Seniors Secure Quarter Final Spot

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On a dry windy Saturday (26th August 2006) afternoon at O’Toole Park Kilmacud Crokes secured their place in the quarter final of the Dublin senior hurling championship with a 2-17 to 1-9 victory over Naomh Mearnog.

 

Crokes opened brightly and in the very first minute Fergal Armstrong popped over a 50 metre point.  In the third minute he did the same from a free following a foul on James Burke.  A minute later a pointed free opened the Portmarnock team’s account.  This was followed almost immediately by another white flag resulting from some poor Crokes marking.  The Kilmacud men then spurned a number of chances before Donal McGovern tapped over from an Armstrong pass.  In the thirteenth minute Armstrong pointed from a free after a foul on Brian Motherway.  Two minutes on, Mearnog pointed and in the seventeenth minute good combination by Daibhi de Paor and Brian Motherway set up James Burke who forcefully bore down on goal only to see his shot go just over.

 

In the twentieth minute the Crokes lead was stretched when Armstrong pointed following a foul on Hugh Gannon.  At this stage Crokes were well on top with the defence in command with Conor O’Connor, Damian Byrne and Cormac de Frein well holding their men.  Unfortunately they were unable to press home the advantage with a twenty second minute goal attempt by James Burke well saved by the Mearnog keeper.  In the twenty fifth minute Hugh Gannon found the forward moving Fionan Moriarty who made no mistake when stretching the lead by a point.  This was followed by a 60 metre point from James Burke from a Damian Walsh pass.

 

When the Mearnog keeper put the puck out over the line it looked as if Crokes were in control but that perception changed when a 80 metre Portmarnock free went all the way to the net.  In a flash, from an excellent puck out, James Burke snatched the ball and had it over the bar.  Almost straight away Mearnog responded in kind from a 25 metre free and tacked on another minor just before half time to leave the score 0-10 to 1-5.

 

Tactical changes at half time seemed to have an instant effect when within three minutes of the re-start, Crokes, now playing against the wind, had two more points on the board from James Burke and Niall Murphy.  In the thirty fourth minute Mearnog pulled one back from a free before Niall Murphy had the umpires searching for the white flag three minutes later after a long run.  Within a minute Mearnog had claimed another point from a free only for Murphy to point again following a pass from Dave Mahony to Adrian Grogan who found the left half forward.  Again Mearnog pulled one back from a free before Fergal Armstrong pointed a 65 metre free when Connor O’Connor was fouled.  This earned a pointed reply from 40 metres.  From the puck out James Burke caught the sliothar and sent it to Damian Walsh.  Walsh sent it on to Brian Motherway who goaled with a lift and strike.

 

Six minutes passed before Niall Murphy pointed having been well placed by Aodhan de Paor and Brian Motherway goaled from a lovely Damian Walsh pass.  For the remaining ten minutes Crokes were on top but only two points were recorded, one from each side – the Crokes score coming from Brian Motherway.  All in all it was satisfactory day for Crokes with the objective of a quarter final place being achieved even if it took some considerable time to put daylight between the teams and a lot of placed ball scores were conceded.  The quality of play was not helped by the condition of the pitch with the grass being far too long for hurling.

 

 

Team

 

Macdara O’hOgain, Adrian Grogan, Dave Mahony, Cormac de Frein, Fionan Moriarty (0-1), Conor O’Connor, Damien Byrne, Hugh Gannon, Fergal Armstrong (0-5, f -4), Niall Murphy (0-4), James Burke (0-4), Donal McGovern (0-2), Damian Walsh, Brian Motherway (2-1), Daibhi de Paor.  Subs: Aodhan de Paor for Daibhi de Paor, Declan Walsh for Fionan Moriarty, Paul Graham for Donal McGovern, Eoin Roche for Damian Walsh, Fergus Garvey, Davy Baker, Derry Collins, Eoin de Paor, Tomas Donohue, Niall Butler and Richie Power.

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