U21s go down after extra time
A breezy November afternoon in Silverpark on Saturday 11th served up an exciting under 21 championship clash between Crokes and Round Towers.
Towers with twelve of their county intermediate title winning panel in action were strongly favoured and opened their account with a point in the first minute. Kilmacud immediately hit back with a similar score from left half forward Shane O’Rorke. Over the next five minutes, playing against a very strong breeze, the home team applied the pressure but could only produce two wides. Towers attacks in the seventh and eight minutes yielded further minors before Barry O’Rorke pegged one back for Crokes from 13 metres. A minute later the gap was back to two. Two Towers wides followed and in the twelfth minute Kevin Dalton and Barry O’Rorke combined to set Ross O’Carroll up for a point from 30 metres. Towers extended their lead with a 65 metre point on the quarter hour and followed with two wides before Cathal Brugha hit a monster seventy metre free over the bar four minutes later. The same player next dropped in a 55 metre free, after a foul on the hard working Adam Whelan. The Towers defence struggled to clear and a chop on Michael Dalton set up brother Kevin for a pointed free from 40 metres straight in front of the posts.
Parity against the elements with twenty minutes gone was a good position to occupy notwithstanding Crokes having lost full forward Peter Garvey to a blood injury. Unfortunately defensive errors allowed the Clondalkin side in for two goals to give the favourites a six point interval cushion.
On the changeover Crokes went about their business with purpose. Within four minutes Cathal Brugha had pointed a 65 metre free. Three wides in four minutes followed before Shane O’Rorke sent over from 40 metres after a clever intercept. Four minutes on Michael Dalton set up the same player for a 30 metre point and in the forty fourth minute Barry O’Rorke matched his brother’s trick. A long Eamonn Shivnan clearance to Ross O’Carroll three minutes later saw the full forward reduce the gap to the minimum. Another O’Carroll point put Crokes level. In the fifty sixth minute a Cathal Brugha long range free was put out for a sixty five. The centre back duly accepted the placed ball gift and Crokes were ahead. However the concession of two points saw Crokes scrambling to survive and this they did with an excellent Ross O’Carroll point from the right with time almost up.
This brought the game to extra time. In the first period of additional time the Stillorgan team had the wind advantage but were only able to score one point (from Ross O’Carroll in the first minute) to two for Towers in the twelfth and thirteenth minutes. A feature of this period was Towers packing of their half back area, a tactic Crokes found difficult to come to grips with. On the change of ends Ross O’Carroll fed Fergus Garvey, now operating at full forward and hampered by a hand injury. Game as ever, Garvey fed Barry O’Rorke who drew the sides level. In the second minute a poor Crokes clearance gifted Towers a point and two more in successive minutes put a goal between the teams. In the sixth minute, not for the first time, Ross O’Carroll and Shane O’Rorke combined to set the latter up for a point. Crokes continued to press but were unable to score while Towers came downfield for two points. In the final minute Fergus Garvey won a 20 metre free which was moved in front of goal for dissent. Cathal Brugha’s drive against a nine man Towers line just went over the bar and shortly after the referee blew the final whistle on what had been a hard fought encounter. Stars for Croke on the day included Fergus Monnelly at corner back, Fergus Garvey, Ross O’Carroll, Shane O’Rorke and Barry O’Rorke. Even if the result was unfavourable congratulations on a great effort are due to all concerned including the management team of Niall Butler, Brian Murphy, Paddy McCormack and Paul Graham.
Team:
Richie Power, Eamonn Shivnan, Fergus Garvey, Fergus Monnelly, Andrew Hopkins, Cathal Brugha, Niall Lillis, Shea Gillen, Kevin Dalton, Michael Dalton, Ross O’Carroll, Shane O’Rorke, Adam Whelan, Peter Garvey, Barry O’Rorke. Subs: Brian Sheehan for Peter Garvey (inj), Conor Clinton for Shea Gillen, Peter Clinton for Adam Whelan, Shea Gillen for Brian Sheehan, Steven Russell, Rob O’Loughlin.