UNIVERSAL GRAPHICS JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Cremartin 0-11, Oram 0-8.

Cremartin eventually prevailed in this fairly low-key and at times rough-and-tumble affair that was played in quite wintry conditions in Clontibret on Sunday afternoon last. Rain and a heavy shower of hail stones made underfoot conditions greasy and did contribute to errors on both sides throughout, but the fractious nature of the exchanges at times kept it interesting. Oram, whose defensive approach made life difficult for Cremartin, particularly in the early stages, saw them enjoying the better of the exchanges in the opening quarter at the end of which they led by a point, but by half-time Cremartin had edged in front by the minimum margin. Cremartin essentially laid the foundation for victory in the opening 10 minutes of the second-half when they rattled over 5 unanswered points to give them a 6 points lead at that stage. In the final quarter Oram continued to put them under pressure but some poor finishing and shot selection saw a lot of good outfield work undone, although they had Cremartin backpedalling in the final minutes as they hit 3 unanswered points to reduce the margin to 3 at the finish. Oram finished the game with 14 players following the dismissal of Daniel Forde on a straight red card with 4 minutes of normal time remaining.

Teams and Scorers: Cremartin: Simon Atkinson, Eanna Atkinson, Liam Atkinson, Declan Farrell, Ronan Burke, Conor Mulligan, Shane Mulligan, Niall Flanagan 0-1, Cathal Atkinson, Paddy McNally 0-5 (3f), Shaun Buckley, Kevin Atkinson 0-2, David Hanley 0-2, Barry Kerr, Ryan McVicar 0-1. Subs: Philip McGuigan for C Atkinson, John Leonard for E Atkinson, Christopher Farrell for K Atkinson.

Oram: Berraat Turker, Lorcan Keenan, Stephen McBride, Christopher McGeough, Darren Kavanagh, Christopher McGuinness, Gerard Keenan, Daniel Forde 0-1, Ryan McGuinness 0-1 (f), Jason McDonald, Pauric Graham 0-5 (4f), Rory Murphy, John Mone, Sean Graham, Hugh Brennan. Subs: Kevin Irwin for J McDonald (Black Card), Cathal Crowe 0-1 for C McGuinness, Danny Lynch for H Brennan, Ryan Davis for S Graham.

Referee: Sean McDonnell (Killanny).