Inters Back on Track
Youthful energy, assured free taking, a superb back sextet and efficient net minding were the foundations of Crokes 1-13 to 0-7 intermediate championship victory over Clanna Gael in Silverpark on Thursday 24th July 2008. The victory gets the team back on track for a quarter final place with the key game to come against group leaders Craobh Chiaran.
Michael Dalton’s second minute goal gave the home team a tonic start. Notwithstanding the visitors pointed straight from the puck out, the Kilmacud men were in the ascendancy and effectively won the game in the first half adding six points to no further score for the Ringsend team. All the Crokes overs came from frees by corner forward Sean McGrath.
Crokes knew Clan would throw everything at them in the second half. So it proved. Within four minutes the score was 1-6 to 0-3. A thirty sixth minute free from McGrath pegged one back. A few minutes later came the score of the game. Wing back Eamonn Sheehy ran on to a Clan puck out, collected the ball on the run and sent it straight between the posts. Clann replied with a minor which was net bound but for a superb touch by goalkeeper Sweetnam.
At this stage the Clann half backs and midfielders were applying a lot of pressure but their cause was not helped by inaccurate shooting. Manager, Seamus Kennedy’s, move of substitute Eoin Culligan to centre forward was instrumental in curbing the opposition No 6 and relieving some of the pressure. Two points in quick succession from McGrath, the second a free, gave Crokes a nine point margin, 1-10 to 0-4 by the forty third minute. Clann had it back to seven points before a fifty third minute McGrath free made it 1-11 to 0-6. In the time remaining the visitors added one more point, their third converted free, while Crokes raised two white flags thanks to substitute Richie Power and midfielder Damien McSweeney.
The Crokes defenders deserve special mention. With the confidence of playing in front of a goalkeeper on the top of his form, youthful corner backs, Fergus Monnelly and Gary McMorrow, were consistently first to the ball and cleared intelligently. No. 3 Dave Canny turned in a performance to confirm the appropriateness of his surname. Rory O’Carroll manned the pivotal spot admirably and was flanked in excellent fashion by Eamonn Sheehy and Peter Clinton. Up front Sean McGrath was scorer in chief, ably assisted by the ever busy Michael Dalton while Eoin Culligan made a major contribution following his introduction.
Played in good conditions for hurling this was at times a tempestuous game that could have been more authoritatively officiated. Early and firm intervention might have avoided the off the ball incident which left a Crokes player needing stitches after the game. The fact the injured party was red carded along with a seemingly more guilty opponent (one of two Clann men to be ordered off) shortly after his return to the field of play did little to assuage Crokes concerns.
Team: R Sweetnam, G McMorrow, D Canny, F Monnelly, E Sheehy (0-1), R O’Carroll, P Clinton, D McSweeney (0-1), C Sheehan, R O’Loughlin, A McCarthy, E Fingleton, S McNicholas, M Dalton (1-0), S McGrath (0-10, f - 9). Subs: E Culligan for E Fingleton, B Brennan for C Sheehan, R Power (0-1) for A McCarthy, C O’Grady, S Canny, J O’Reilly, D Monnelly, J Barry