Under-12’s show mettle against Ballyboden

On a fine sunny St. Patrick’s Day, Kilmacud Crokes Under-12’s hosted two Ballyboden teams on the main pitch in Glenalbyn. The Croke’s team had originally been scheduled to play Clarinbridge’s under-12’s.

However the Galway team had to conserve their energies for later in the day against O’Loughlin Gael’s under-12’s in the loftier setting of Croke Park.

Within thirty seconds of the throw-in, the home team had the ball in the net courtesy of a fine solo effort from David Cullen. Despite this tonic start, it was clear that Ballyboden had no regrets at missing the city-centre parade and retaliated with a quick point. In the sixth minute, Cathal O’Dwyer caught a lovely ball, turned his man and scored a great point. Some close exchanges followed with Ballyboden adding two points to leave the match nicely poised 1-1 to 0-3 after eleven minutes.

Michael Taaffe then showed skill and determination to score a good point, on his left side, for Crokes. This was countered by a Ballyboden minor before Eoin Barr drove over a lovely long range point to put the home team two points ahead after eighteen minutes. Although the match was being played at break neck speed, it looked as if Ballyboden were edging slightly ahead when they took the lead for the first time in the 21st minute with a well worked goal. Some very determined play from Daniel Crowley and Cathal O’Dwyer resulted in the latter blocking a Ballyboden clearance before ushering the ball to the net to restore the Croke’s lead. This was followed by two excellent points from Tom Kehoe and David Cullen to leave the Crokes’ boys four points ahead at the interval on a scoreline of 2-5 to 1-4.

Good and all as the Crokes’ performance was in the first half, it was nothing compared to the determined manner in which the opposition was snuffed out in the second period. A fine piece of skill from Tom Kehoe resulted in a well struck point five minutes after half-time. This was followed by two 65’s from Eoin Barr before Tom scored another lovely point to stretch the Crokes lead to eight points approaching the three- quarter stage. Although Ballyboden reduced the gap with a good point, Croke’s defence showed great steel and no little skill, continually harrying and hooking their opponents. Lorcan O’Connor in goal, Paul Buckley and Adam Cantwell in the last line of defence and Michael Gibbons at wing back were very solid and cleared their lines effectively. Special mention has to be made, however, of Eamon Keating and Scott Penney. Eamon was a dynamo throughout at wing back and Scott gave a sterling performance at centre-back, especially with his high catching.

The Crokes’ second half defensive performance created a platform to put the Ballyboden backline under continual pressure. Another 65’ from Eoin Barr stretched the lead after forty three minutes. Then, some good play from Sam Lynch resulted in a lovely point from Stephen Horgan to leave the score 2-11 to 1-5 entering the closing stages. Although Ballyboden eventually scored a late point, it was the Kilmacud boys, who finished the stronger with another 65’ from the ever improving Eoin Barr to leave the final score 2-12 to 1-6 in favour of the home team.

Besides the strong defensive performance, a feature of the game was the high catching by a number of players, including Scott, David, Tom, Eoin and Cathal.

 

Kilmacud Crokes:- Stephen Horgan (0-1); Lorcan O’Connor, Adam Cantwell; Eamon Keating, Scott Penney, Michael Gibbons; Eoin Barr (0-5, 0-4f), Tom Kehoe (0-3); Paul Buckley, David Cullen (1-1), Michael Taaffe (0-1); Daniel Crowley, Cathal O’Dwyer (1-1); Sam Lynch.

 

 

A second Kilmacud Crokes under-12 team also gave a good account of themselves before narrowly losing on a scoreline of 3-3 to 2-2. Among the players who particularly caught the eye in this match were Stephen Tuite in goal, Michael McNulty and Hugh Mulligan in defence, Conor Fahy in midfield and Niall Brady in attack.  Crokes went into the break just ahead by 1-01 to 0-2 thanks to a well taken goal by Nathan Slattery and a skillfully struck point from Niall Bezeci. The second half was a close affair with only a late goal and point sealing the win for Ballyboden. Eoin Buggy and Owen Shearer defended resolutely, particularly in the second half and Barry MacGabhann made a number of fine clearances from the half-back line. Darragh Jones got through a huge amount of work in midfield and James Dalton was unlucky not to score after a number of piercing solo runs through the Boden defence.

Sean Burns showed for the ball throughout the match at full forward and got his just rewards in the second half with a nicely taken goal after some clever forward play by Niall Brady.

 

Kilmacud Crokes:- Stephen Tuite, Michael MacNulty, Owen Shearer, Eoin Buggy, Hugh Mulligan, Barry MacGabhann, Darragh Jones, Conor Fahy, James Dalton, Nathan Slattery, Niall Bezeci, Sean Burns, Niall Brady.