NACB Finals - Day 2

Saturday did not get off to the best of starts from a Boston standpoint.  The Cork junior B’s went down to a young, fresh Baltimore side.  The game was level at half time but Baltimore put three points on the trot over the bar in the second half to take control of the game.  Trailing by five points with five minutes left Cork pulled back a goal and had a chance to goal again but missed.  Baltimore made sure of it with a minute left with a goal of their own.  The Donegal junior A footballers went down to Padraig Pearses from Chicago by a score of 2-6 to 2-9.

On the plus side, Shannon Blues senior footballers made the senior football final by defeating Vancouver by a point in a dour affair.  Though the Blues got off to a great start thanks to a Caolan Rafferty goal, the Blues trailed for most of the game and came through in injury time.  Kieran Hurley was also sent off 5 minutes into the second half, and the Blues trailed by a score of 1-5 to 1-7 coming into injury time, but three points on the trot saw the Boston champions through.  A better performance will be required in Sunday’s final against Ulster San Francisco.  On the junior hurling front, The Barley House Wolves made short work of St. Louis in their semi-final and move on to another NACB final where Allentown stand between the New Hampshire boys in their quest for the cup.  Fr. Tom’s beat the Celtic Cowboys from Austin Texas to make the junior A final where they play Toronto.  The Texans had been promoted from junior B but Tom’s were a bit too much for them to handle.  Michael Markham came off the bench to net a hat trick, and American Boron Mick Lawrence got his first score for Tom’s with a point.

The senior hurling final was played on Saturday at the request of Na Fianna, and the westerners won their second North American title in a row at the expense of a team from the Northeast.  Wexford traveled to Philadelphia just short of a few who had won the championship in Boston last weekend, but hoped for a NACB cup to go with the Boston trophy.  Trailing at the break by a score of 2-11 to 1-5, Wexford put in a tremendous performance to stage a comeback from a massive 15 point deficit in the second half.  In goal for Na Fianna was Waterford reserve keeper, who stopped three or four goalbound shots at the death as Wexford tried to pull off the impossible, but it was not to be.  The Slaneysiders fell short by four points, Final Score Wexford 5-10 Na Fianna 4-17.  Eire Og entered a team into the camogie competition but also came to end of the road on Saturday. 

So, in tomorrow’s finals are:

Men’s Senior Football:  Shannon Blues v Ulster

Ladies Senior Football:  Connacht Ladies

Junior A Hurling:  Fr. Tom’s

Junior C Hurling:  Barley House Wolves