Victories for both Minor Teams in League
Both Minor teams emerged victorious in their respective League matches on a beautiful Sunday, 1 April 2012.
MHL1 v Whitehall Colmcilles
Another sunny morning in Pairc de Burca saw the Minor Hurlers continue their unbeaten run in the Division 1 league against Whitehall. Although advised that the opposition were playing a depleted side missing most of their county representatives Crokes were wary of an April fools tryst and took to the pitch to banish the poor performance which saw them win in unconvincing fashion against Brigids on their last outing. Neil Gorey opened the scoring with a beautiful quick strike getting out in front of his marker which saiked over the bar. Shortly after Barry Horan broke his scoring famine with a goal which initially appeared to have hit the side netting but was awarded by the umpires who had a clear close view of proceedings. Whitehall did manage to win a number of frees - an aspect of their play that Crokes will need to be mindful of but whatever forces were prevalent for the northsiders - there seemed to be a magnetic forcefield around the Crokes uprights as they drove 5 or 6 frees and 65's wide in the opening half.
While missing a few ourselves includng Cian McGabhann Ross McGowan Mark O'Loughlin (who we hear is making a good recovery and who we wish well) Matthew Geraghty and Conor Devins, it gave manager Niall Kavanagh the opportunity to test the strength in depth of the panel giving starts to Ciaran McIntyre and Dara O'Gallchobhair and the lads stood up to be counted with Dara at half forward pointing to register his presence. In the first half Oisin O'Ruairc led the charge from midfield ably backed up by KJ McGowan. Oisin recorded two points from play along with a pointed free while Caolan Conway went one better with 3 from play and one free. Added to this Conor O'Dwyer and a second point from Neil in excellent form left the hosts leading 1-11 to 0-2 at the break.
The Whitehall challenge never let up though and a long break intervened in the start of the second half before Crokes registered the next score with Oisin slotting another point. During this time the back row of David Corish fresh back from injury denied the visitors the goal they needed to revitalise them, with Odhran O'Siuchru and James Murphy keeping their respectve corner forwards quiet. Rob Murphy fresh from county activity on Saturday showed no signs of releasing his grip on the centre half position covering all Whitehall attempted raids with a firm rebuff. Cian Gormley was an excellent ball mover along the wings never letting up in his determination despite the scoreline. Neil added to his tally with three more scores - two from play always going the direct route with a quick strike which is earning him a good reputation in corner forward. Donal Keane, now moved in to full forward was unlucky not to hit the net on a couple of occaisions but the Whitehall defence was resolute and he had to be happy to add a point to our tally. Conor O'Dwyer and Dara also added points and with Mikey Herlihy keeping his third successive clean sheet in goals the visitors were confined to two points in the second half leaving a final score of Kilmacud Crokes 1-21 Whitehall 0-4. Mikey O'Dwyer and Mark McCallion came on in the second half and showed that these are two to watch as they certainly accounted for themselves ably and registered a further challenge to places on this very talented team.
Team : M Herlihy O O'Siuchru D Corish J Murphy C Gormley R Murphy D O'Gallchobhair (0-2) O ORuairc (0-6) KJ McGowan D Keane (0-1) B Horan (1-0) C McIntyre N Gorey (0-5) C Conway (0-4) C O'Dwyer (0-3) Subs M McCallion and MO'Dwyer
MHL3 v St Peregrines
In Division 3, the B's beat St Peregrine's by 8-10 to 2-15.
For fine day on a firm pitch we had notable debuts at minor for our U16 players.
In a high scoring game where the visitors scored a single score more than the home team, it was very much a case of goals (comprehensively) win matches.
The open exchanges were even enough, with a series of points being traded. We were obliged to play 14-a-side with 3 in midfield – And as game progressed we could see a better balance in our team layout; The rearguard of keeper Herlihy, Collins and Doyle were most resolute at stopping any goal chances. A first-year minor trio of O'Flanagain, O'Murchu and Bedford were very solid in the critical half-back line.
Crowley took on free-taking responsibilities and more critically opportunistically bagged 2 1st half goals, to open up a gap. However Peregrines were able, via a series of white flag scores, to keep in contention. Approaching half-time O'Shea chased down a lost-cause sliothar and from an acute angle put it high across the square and O'Sullivan sprang forward to make a volley/deft-flick worthy of the centre court to raise another green flag.
Half-Time St Peregrines 0.8 KC 3.6. In the second half, as the midfield dynamic duo of Horgan and Campion dominated possession, the team grew in commitment and confidence, Faughey and debutante Coakley snapped a brace of goals, and Egan raised another green flag. The final gap in the scoreline didn’t do justice to a sporting home team, that also kept up a good scoring rate.
Final Score St Peregrines 2-15, KC 8-10.
Team: Peter Herlihy, Mark Collins, Karl Doyle, Sean Bedford, D O’Murchu, Kevin O Flannagain, Ronan Horgan, Ed Campion, Graham Healy-Hayes, Stephen Faughey, Philip OShea (Capt), Michael Crowley, Louis O’Sullivan, Adam Spollen, Andrew Ahern, Conor Egan, Daniel Coakley
Scorers M Crowley 2-7 (5f), D Coakley 2-1, L O’Sullivan 1-1, S Faughey 2-0, C Egan 1-0, D O’Murchu 0-1
You can see images of the MHL1 match v Whitehall by clicking HERE or on the image below!
