Glenanne exploit the gales

Although the savage wind ripped the tingle out of the St Stephen's Day finals at Serpentine Avenue, Glenanne's seniors and the Monkstown under-21s could not be deterred as they carried off the Paddy Neville and Derek Price trophies. Glenanne, in beating Avoca 3-2, completed a mid-season double, while Monkstown's build-up at youth level over the past five years was rewarded with a 5-0 win over Railway Union's juniors.

Initially it seemed that Glenanne were not buzzing sufficiently to add the Neville Cup to the Stephen Doyle Trophy which they had won at Hallowe'en, for Avoca - who had achieved this double a year ago - were leading 2-0 at the interval through two smoothly taken goals by Anton Scott.

Glenanne, though, remained hungry. They had been unable to score in the first half as Stephen Butler had three drag flicks saved at full stretch by Stephen Kinsella. But with the gale at their backs and with Alan Browne gaining midfield dominance, opportunities mounted sufficiently to get the ball out of Kinsella's reach by the indirect route.

First, a well-engineered shortcorner switch saw Graham Shaw finding the target; then, John Goulding snapped up an equaliser after the defiant Kinsella had parried another Butler scorcher. With time running out, Goulding swept home the winner from a cross by the over-lapping David Shaw.

Monkstown, fielding eight regular members of the first-team squad, steadily broke down the resistance of the less mature Railway Union under-21s, of whom Brendan Parsons and Mark Henderson were most prominent.

It was 2-0 at half-time, with Ian Allen and Stuart Hammond finishing sharply. But it was only towards the end of the game, with Cliff Bailey and the Beere brothers in full flow, that Monkstown were allowed to enhance the scoreline through Allen, Bailey and Justin Sherriff.

Fittingly, it was Sherriff who notched the last goal of the year, stirring recollections of the Ireland under-21s' European triumph in Padua.