U15s beat Na Fianna in Championship
Competition: U15 Hurling Division 1 Championship
Management Team: Donie Dowling, David Moran and Liam O'Carroll.
Scorers: Crokes: Jamie Clinton (0-2), Justin Cassidy (1-1), Ross McGowan (1-0), Alex Pilkington (0-5), Fionan Motherway (0-2).
Match throw-in at 7.00 pm on Silverpark 2 pitch on a beautiful evening. After all the recent wet weather it was lovely to come out and enjoy some real Championship fare. The grass had been cut so the pitch was in a perfect condition for hurling. A Splendid victory over Na Fianna especially after they had decisively beaten us earlier in the year in our League campaign on the same pitch.
A great performance from our U15 Hurlers and those who joined us from the U14 team.
A good team performance overall with some great heart being shown and fighting to the bitter end.
Na Fianna started off better and took the first score.Crokes settled down and registered their first few points.We gave away a number of frees during the first period and luckily, the Na Fianna shooters were not very sharp, being wide of the mark with a few shots. Crokes looked threatening however and 2 shots off the crossbar yielded nothing. We pushed ahead to lead by a point but a soft goal to Na Fianna put them back in pole position.
It was real Championship fare, fighting hard for every ball and every score but Na Fianna led 1-05 to 0-5 at the interval.
We had a minute's silence for Fionan Motherway's Dad who died suddenly last week, before the ball was thrown in after the interval.While Na Fianna registered the first point of the 2nd half, Crokes became more dominant as the 2nd half progressed and kept plugging
away with a few extra points. A great goal from Ross McGowan breathed some more life into Crokes and some more points eventually gave us a lead. Our backs fought hard to repel any attacks but a well taken opportunity by a Na Fianna forward put us on the back foot again.
Crokes were not lying down however and persistent attacks kept us in touch and dominant but failed to yield much. A disputed point for Crokes was not given. Barry O'Farrell came on as a substitute and unfortunately in a melee, was pulled upon and had to leave the field after only a short spell; this turned out to be a broken bone in his arm and we wish him well in his recovery as it is now in plaster of paris.
Crokes kept hammering away and what we finally thought was the equalising point, somehow seems to have been lost on the referees list. Alex Pilkington after many forays into the Na Fianna back line eventually broke free to provide Justin Cassidy with an opportunity to score the winning goal in the dying minutes of the game. Concentration, harrying and blocking for the final 2 minutes is testament to great enthusiasm and effort in the back line.
A credit to both sets of players as it was true Championship fare with tension until the bitter end. Overall I believe we were the better team and delighted with the win. Shane Moran who had been injured earlier but was encouraged to play on by his father turned out to have a broken bone in his hand so we wish Barry and Shane well in their recovery.
Kilmacud Crokes:
Squad: P Tighe, C O'Dwyer, C O'Neill, S Boyd, C Delaney, O O'Carroll, E O'Doherty, S Moran, J Huban, A Pilkington, F Motherway, J Cassidy, J Clinton, R McGowan, N Carr, K Finn, N Hanley, B O'Farrell, C Gormley, C Sweeny, K Kelly, B Horan, M Geraghty.
Injured : J O'Brien .
Report by Liam O'Carroll