Kilmacud Crokes Under-15 Boys Feile Summary

Congratulations to our 2010 Under-15 Féile Peil Boys group, who finished their championship on Sunday with seven wins from eight fantastic games of football – a great end to the competition.

The “Super Sunday” of finals commenced early on Sunday 9 February, following a number of nail biting matches over three previous weekends of football.  We had our KC4 team in the Division 12 cup, and KC1, 2 and 3 qualifying for the shield competition in Divisions 1, 4 and 7 respectively. The format for the finals this year was closer to the traditional Féile format of previous years, with a series of semi finals taking place in the morning, followed by a final in the afternoon in host clubs across Dublin.

So, with the kit bags packed, and the players and cars fuelled, four teams headed northside early on Sunday morning, all hoping that they would not be crossing back over the Liffey before midday! Thankfully this turned out to be the case, with all teams coming through their respective semi finals in the morning.

KC4 were hosted by St Bridget’s in their cup competition. They were against the odds, as if the semi final against Oliver Plunketts ER was won, they would face old rivals St Brigids who would have home advantage, and who would be fresh as they benefited from a bye straight through to the final.

However, having been five points down at halftime, they came back to win convincingly, 2-9 to 3-2. But history was to repeat itself in the final! They finished the first half four points down. Following a passionate half time talk, the lads came back onto the pitch determined to win. They never gave up, worked for each, and despite vociferous home support and the tough tackling from an unbeaten Brigid's team, Crokes won by 3-6 to 1-3 to bring the cup back to Glenalbyn. A phenomenal way for the lads to finish their Féile campaign.

KC1 played St Vincent’s in the Division 1 final, having beaten Ballymun Kickhams in the morning. A bright start from Vinnies saw the Crokes back lines under serious pressure from the start with the ball rarely leaving the Crokes half in the opening 10 minutes but, with a solid work rate, the Crokes defence did enough to keep the score line down, and finished the first half with a surprising 1 point advantage, 1-3 to 1-2. Lessons having been learnt about half time leads from earlier in the season, Crokes drove on to play some of their best football of the season. St Vincents were only to score one more point in the second half, and Kilmacud ran out 11 point winners in the end, 2-11 to 1-3.

KC2 played Erin’s Isle in the division 4 decider after having come through an epic battle with St Peter’s earlier in the day. Erin’s Isle started the stronger and got off to a flyer with a score from their first attack, Crokes' cause not helped by receiving a black card two minutes into the game but responded with two quick points. Isles kicked on again with the man advantage but Crokes dug deep and only conceded once more while being a man down. The game was evenly poised going into the second half and with Crokes playing against a strong breeze but they dug in and got a couple of quick fire goals top put themselves and held off the last couple of minute onslaught from Erin’s isle to run out 4-3 to 1-7 winners. Every member of the panel contributed to the overall success on the day.
 

KC3 travelled to Whitehall in the Division 7 final. Their first game was a tough contest against Namoh Fionnbarra. After a nail biting contest, they eventually came out winners 2-5 to 2-4, giving them something to play for in the afternoon. Unfortunately, they were to come up against St Finians of Newcastle, who had dominated Whitehall in their semi final, and continued to show their strength versus Crokes in the final. The final score was 4-12 to 1-0. 

It was then back to the clubhouse for all teams, with KC4 being clapped into the club as cup winners. 

Thank you to all the boys for representing the club so well over the last 2 months, and to their parents who supported them along the way, through the highs and lows of the campaign. Thanks to our mentors, who have been preparing for the season since December. But no rest – the league starts in two weeks! A final word of appreciation goes to our generous sponsors of the Féile gear – following this weekend, the boys will be wearing the Crokes colours with pride for some time to come.