Junior A's v Scoil Ui Chonaill - Honours even in thriller

The Junior A team played Scoil Ui Chonaill on Tuesday night, 17 July 2012, in Clontarf in the league.

This was a top of the table clash, as Scoil remain unbeaten in the league and we had only lost one match.  Scoil are a very experienced team and we travelled with a very young panel.

Playing with the breeze in the first half Crokes settled in quickly, with a two pointed frees from Conor, following fouls on Fionnan. Scoil came back with points but, following good work from Conal Peter and Paddy, Fionnan volleyed a breaking ball to the net to put Crokes a goal ahead. It was nip and tuck for the remainder of the first half, with Conor pointing more frees following fouls on Damien (who was everywhere), Barry Peter and Fionnan. With our backs led by Jamie, Emmet and John playing well we ended the first half with Crokes leading by 1-05 to 0-06 ahead.

The second half started in glorious sunshine and finished in a downburst but no one noticed given the tightness and quality of the match. Scoil had the breeze and came at us in waves, but our backs were excellent and the full back line of Fergus and the two James’ stopped Scoil scoring goals and Paddy was superb under the barrage. Our forwards worked hard and we scored some good points from well worked play with Conal’s scores being the highlights, following great work by Barry and Matthew. Scoil came back to level but we went ahead again with a point from Paddy. Scoil came back to level again, as we went into added time and from the puck out we won a free for yet another foul on Fionnan. However the angle was too tight and Scoil escaped with a draw.

This left the final score Kilmacud Crokes 1-11 Scoil Ui Chonaill 0-14 in as good a junior match as I have seen in a long time.

Team: Paddy Tighe, Fergus Monnelly, James O'Keeffe, James Murphy, Jamie Clinton, Emmet Doherty, John Huban, Matthew Geraghty, Conal O'Neill, Conor Caulfield, Damien McSweeney, Barry Horan, Fionnan Motherway, Paddy Rath, Peter Clinton.

Subs: Oisin O'Carroll, Conor O'Dwyer for Damien McSweeney, Joe Walsh for Peter Clinton, Mikey O'Dwyer, Eoin Murphy, Matt Kinsella for Barry Horan, Richie Power.

Scorers: Conor Caulfield 0-06 (5f),  Fionnan Motherway 1-01, Conal O'Neill 0-02, Paddy Rath 0-01

Report by Kieran Dowling