Stylish Crokes strike again with French Connection!

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Kilmacud Crokes got back on track on Thursday night with an impressive and spirited victory away to a strong Raheny side in St. Anne’s. After an evening of patchy rain, the weather cleared just in time for throw-in and a cracking game ensued with both teams making light of the soft underfoot conditions.

On the back of a steady improvement in form over the past few weeks, Crokes were bidding to translate this into a win and they started brightly with the half back line and midfield establishing their dominance from the throw in. Having identified the need to win individual battles with their direct opponent, these two lines were excellent in breaking up the opposition’s forward momentum and supplying quality ball into the forwards. Billy Condon once again showed a cool head to frustrate the opposition while John Galvin and Richie Grant kept them on the back foot with a number of timely interventions. With conditions on the soft side, there were always going to be plenty of frees and fortunately Ian O’Keeffe was on song, knocking over a string of fine frees in the first half to build up a decent lead early on. O’Keeffe was also linking well with Stephen Treacy up the right flank and they were rewarded with a goal midway through the half. With the full back line comfortably holding the hosts in check, Crokes were approaching half-time with a seven point lead (1-7 to 0-3) before a rare Raheny attack brought a scrappy and fortuitous kicked goal leaving just four points in it at the break. Barry Gavigan, who had been giving the full-back a torrid time in the first period was forced to withdraw at the break which was a significant blow as he had already scored two excellent points and had a big hand in the goal.

Spurred on by this, Crokes launched into the second half with gusto and struck an early blow through an Ian O’Keeffe goal and tacked on a few tidy points to pull away once more. Deaglan O Donaill and Pádraig Doheny were well on top in midfield and the game appeared to be beyond the hosts. However, they were not giving up without a fight and had a brief period of pressure in which they forced in a few scores and were giving the backs plenty to think about. Unfortunately for them they found the Crokes defence in fine form, John Mac had the full forward well under the cosh while Tom Mac (replaced by son Niall Mac) and Paul Byrne (despite carrying an injury) were breaking up the point of attack time and again. With Nick Canny in fine form between the sticks, Raheny were struggling to make an impact and were then hit with a sucker punch at the far end with Fred Meyer slamming home a fine effort following excellent work up the right wing by O’Keeffe and Treacy, the Frenchman scoring his second in his last two starts and it capped a fine performance in the left corner.

With time ticking down for the hosts, they tried once again to reassert themselves and struck back with a scrappy goal from a free to tighten the gap in to only a few points. This score however only served to motivate the visitors and the vast improvement in fitness in the side was clear to see as they went on a blitz in the last few minutes with fine scores from Ger Kelly (who had a fine showing up the left wing) and subs Noel Lannigan Ryan and Brian Murphy. As the referee blew the final whistle, Crokes had pulled well ahead and finished with a creditable 3-16 to Raheny’s 3-7, an exceptional return on a wet and slippy evening.

Scorers: Ian O’Keefe 1 – 8; Barry Gavigan 0-2; Gerald Kelly 0-1; Fred Meyer 1-0; Pádraig Doheny 0-1; Stephen Treacy 1- 1; Noel Lannigan Ryan 0-2; Brian Murphy 0-1

(Report by Declan Morris)

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