Johnson stars for Gallen CS as Holy Rosary fail to fire

THE FINISHING exploits of corner-forward Cian Johnson was the fundamental difference as Gallen Community School defeated a wasteful Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, to win the All-Ireland Post Primary Senior B Football Championship title at Croke Park on Saturday.
On the surface, a five-point margin in a low-scoring contest may suggest a fairly open-and-shut case and that the Leinster champions were worthy winners. While it’s true to an extent and Gallen deserved their victory, it was an afternoon that left the Connacht champions nursing plenty of regrets at the final whistle.
Holy Rosary will know they are better than what they showed as an attacking entity. Much better than a team that scored just four times and added just one point in the closing 40 minutes of action. Despite holding the upper hand in both territory and possession, finishing proved to be their Achilles heel and it was simply a day to forget in front of the posts.