London SFC Final

Fulham Irish 0-11 Tír Chonaill Gaels 0-8

By Conor Martin at McGovern Park

An impressive performance from Fulham Irish saw them put the pain of losing back to back finals behind them as they secured their fourth London Senior Football Championship with a 0-11 to 0-8 win over fellow west Londoners Tir Chonaill Gaels in Ruislip.

Fiontan Eastwood would get Fulham’s opening and then Niall O'Leary doubled the advantage as Irish looked to control proceedings.

Initially, Tir Chonaill Gaels started slowly and were finally off the mark when Liam Gavaghan split the posts with eight minutes gone before leveling halfway through the first-half.

Jack Goulding would restore Fulham’s lead when he opened his account for the day with two points in less than a minute. The Kerryman’s points were followed by O'Leary picking up his second of the day to give his a 0-5 to 0-2 cushion.

However, that lead would be wiped out by half-time as two Jamie McCann frees and an Evan Wynne point meant the teams departing level at the break.

Another McCann free after the restart saw the Greenford club take the lead for the first time.

Five minutes later, Fulham would hit back and retake the lead thanks to an O’Leary free and a point from DJ O’Flaherty.

Fulham’s tails were up and another O’Leary point saw their tally increase. David Connern and David O’Connor added two more scores, taking the lead to four with less than five minutes left.

There were standout performances all over the park from those in Fulham shirts. Goulding and O’Leary were constant threats in attack as was man of the match Daniel Eastwood. Daire Rooney and Fulham Irish captain Michael Clarke were crucial to limiting the Tir Chonaill Gaels forward line threat. The Gaels only scored three points from open play highlighting the excellent defensive effort from Fulham at the back.

With Fulham going five points up, the task for the Gaels started to seem impossible. They would add two more scores courtesy of McCann and Gavaghan while Fulham dealt with the Tir Chonaill Gaels last gasp charge to earn a deserved victory.

Scorers for Fulham Irish: Niall O’Leary 0-4 (1f), Fiontan Eastwood and Jack Goulding (1f) 0-2 each, David O’Connor, David Connern, and DJ O’Flaherty 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tír Chonaill Gaels: Jamie McCann 0-4 (4fs), Liam Gavaghan 0-3 (1f), Evan Wynne 0-1.

Fulham Irish: Andrew Walsh; Daire Rooney, Michael Clarke, Paddy Naughton; Fiontan Eastwood, Danny Buckley, Conor Cox; David O’Connor, Cormac Hughes; Niall O’Leary, David Connern, Liam Turley; Daniel Eastwood, Jack Goulding, DJ O’Flaherty.

Subs: Niall Corkery for David O’Connor (42’), Martin Hughes for Liam Turley (57’), Brian Sheanon for Jack Goulding (60’), Johnny Henry for Daniel Eastwood (62’).

Tir Chonaill Gaels: Gavin McEvoy; James Boyle, Alan Kyne, Phillip Butler; Conor O’Halloran, Ernan McDonagh, David O’Donnell; Conor Farrell, Fionn Gallagher; Liam Gavaghan, Jamie McCann, Kevin Rafferty; Henry Walsh, Connor Faulkner, Evan Wynne.

Subs: Liam Gallagher for Henry Walsh (36’), Kieran Clarke for Conor Farrell (43’), Matt Moynihan for Fionn Gallagher (57’) Ciaran McKeon (57’).

Referee: Colm Lynott (St Clarets, London).