| Our
Junior ‘A’ Football team had a great win in their championship quarter final
game at Ballynoe on Saturday last. Despite incessant rain all evening the playing surface
was in remarkably good condition when Ger Sweeney threw in the ball at 8pm. Our team showed one change from the selected lineout with Trevor
Moloney on holidays. His wing position was taken by Aidan Collins and Jerome
O’Driscoll came into the attack.
The heavy showers that fell during the match added to the
earlier rain meant that free flowing football was impossible. Great credit to both teams
then for a good display. Castlelyons were first to score with a point after 3 minutes. Our
response came quickly when after a great move downfield Terry Broderick slotted home a
great goal. This had a steadying effect on our lads. With Brendan and Donal getting on top
at midfield our forwards got a good supply of ball. Points from Brian, Terry and Brendan
(from a ’45) left us 1-3 to 0-1 ahead after 20 minutes.
With the breeze strengthening behind them Castlelyons got
into the game and they got 3 points on the trot to reduce our lead to 2. A good side line
kick from Terry went over the bar to put us ahead 1-4 to 0-4 at the break. While we were
well on top for most of the first half a three point lead didn’t reflect this.
Castlelyons were reduced to 14 men early on but again our
numerical advantage wasn’t evident. Playing up to the road and wind assisted in the
second half we had a tonic re-start. A long powerful kick from a free by Pat Walsh
resulted in a goal to put us 6 points up. Six minutes later after intense pressure from
our forwards, team captain Terry Broderick netted again to leave us up 3-4 to 0-4 with
just 8 minutes gone.
Amazingly our next score didn’t come for 10 minutes
and this was a great point from a ’45 by Brendan Walsh. Ten points up at this stage
we missed several good chances. Castlelyons got two late points in the 24th and 29th
minutes and in the last 5 minutes bombarded our goal but Richard Cahill and his defence
held firm.
This was a good win after a solid hours football. We are
now into the semi final against Cobh, a game that has not yet been fixed.
It was a pity that team coach Denis Reidy was away
on holidays for the game. Well done to selectors Alan, Pat and Brendan. |
| Team: R Cahill, P Barry, P Walsh, B O’Driscoll, A Collins, P
Murphy, J Murphy, B Walsh, D Ryan, B Murphy, T Broderick (Capt), J O’Driscoll, C
O’Keeffe, S Ryan, H Kelleher. Subs: B Murphy, J O’Dowd, B Johnson, M Hogan.
Scorers:
T Broderick 2-2, P Walsh 1-0, B Walsh 0-2, B Murphy
0-1. |