St Gabriels 4-15 Robert Emmetts 3-12
St Gabriels claimed an 18th London SHC title as the men from Wembley overcame fierce rivals Robert Emmetts 4-15 to 3-12 in a thrilling climax to championship hurling in the English capital.
Gabriels took control of the game from the word go and had a seven-point lead in the opening exchanges thanks to Conor O'Carroll, whose powerful effort found the top corner of the net.
Shortly before the 10-minute mark, Donal Hannon would get Emmetts on the scoresheet before Benny McCarry got his side back into the match with a goal of his own and closed the gap to two points.
With scores splitting the posts at either end the game began to open up as Emmetts kept the pressure on St Gabriels.
However, the game then became a contest once more when Kevin O’Loughlin dispatched a free and the sides were level.
O’Carroll managed to find the posts with a driven long-range effort before he was denied by Tommy Wallace in the Emmetts goal who pulled off a magnificent save to prevent Gabriels from taking the lead once more.
Emmetts finished the first half strongly after their slow start and a levelling point from Cian Lordan and a point from O’Loughlin put them into the lead for the first time.
The first half had more excitement in store for those in attendance at McGovern Park and it was St Gabriels who went into half-time with their tails up.
Kerryman Jack Goulding found himself through on goal but Wallace did well to smother the ball before the sliotar broke and fell to O’Caroll who made no mistake and had his second goal of the afternoon.
Eoin Kelly followed up the second Gabriels goal with a converted free as Gabriels led 2-09 to 1-09 at the break.
O’Carroll would get the first score in the second half before the goal of the game came from Sean Glynn who was just inside his own half when he began his goal-bound run before he cut through the Emmetts defence to grab a third Gabriels goal of the afternoon.
With 13 minutes left of the 60, Emmetts were in need of a lifeline and they got one. O’Loughlin hit the back of the net with a well taken penalty to keep his side in contention.
Despite time running out, there was no real final push from Emmetts as Gabriels coped with the attacking threat from their opponents.
With time running out Emmetts needed to find the net to stand a chance of keeping their championship dreams alive.
But it was Gabriels who would find the killer blow thanks to Shane Lawless who came off the bench to get the North-West Londoners fourth of the afternoon.
Emmetts would get a third goal in injury-time but the game and the London SHC crown was out of reach as Gabriels claimed their first title since 2018.
3-in-a row 🏆🏆🏆 💙🤍💛 pic.twitter.com/K4YPbD6DPR
— Easkey GAA (@EaskeyGAA) October 23, 2022
In the Sligo SHC, Easkey made it three in a row as they defeated Naomh Eoin by 3-18 to 1-10 at Markievicz Park.
Andrew Kilcullen and Joe McHugh goals helped Easkey into a 2-10 to 0-04 half-time lead and though Naomh Eoin improved on the turnaround, the result was never in doubt.
