Noah Grimes and Eoin McElholm shine as Tyrone retain All-Ireland Under-20 title against Louth with late flurry of scores

The Irish Sun

3 days ago

NOAH GRIMES scored a stunning 2-6 from play as Tyrone powered to back-to-back Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland Under-20 titles.
Senior star Eoin McElholm was not far behind with 2-4, all from open play too, as the Red Hands sizzled in the second half at the Athletic Grounds.
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Captain Joey Clarke lifts the well-earned trophy as they run out 5-16 to 0-17 winners
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Noah Grimes celebrating the first of his two goals
The Ulster champions outscored Louth by 3-7 to 0-4 in the final 20 minutes or so to run out 14-point victors.
Grimes clinched the man of the match award while there was an impressive cameo late on from sub Shea McDermott who sniped 1-1.
Louth will rue failing to score a single goal despite three decent chances over the hour.
They blasted eight wides and dropped a number of score attempts short in a game that was delicately balanced for 40 minutes.
But they can have no complaints about the outcome as Tyrone sealed back-to-back wins for the third time in their history.
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Chasing a first title, Louth played into a stiff first-half wind but created chance after chance in the opening quarter.
They kicked three points in the first ten minutes but also dropped three more score attempts short and booted another one wide.
The big fear among the big Louth crowd was that they would be made to pay for all the misses.
And sure enough, Tyrone snatched a goal in the 15th minute when Grimes cut in from the right and blasted left-footed
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It tied up the game at 1-2 to 0-5, though Louth continued to press. Midfielders James Maguire and Seán Callaghan, in particular, were dominant and a terrific Callaghan two-pointer in the 25th minute left the challengers 0-8 to 1-4 up.
The Wee County were not flattered by the lead but were also powerless to prevent the game suddenly swinging back in favour of the defending champions.
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Grimes, Ruairí McCullagh and Conor O'Neill added points before McElholm fed Grimes for a second goal. Tyrone led 2-7 to 0-8 at half-time and stretched the gap to seven with points from McElholm and Grimes after the restart.
Their opponents got it back to a two-point game when they sandwiched a Tadhg McDonnell two-pointer with a series of singles, 2-9 to 0-13.
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But there was no coming back for Louth who were buried by an avalanche of Red Hand scores between the 40th and 46th minutes.
McElholm burst through for two trademark goals,
Grimes, McElholm and Caolan Donnelly added scores in the 2-3 blitz while sub McDermott popped up with a late goal and point.
TYRONE: C McGarvey; B Hughes, J Clarke 0-1, Conor Devlin; C Donnelly 0-1, C Daly, F Nelis; Conan Devlin, C O'Neill 0-1; C Sheehy, L Og Mossey, M Quinn; N Grimes 2-6, R McCullagh 0-2, 1f, E McElholm 2-4.
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Subs: E Donaghy for Sheehy 53mins; D Donaghy for Mossey 55; S McDermott 1-1 for Conan Devlin 58; L Lawn for McCullagh 60.
LOUTH: T Markey; K Martin, P Tinnelly, M Reid; Tadhg McDonnell 0-3, 1tp, C McKeown, C McGinty; S Callaghan 0-3, 1tp, J Maguire 0-4, 1tp; S Lennon 0-1, C MacCriosta 0-1, P Grimes Murphy; A Gillespie 0-1f, Tony McDonnell 0-2, 1f, D Dorian 0-1.
Subs: B McKeown for Reid 43mins; J McGlew for McGinty 50; D Shevlin 0-1 for Dorian 50.
REFEREE: N Mooney (Cavan).
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