Junior B's through to County Final

 

With Paddy Rath and Karl Russell in scintillating form, Crokes had 1-3 on the scoreboard within five minutes. Dara Burke extended the lead with a pointed free in the twelfth minute and it was two minutes later before Crumlin opened their account with a goal from long range. They quickly added another two minors and suddenly the game was much tighter. In the twentieth minute Dara Burke raised another white flag from a placed ball and Crokes led 1-5 to 1-2. Four minutes on the same player’s speculative lob deceived the local net minder and Crokes were 2-5 to 1-2 ahead. With three minutes left in the opening half an Adrian Crean point concluded the scoring.

 

Crumlin reduced the margin by a point within sixty seconds of the restart. Five minutes on Burke popped over his third. The Crumlin left corner forward matched this before Adrian Crean restored the Crokes lead to seven points. In the forty third minute Kilmacud keeper, Sean Garvey, had to go full stretch to keep his net intact. The ball was cleared but Crumlin got a point back from their next attack. Four Crokes wides followed before a Crumlin substitute struck for a goal in the fifty first minute and it was 2-8 to 2-5. A nervous ten minutes ensued for the Stillorgan faithful as they saw their side record another five wides although a well taken final score of the game by Karl Russell in the fifty third minute did give a measure of comfort.

 

Overall Crokes were the superior team. The defence was solid throughout with Paddy Igoe, Darren McVeigh and Aidan Byrne particularly impressing. James O’Keeffe played a solid game at midfield. Offensively Karl Russell, Paddy Rath, Adrian Crean and Dara Burke gave the loser’s defence a torrid time. Crokes now await the winners of the other semi final between Good Counsel and Lucan Sarsfields.

 

Team: S Garvey, P Ryan, P Igoe, C O’Keeffe, D McVeigh, J Byrne, A Byrne, J Walsh, J O’Keeffe, D Burke, JR Hunt, K Russell, J Healy-Hayes, P Rath, A Crean. Subs: C Caulfield for J Healy-Hayes (half time, inj), B Sheehan for JR Hunt (55 mins), T O’Sullivan for P Rath (57 mins) and C Cunningham for J Walsh (61 mins)