Under 15 Hurlers – End the regular season on a happy note

Date of Match: 25th November 2006

Versus: Naomh Fionnbarra Venue: Silverpark

Competition: Under 15 Division 1 League

Management Team: Pat Halpin, Tom Murphy, Daibhi dePaor, Gearóid O’Riain

Match Result
Crokes 8 - 09 v Naomh Fionnbarra 4 - 04

Scorers;
Crokes: Naomhan O’Reardon (5-01), Seanie McGrath (2-06 (0-03 f)), Eoin Dalton (1 – 01), Barry Mulligan (0 – 01)

Match Report/ Match Highlights:

Under 15 Hurlers – End the regular season on a happy note

We were fortunate with the weather, originally fixed for the 18th November, but it was postponed due to both Silverpark and John Paul Park being unplayable. The 25th November was a bright Saturday afternoon with a strong breeze blowing down the pitch. Having lost the toss, Crokes started the game playing down the hill with the aid of the breeze and burst into the game, scoring two Naomhan goals and a Seanie point from converted free in the opening 5 minutes. However Finbarrs hadn’t arrived just to make up the numbers and a minute after Seanie’s point, an untypical error by our fullback line allowed Finbarrs in to notch up their first goal of the game. However, Finbarrs had to wait for another 15 minutes before adding a point to this goal. In the mean time Crokes were dominant all over the pitch and added two goals and two points from Seanie, another goal from Naomhan and a point from Eoin Dalton. Seanie then finished the scoring for the first half with a point from a well taken free on the stroke of the half time whistle. Crokes went into the break, leading 5 goals and 5 points to 1 goal and 1 point.

The second half opened at a frantic pace, straight from the throw in, a lob from the Finbarrs half forward line went straight into the back of the Crokes net and a minute they had popped over their second point of the game. A minute Seanie converted a free to extend Crokes lead and two minutes later; Naomhan added another goal to his tally. But Finbarrs were playing with great conviction and a minute later scored another goal. Although 16 points in the lead, the final result still looked in doubt. The next ten minutes was very tight, with both defenses ruling the roost, with only two points scored from a Seanie converted free and a Naomhan point. Then with 15 minutes gone in the half, Finbarrs scored another goal and again doubt creeped into the Crokes team. However, Eddie grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and aided by Bill, limited Finbarrs to two more points, the last a lovely long range free at the stroke of full time, while Crokes added another 2 goals, one each from Eoin Dalton and Naomhan and a marvelous long-range point from Barry Mulligan. At the sound of the full time whistle, Crokes lead by 8 goals and 9 points to 4 goals and 4 points.

Overall, Crokes played some lovely hurling, a key element of the performance was in the disciplined manner in which they played, they conceded very few frees, a big improvement from the Championship final. In the end while the winning margin was big, it was far from being an easy win and it was not a two man show (Naomhan & Seanie). All the backs played very well, we controlled midfield and the forwards worked very hard off the ball, it was one of our better performances this year. This was the last match of the regular season and has guaranteed Crokes at least runners up spot in the league. If Finbarrs beat St Vincents in the last game of the league, then Crokes will add the league title to their Championship crown, however if St Vincents win, Crokes will then have to playoff against St Vincents to decide the league title. The Finbarrs verses St Vincents game is fixed for Saturday the 2nd December in John Paul Park.

Kilmacud Crokes:
Keith Hogarty, Cian O’Brien, Paul Collins, Jack Doughan, Dillon Mulligan, Bill O’Carroll, Alan Carr, Matthew Kinsella, Eddie O’Byrne, Killian Doherty, Sean Murphy, Barry Mulligan, Eoin Dalton, Naomhan O’Reardon, Seanie McGrath.

Subs: Johnny Brew for Dillon Mulligan, Peter McCague for Alan Carr, Hugh Byrne for Cian O’Brien, Cillian Casey for Eoin Dalton, Brendan Halpin for Sean Murphy.

Unavailable: - Darren McVeigh, Jack Kelly & Louis Whelan all due to injury, Mark O’Dwyer & Jude Sweeney due football.