A very special day for the club at Old Bedians on Sunday as our men's team ended a 23 year wait and finally won the Junior Championship again.

The lads put in a dominant performance and with St. Peter's losing their discipline and being reduced to 13 men, Lawrence's kept their heads and closed out the game after a flurry of Peter's scores after half time reduced the margin to a single point.

After this the Lawrence's lads regained their composure and using the spare men gradually began to pull away and racked up an impressive 2-16 by the end of play.

Special mentions to Captain Gary Butler who kept the team going during the game and instilled the discipline required, Stephen Sherry who had an outstanding game at midfield and Brian O'Connor who in recent months has rolled back the years to put in great scoring displays at full forward.

It was also a mark of the club that 3 homegrown young men made the squad, Ciaran Davit can be very proud at just 18 and surely has many more medals to win with this team as well as Declan Connolly and Dominic May also coming through from U7s all the way to the Junior Championship Team.

It was a overwhelming moment for Junior manager, Dan Mellett, who was in the team that last won the trophy in 1998. He was a hero that day with a penalty save when 2 points down and time almost up before getting the ball downfield to Noel Burke who underlined his Lawrence's legend status by scoring a goal with the last kick of the game. The boys of '98 watching around the world on Sunday thanks to Liam Coyne's internet skills were treated to a great show.

Speaking after the game Dan said, "23 years is a very long time for a club to go without winning a Championship and there have been some very dark days indeed when it felt like the club was on the brink of folding as a men's team. I decided to get back involved 3 and a half years ago and my first game in charge we got absolutely hammered by a JFK team, I really wondered what I had done but hard work and great support from Jimmy Wray, John Fitzpatrick, James Kearney, Noel Regan and Tommy Arkinson we got the show back on the road.

The team were exceptional today and it is amazing to finally have that trophy back. The 2021 league starts on Wednesday and this team have the ability and drive to win that and hopefully retain our Championship later this year. Thanks so much to all the lads and coaches for making this possible"

Lawrence's take the field at Turn Moss on Wednesday night v St. Brendan's @ Turn Moss @ 7.30 in the 2021 Junior League.