Glenanne's rise reaches zenith

May Day 2000 will be for ever remembered by Glenanne, the west Dublin club that nearly went out of existence. Yesterday at Belfield they reached the zenith of a tremendous season by beating Lisnagarvey to carry off the all-Ireland title for the first time and join the cup winners Pembroke Wanderers as the second Leinster side to qualify for European competition next year.

"Absolutely fabulous - the lads showed great heart," said the victorious coach Noel Keogh after his side had prevailed in a torrid duel in the sun which reached an exciting climax as there remained the possibility that Lisnagarvey would snatch a draw which would have been sufficient to make them champions.

Lisnagarvey, though, had to dig deep into their reserves to contain the tremendous workrate of the Dubliners and when Robbie Taylor walked once more into the red sunset midway through the second half, Alan Dowd was left with too much to do to lift his young team-mates. The inexhaustible Alan Browne and Graham Shaw had piled on the pressure for Glenanne and when Roly O'Donogue won a short corner in the 50th minute, he put away what proved to be the winning goal as Shaw found space on the left from the second phase to provide the opening.

In what was their first meeting with Lisnagarvey, it was a setback for the Leinster champions to concede the lead in the second minute when, from a corner, Ian Clarke saved from Taylor but the rebound was snapped up by Jonathan Bloomfield. Importantly, however, Clarke saw off two more set pieces to safety after Mark Raphael had been making inroads and gradually it was Glenanne who became more assertive.

After Stephen Butler had been yellow-carded along with Taylor, he reappeared just as John Goulding forced a corner in the 28th minute. And Butler - Leinster's leading marksman for the third year in succession - sent his drag flick zipping out of Kyle Lunn's reach for the equaliser.

There came another menacing phase from Lisnagarvey before the interval but the Glenanne defence, with Rory O'Donoghue, in his 42nd year, to the fore extricated themselves from danger.

Although the Ulstermen again threatened for a while at the start of the second half, without the injured Mark Tumilty they lacked a sharp enough thrust. Glenanne became stronger and had the stamina to establish a decisive grip in the closing quarter, as well as finishing up with several admirable crossfield moves as Butler brought Devin Kehoe into the picture and the jinking Goulding barely failed to enhance the slender winning margin.

"Deadly," said a young fan in a Cork football jersey. Glenanne deserve to be given the freedom of Tallaght - or at least a opentop bus ride from Belgard to The Square.

GLENANNE: I Clarke; C Bolger; P Fitspatrick, Rory O'Donoghue, D Shaw; D Kehoe, S Butler, A Browne (capt); G Shaw; M Lambe, J Goulding. Subs: Roly O'Donoghue, J Brennan. Did not play: A O'Donoghue, C Murphy, A O'Neill. Coach: N Keogh. Manager: T Cooney.

LISNAGARVEY: Kyle Lunn; B Waring, A Dowd, P Fleming; M Raphael, R Taylor, G Bittle, J Gray; N Bailie, Kevin Lunn, J Bloomfield. Subs: C Clarke, B Liggett. Did not play: J Stevenson (suspended), M Tumilty (inj), N Brazil. Coach: T Gregg. Manager: I Ross.

Umpires: R O'Connor, C Hutchinson.