Graham Shaw, captain of Ireland's successful Celtic Cup team, celebrated his last match at under-21 level with a dynamic performance for Glenanne as they carried off another trophy, the Avoca Cup, in finishing stronger than Aer Lingus in yesterday's final at Grange Road.
Aer Lingus, fielding eight players with senior league experience, showed more cohesion in the first half and merited their lead after 12 minutes when Dave Bane scored from a short corner. However, David Shaw and Joe Brennan defended stoutly in preventing a further breakthrough and straight after the interval Alan Goulding swept home an equaliser.
Andrew Marshall made a determined effort to keep Aer Lingus in contention but Graham Shaw was irrepressible. He had a searing shot saved by Nigel Grothier before engineering space following a corner to notch the winning goal three minutes from the end.
The first laurels of the new millennium therefore went to the young men from Tallaght.
GLENANNE: L O'Farrell; K O'Malley, D Shaw (capt), J Brennan, C Lyne; A Goulding, G Shaw, C Lynch; J Kehoe, E O'Malley, E Lynch. Sub: V Geary.
AER LINGUS: N Grothier; J Dunne, E Bane, B Chillingworth, D Brady; D Ledwidge, D Bane, A Marshall (capt), T Parsons; A Sweeney, R Warburton. Sub: J Corry.
Umpires: M Canniffe, K McGinley.
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