Casements Come From Behind To Retain Senior Crown

M Lambe Construction
Warwickshire Senior Football Championship Final - 2005

Roger Casements 2:9
John Mitchels 2:8

Roger Casements Warwickshire Senior Football Champions 2005

Holders Roger Casements were forced to come from behind to retain their title in a hard fought and entertaining finale to this years Senior Football Championship sponsored by M Lambe Construction.
A large crowd gathered to witness the mens Senior Final, which had been preceeded by the Warwickshire Ladies Football Final, also contested by Roger Casements and John Mitchels. After the excitement of the earlier game which had ended in a high scoring draw, patrons were hopeful that the mens final would be a similarly close and colourful affair.
After a couple of near misses Casements had finally lifted the crown for the first time since 1978 last year and had made retention their priority for 2005. For their part Mitchels are always regarded as potential champions before a ball is kicked and although their previous victory goes back to 1993, they were unlucky to lose out to Sean McDermotts by a single point 4 years ago.

The Victorious Roger Casements team celebrating after a nail-biting finish to a very good final. Surrounded by coaching staff and supporters

The final attracted a very large crowd to Pairc Na H`Eireann on a dry sunny afternoon, with conditions near ideal for the match. The scene was of great colour as Casements in their scarlet and black and Mitchels in their white and blue lined up for the throw in from referree Ossie Bennett of Sean McDermotts.
The first scoring chance of the game fell to Brian Higgins of Casements, who was unable to convert a goal opportunity. Ciaran Grace of Mitchels was in no mood to squander opportunities that came his way early in this match and his goal set his team up for what appeared to be a commanding half time lead of 1:5 to 0:4.
In a "ding dong" first half Mitchels had made the early running with a string of points that saw them overturn Casements initial lead before Grace`s goal had put them into the driving seat.
Within minutes of the restart Mitchels had increased their lead to 5 points before Casements replied with a goal resulting from combination play between Gavin Farrell and Danny Scott. For their part Mitchels were quick to reply and increase their lead to 3 points when James Cunniffe notched a point and when Scott added a further point Mitchels Stephen McGirr was on hand with a long range effort of his own to maintain the 3 points gap.

Roger Casements’ Captain, Kieran Boyle lifts the cup for the second time running, he paid tribute to John Mitchel’s who were gracious in defeat

The game turned mid way through the second half when Brian Higgins made up for his earlier miss to find the net following indecision from the Mitchels defence in front of goal. With the scores tied up Casements could see the finishing line and Aidan Bannon`s lead point was followed by further minors from Stephen McCarthy, Kieran Boyle and Danny Scott to open up a 4 points lead as the game entered added time.
The turnaround had capped a remarkable second half performance from Casements, who had been chasing the game since its early minutes, but there will still a kick left in Mitchels as Liam O`Shea scored a goal which left his team one point behind. Unfortunately for Mitchels the goal was scored deep into injury time and there was no time for them to add an equaliser and take the tie to a replay.
Typical of this tie was that no one was prepared to name either team as outright favourites prior to the game as neither had shown consistent form. The closeness of the final score reflects this.
Most observers felt that they had witnessed an entertaining and competitive final, played in a good spirit and well controlled by referree Ossie Bennett. It was heartbreak for Mitchels to lose their second final in a few weeks by a single point, but they were sporting losers. Casements had to pull out all the stops here before captain Kieran Boyle could get his hands on the Chris Holden Cup again and his team will carry with them the best wishes of the other clubs in the county as they compete in the Provincial Championship, provisionally set for October 9th against the Hertfordshire Champions.