All-Ireland Junior Football Championship Final

New York 0-13 Kilkenny 1-9

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

Brian Coughlan capped a terrific New York fightback with a dramatic stoppage time winning point as the Exiles claimed a maiden All-Ireland JFC title success.

Beaten in last year's final by Kilkenny, despite a goal from Coughlan, Johnny McGeeney's side gained sweet revenge with an exciting one-point win back at Croke Park.

They did it the hard way because they trailed by two points with just four minutes of normal time remaining having watched Kilkenny dominate the majority of the second-half.

But three late points from Shay McElligot left it on level terms before Coughlan, part of an entirely New York born and bred team, popped up with the winning point at the Hill 16 End three minutes into stoppage time.

It was a pleasing ending to a memorable weekend for New York who defeated Warwickshire by 1-7 to 0-7 in their semi-final encounter at Abbotstown on Friday night.

Kilkenny expended more energy in seeing off London on Friday evening and that perhaps told in the closing stages as they were reeled in and overtaken.

Kilkenny won last year's final by 3-12 to 1-9 though former county hurling stars Paul Murphy and Ciaran Wallace, their full-back and centre-back in 2022, were notable absentees this year.

Kilkenny lined out with 10 of the same team while New York showed more alterations with just eight of the same players from that 2022 final lineup.

CJ Molloy, who had a brief spell on the Donegal panel under Jim McGuinness, didn't feature last year but lined out in Friday's semi-final win over Warwickshire and again today.

Living in Donegal and part of the Ardara club, the nephew of 1992 All-Ireland Donegal hero Anthony Molloy struck New York's opening score from a free.

That tied the scores up at 0-1 apiece and they were level again at 0-2 apiece before Kilkenny briefly took the lead through Mick Malone.

But five New York points in a row, including two each from free-taker McElligot and the impressive Conor Mathers, left the Exiles sitting pretty at 0-7 to 0-3 clear at half-time.

McElligot stretched their lead to five with a pointed free after the restart though New York didn't score again for almost 20 minutes.

In the meantime, a dynamic Cats outfit ran hard at the New York defence and hauled themselves into a winning position with an unanswered 1-3 between the 36th and 48th minutes.

Kenny's last act before being substituted was to strike their 44th minute goal, rounding the goalkeeper and shooting home off his left foot after bursting onto a clever ball across goals from the right.

Emmet Loughran's 51st minute point for New York got it back to level terms briefly but Kilkenny scores from Ciaran Quilty and Carroll nudged them into a two-point lead which put them on the verge of back to back titles.

They couldn't hold on though and 12 wides overall cost them as New York proved the hungrier and more efficient in the crucial closing minutes.

Scorers for New York: Shay McElligot 0-6 (0-4f), Conor Mathers 0-3, Thomas Shalvey 0-1, CJ Molloy 0-1 (0-1f), Emmet Loughran 0-1, Brian Coughlan 0-1.

Scorers for Kilkenny: Mick Kenny 1-2 (0-2f), James Carroll 0-3 (0-1f), Mick Malone 0-1, Conor Hennessy 0-1, Ciaran Quilty 0-1, Rory Monks 0-1.

New York: Ryan Corrigan; Dylan Curran, Peter Cronin, Paidi Mathers; Colm Shalvey, Kevin Rafferty, Mikey Boyle; Conor Mathers, Gearoid Kennedy; Danny Corridan, Brian Coughlan, Thomas Shalvey; Shane Slattery, CJ Molloy, Shay McElligot.

Subs: Chris Mulvihill for Molloy 39, Emmet Loughran for T Shalvey 39, Kaelan Walsh for Slattery 46, Ian Kavanagh for C Shalvey 49, Aiden Lawler for Walsh 61.

Kilkenny: Ciaran Farnan; Shane Kelly, Nathan Sherry, James Darmody; Kevin Blanchfield, Tom Kenny, Ger Malone; Tom Aylward, Jim Culleton; Conor Hennessy, Jamie Holohan, Mick Kenny; James Carroll, Ian Duggan, Mick Malone.

Subs: Joe Fennelly h/t, Ciaran Quilty for Aylward h/t, Rory Monks for Duggan 36, Adam Mansfield for Kenny 44, Mark Hender for Culleton 57.

Referee: David Murnane (Cork).