Junior E's Fall Just Short
A very pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon 3rd October 2010 saw the Junior E’s exit the championship in the cruellest of fashions against St Patricks in O’Toole Park.
With time up Crokes held a 2-7 to 1-8 lead. The Palmerstown side won a 65. The taker’s high ball rebounded off the cross bar back into play. A Palmerstown player was quickest to react and for the first and only time St Pats were in front. Crokes still had chances to save the game but their attacks failed to yield the vital score.
The Kilmacud side first hit the front via Ciaran O’Callaghan after two minutes. In double that time St Pats replied in kind. Good scores from Darragh Brennan and O’Callaghan again made it 0-3 to 0-1 after eleven minutes. The winners quickly pulled one back and in the seventeenth minute Crokes might have goaled but instead ended with an unconverted 65. On the twenty second minute the sides were level at 0-3 each. A late point and goal gave the Stillorgan lads a 1-4 to 0-3 interval cushion.
St Patricks opened the second half scoring with a point. Two in reply, one a huge free from impressive keeper Paddy Tighe, made it 1-6 to 0-4. The sides then exchanged points, the Crokes score a nice one from midfielder Gary Melican. In the forty fourth minute Crokes got their second goal and went seven points clear, 2-7 to 0-6. Unfortunately that was to be their last score. Within four minutes St Patricks also raised a green flag. From then on the west Dublin team had the better of the play as Crokes tired yet could only register two minors before the fateful 65 that led to the game’s decisive score.
On a day when the entire Crokes team gave it everything worthy of special mention were Paddy Tighe who kept a very good goal, wing back Cian O’Brien, midfielders Gary Melican and Ciaran O’Callaghan and half forward Darragh Brennan. Well done also to the management team of Ronan Egan, Stephen Power and Tom Bohan who put in a Trojan effort throughout the year.
Team:
P Tighe (0-1, f-1), S Boyd, D McAuliffe, N McIntyre, S Beale , P Kennedy, C O’Brien, C O’Callaghan (0-2), G Melican (0-2), D Brennan (0-1), I O’Keeffe, S O’Keeffe, C McGrath (0-1),K Byrne (2-0), N Salvino. Subs: G Hyland for N Salvino (55 mins) and S Russell for C McGrath (58 mins).