martyn, C Byrne, C McGlade, D Tonra; K McDonnell, G Canavan, B Ralph, G Concannon; S Durkan, M Nolan.
Subs used: J Griffin for S Durkan (73 mins); M Mongan for M Nolan (82 mins).
Westport United
G Cunningham; J Lawless, C Cameron, S Tagg, M Geraghty; D Scahill, D Cameron, P Fitzerald, J Fallon; D Hoban, P Keegan.
Subs used: K Joyce for C Cameron (63 mins); M MacNally for D Hoban (63 mins); P Moran for J Fallon (70 mins); V O’Malley for P Fitzgerald (83 mins).
Referee: Damien McGrath
