Leinster Club Championship: Crokes move into Semis

Body
 Crokes move into Semis

 

10/11/08 - further update: 

Photos from the Leinster campaign on view here (courtesy of Daire Brennan of Sportsfile)

(Click here to see all Crokes's albums stored in Google land!)

Another tough assignment today against the Louth champions, Newtown Blues, and another important win on a score of 1-13 to 1-9.  Crokes led 0-9 to 0-3 at halftime playing fast football on a glue-pot pitch.  However, the familiar pattern of our recent games continues: get an early grip on proceedings, move into a 5-7 points lead and then defend from the ropes as the opposition grab their 10-15 minutes of dominance before drawing on deep reserves to fashion a win!  The coolest people in Parnell Park these days are the mentors whose demeanour suggests they have total faith in their team and ..... why not?  They have shown their nervy supporters that they have the fitness, composure, skillset and courage to win tight games by a variety of ingenious approaches.  This time it required an exquisite finish by Mark Vaughan, with less than 6 minutes remaining, diagonally across the goals into the only 6" of space available.  This was just reward for our blonde bombshell who had worked tirelessly throughout as did our other super marksman, Brian Kavanagh.  Together they accounted for 1-12 of the total with the other score falling to the returning Ray Cosgrove who played an important role in the win.

It's been a hectic few weeks and the legs are weary (that's just the supporters!!) but the prospect of a mouth-watering encounter with Navan O'Mahonys in the semi-final is the tonic required at this stage!  That match will be played in Parnell Park in 2 weeks time (Nov 23rd).


See Hill16's view of proceedings today here and below:

KILMACUD CROKES (Dublin) 1-13 NEWTOWN BLUES (Louth) 1-9

A superb Mark Vaughan goal five minutes from time saw Kilmacud Crokes survive a major scare in this Leinster Club SFC quarter-final at Parnell Park on Suday afternoon.

The Dublin champions led 0-9 to 0-3 at half-time and had extended that lead to 0-11 to 0-4 by the 43rd minute and looked to be coasting to victory. However, they were then rocked by 1-5 without reply over the next ten minutes as the men from the Wee County bounded into a one-point lead, 1-9 to 0-11.

But Crokes showed their mettle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat inspired by a sublime finish from Vaughan when he latched onto a crossfield ball from Jonny Magee before driving a low shot to the corner of the net from 20 metres.

Two points from play from Brian Kavanaghn sealed the deal as Crokes - playing their sixth game in 25 days - progressed to meet Meath champions Navan OMahonys - impressive 1-15 to 0-4 winners over Castledaly (Westmeath) in their quarter-final - in Parnell Park in two weeks time.

SCORERS - Kilmacud Crokes: M Vaughan 1-8 (0-6f), B Kavanagh 0-4, R Cosgrove 0-1. Newtown Blues: H McGinn 0-6 (0-1f), C Judge 0-3 (0-2f), B Kermode 1-0.
KILMACUD CROKES - D Nestor; C Lambe, R O’Carroll, K Nolan; A Morrissey, P Griffin, B McGrath; D Magee, N Corkery; P Burke, M Davoran, R Cosgrove; M Vaughan, J Mageem B Kavanagh. Subs: B O’Rorke for Cosgrove (52).
NEWTOWN BLUES - M Harte; T Costello, A O’Brien, N Costello; J Carr, R Hughes, E Judge; B Kermode, K Lynch; E Judge, C Reynolds, H McGinn; C Judge, J Murray, B Sherkey. Subs: D Nugent for Hughes (19), S Moonan for Sharkey (h-t), B Phillips for N Costello (42), J Kermode for Murray (47), I McManus for T Costello (59).
REF - J Curley (Meath).

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