By Frances O'Neill

U16 Hurling Championship Final

Kilburn Gaels 2-6 Sean Treacys 1-6

The crowd at Ruislip last Sunday were treated to one of the closest and most exciting underage hurling finals in years when Kilburn Gaels and Sean Treacys took to the field in this year's U16 decider. Kilburn's early dominance ensured they led at the break but a string of wides in both halves prevented them from opening up any considerable margin and Treacys nearly made them pay for their early mistakes.

Despite creating a lot of scoring opportunities for themselves in the opening stages it was fifteen minutes before Kilburn finally broke the deadlock to take the lead through a Conor Lyons point. This was quickly followed up with a second point and a goal from the impressive Lyons ; the goal coming after a Sean O'Toole shot hit the post and Lyons was on hand to bury the ball into the net.

Sean Treacys opened their account in the twenty-first minute with a point from their most prominent player, Jimmy Cormack, and just a minute later rattled the back of Shane Murphy's net to reduce the deficit to just one point.

Kilburn soon got back on track linking some good passes together and, with a string of points from Lyons (2), Ryan Scullion and one from O'Toole on the stroke of half time, earned themselves a deserved 1-6 to 1-1 lead heading in at the break.

In the second half Treacys mounted a storming attack on the Kilburn defence and, led by Cormack, worked their way back into the match converting four points in eleven minutes to put just the minimum between them. The Kilburn backs were under increasing pressure and only for a superb save from Murphy in the goal at point blank range could have conceded further.

Upfront Kilburn made little impression on the Treacys backs for the first twenty minutes of the half with consistent clearances from Cormack and Thomas Smith and, when Kilburn went down to fourteen men in the fiftieth minute, looked as though they had run out of everything they had to give.

A sixth point from Cormack on fifty three minutes drew the sides level for the first time in the match and left both sides desperately searching for the crucial score to win the game. With full time approaching Kilburn found an extra gear as the ball was propelled forward by James Minihan to the waiting Mark Hill on the wing. A lovely pass from Hill set up Richard Davoren just in front of goal and, with an extra touch, set himself up for a shot to bury the ball into the back of Noel Maher's net.

The stage was set for a nerve-wracking finish with Treacys piling on the pressure as they pushed for extra-time but to their credit the Kilburn backs stood firm with clearances from Minihan, Scullion and Chris Henry and hung on to win their fifth successive championship by a goal. Kilburn Gaels will now take on Erin go Bragh for the British Club championship in two weeks time at Pairc na h'Eireann.

Team: S. Murphy, J.P. O'Brien, T. Connolly, J.F. McHugh, V. Connolly, J. Minihan (c), D. Gillies, C. Henry, R. Scullion, R. Davoren, S. O'Toole, M. Hill, D. Moloney, C. Lyons, C. Horan
Subs: M. Scanlon for C. Horan

Scorers: C. Lyons (1-4), R. Davoren (1-0), S. O'Toole, R. Scullion (0-1 each)

Man of the match: James Minihan