KILMACUD CROKES U15 HURLING TEAMS GET OFF TO WINNING FEILE START ON SUNDAY 27th!
KILMACUD CROKES U15 HURLING TEAMS GET OFF TO WINNING FEILE START ON SUNDAY 27th!
(Feile Report by Diarmuid Coogan.)
Credit Photo to - Peter Axelsson
The Kilmacud Crokes Hurling Feile teams were presented with their Feile gear on Friday night by Crokes’ Dublin stars Ronan Hayes, Fergal Whitely and Alex Considine; the “words of wisdom” obviously had the desired effect as both teams played with intensity and no little skill from start to finish in both matches!
KILMACUD CROKES U15B’s 11-9 LUCAN SARSFIELDS U15B’s 1-5.
Given the unavailability of grass pitches due to weather, the U15B’s had an early throw in at 9.15am on the UCD All Weather pitch(Many thanks to U16 Supremo Dominic O’Keefe & Hurling Facilities Officer Vincent Peters for organising.).
This early start had no effect on them and they competed tigerishly for every ball from the start and withing 5 minutes were 2 points up thanks to U14 full forward Gavin King and u14 Centre half forward Liam McCusker.
Playing with the aid of the wind, Crokes’ goalie Mark Beggins launched many attacks with his “booming” puck outs which caused chaos in the Lucan defence in the 1st half; from one such puck out the sliothar was batted around the large square until it came out to Ben Franklin who drove an unstoppable shot into the top left corner after 10 minutes. (KC1-2 LS 0-0)
5 minutes later, Crokes wing Back Charlie Grehan played an intelligent pass to McCusker in space in the centre of the pitch; he carried powerfully before a great shot into the net from 20 metres. (KC 2-2 LS 0-0).
On 18 minutes, corner forward Eoin Lynch gathered the ball on the edge of the large square and showed great control before scoring off his “weak side”. (KC 3-2 LS 0-0)
Worse was to follow for Lucan as Franklin struck for a point but his shot dropped under the bar before the goalie realised what was happening and midfielder Colm Buckley had a similar effort which fooled the keeper. In between, the other midfielder Conor Mullin struck a fine point. (KC 5-3 LS 0-0)
Lucan did put a bit of pressure on for the last 5 minutes of the half but the half back line of Grehan, Aidan Boniel & PJ Phelan were hoovering up copious quantities of possession. Any ball which did get through was dealt with efficiently by corner backs Harry Lynch and Conor Foley. At one stage Lucan drove a very dangerous free into the square which might have dipped under the cross bar but U14 full back Dan Conway made a remarkable high catch and the danger was averted. At the 1/2 time whistle Lucan had only 2 points to show for the pressure. (KC 5-3 LS 0-2)
2nd HALF.
Crokes effectively “put the match to bed” in the 1st few minutes of the half as recently returned half forward Cian Cooper fed Boneil on the edge on the 20 metre line; Boniel “smelt blood” and carried to the left before burying it in the bottom right corner.
Lynch followed up with his 2nd goal a minute later. (KC 7-3 LS 0-2)
Despite being in such a commanding lead, the Crokes players never relented and they “defended from the front” where corner forwards Adam Faughnan and Lynch harried the defence so that they never had an easy clearance. Mullin and King followed up with points and then McCusker scored his 2nd goal after being fed by Boniel. (8-6 to 0-2)
MOVE OF THE MATCH!
Midway through the ½, there was a lovely move involving the 3 U14 players; Conway hoovered up a ball in defence before moving out to the left touch line where he played a clever ball to the unmarked McCusker on the Lucan 65. McCusker struck a high ball towards goal and King plucked it out of the air with his back to goal and turned to strike a delightful point from 20 metres! (KC 9-7 LS 0-4)
Lucan did manage to score a good goal just after and might have added a few more only for the vigilance of Beggins in goal who made several good saves.
Crokes kept the pressure on and Lynch completed his hattrick as did McCusker and Cian Cooper also added a goal. Meanwhile, Mullin demonstrated the art of point scoring with 2 fine efforts from 40 metres.
All in all, it was a complete team performance and the 3 U14 lads combined very well with the U15’s.
Kilmacud Crokes: Mark Beggins, Harry Lynch, Dan Conway, Conor Foley, PJ Phelan, Aidan Boniel, Charlier Grehan, Colm Buckley, Conor Mullin (Capt), Ben Franklin, Liam McCusker, Cian Cooper, Adam Faughnan, Gavin King, Eoin Lynch.
Scorers: L.McCusker 3-1, E.Lynch 3-0, C.Mullin 0-4, G.King 0-4, B.Franklin 2-0, C.Buckley, A.Boniel, C.Cooper 1-0 each.
U15A’S RECORD EMPHATIC WIN OVER BODEN IN FEILE DIVISION 1 OPENER!
KILMACUD CROKES U15A 1-20 BALLYBDOEN St.ENDA’S 0-7
(Match report by Diarmuid Coogan.)
Kilmacud Crokes U15A Hurlers followed up on the strong performance of their B’s with an emphatic win over local rivals Ballyboden in Silverpark on Sunday 27th February.
In doing so they gained a modicum of revenge for their U14 Division 1 Cup Final defeat to the same opposition last October.
From the throw in, it was very apparent that the Crokes lads were “up for it” as they battled for each ball as if their lives depended on it, no one more so than dynamic midfielder Eoghan O’Donovan who showed no fear!
Playing with the aid of the wind, Crokes missed a few early chances and Boden opened the scoring in the 2nd minute with a tidy point from wing forward Fiachra Codd. Crokes got the score board ticking on 3 minutes when centre half forward Fintan Lydon struck a nice point from the left. (KC 0-1 BSE 0-1)
Crokes wing back Rian Robertson won a ball in defence and played a good clearance to wing forward Eamon Kenny who fed midfielder Connie O’Sullivan who then transferred to roving forward Conall Criostoir who put Crokes ahead after 5 minutes, a lead they never relinquished. (0-2 to 0-1)
Lydon & Robertson followed up with further points and then on 12 minutes, goalie Conor Coogan pucked out long to the left where O’Donovan fielded and passed quickly to Lydon inside and he struck a great point. (0-5 to 0-1)
Kenny followed up with a lovely point from the left for Crokes before Codd brought Boden back into it with a free from 20 metres. (KC 0-6 BSE 0-2)
On 16 minutes, Crokes centre back Rory Flannery nailed a trademark free from 60 metres and Boden wing forward James Norris hit a free from 40 metres. (KC 0-7 BSE 0-3)
Crokes had a few worrying moments when Boden got into the large square but Coogan saved well before clearing out to his right; Boden eventually regained possession and Norris struck a fine point from 40 metres on his left. (KC 0-7 BSE 0-4)
From there on Crokes really upped the ante and the full back line of Daithi Linehan, Finnian Donohoe and Thomas Ambrose never gave the Boden forwards “a sniff” of a score with any ball that came in for the remainder of the half. The half back line of James Ryan, Flannery and Robertson aided by O’Donovan and O’Sullivan were winning “dirty ball” and providing many scoring opportunities to their forwards. From such supply Criostoir added points on 20 & 21 minutes. (0-9 to 0-4)
SCORE OF THE 1ST ½!
On 24 minutes, Coogan pucked out long to the left where there was a multi body scrum for the sliothar; Flannery showed great resilience to win possession and pass to Lydon who quickly played it into Criostoir in the left corner. Criostoir “pinned his ears back” and headed towards goal before unleashing a fierce shot which went just over the bar! (0-10 to 0-4)
Flannery and Lydon added further points and then Kenny hit another lovely effort from the left. (0-13 to 0-4)
A minute before ½ time Flannery showed all his composure to land a free from the touchline on the Boden 65 before Lydon hit the “highest point” of the day from 30 metres. (KC 0-15 BSE 0-4)
2ND HALF.
With Robertson having to go off injured (ably deputised for by Hugh Brosnan), the Crokes mentors braced themselves for a Boden reaction in the 2nd half and Boden were thrown a lifeline in the 33rd minute when Crokes Captain James Ryan was sent off after a tackle on Norris.
Codd struck the free from 40 metres on the right and it appeared to be going wide but hit the left post and went over to make it a 10 point game. (KC 0-15 BSE 0-5)
Crokes now faced a stern examination of their character but right from the puck out they responded and after regaining possession, the ball was played into Lydon who ran at the centre of the Boden defence before unleashing a great shot from 20 metres. Boden goalie Rory O’Donoghue did well to save but the sliothar hit the post before rebounding onto his helmet and over the line with Crokes full forward Ross Gargan bearing down!
It was a goal similar to that conceded by Dublin’s Evan Comerford against Mayo the previous week! (1-15 to 0-5)
From there, Boden didn’t really threaten Crokes as they were continually harried for every ball and the 1st line of defence was the full forward line of Cian Moriarty, Ross Gargan & Ronan McNamara who, when not setting up scores for Criostoir or Lydon, denied the Boden defenders any easy clearances.
There was a bit of a lull in the scoring until O’Donovan & Flannery stretched Crokes lead on 45 & 47 minutes respectively. (KC 1-17 BSE 0-5)
Any lingering hopes of a Boden come back evaporated when Codd was sent off for a late tackle on Robertson on 48 minutes.
Boden did have a 20 metre free which Norris drove to the right but the goal line defence was well organised and Flannery batted it out and the danger was cleared.
Flannery added another free from his own half on 52 minutes and the McNamara and u14 sub forward Ryan Crowley combined well on the right before Crowley struck a lovely point from 30 metres. (KC 1-19 BSE 0-7)
Norris added 2 late points for Boden before Criostoir completed the scoring with an efficient point from 20 metres. (KC 1-20 BSE 0-7)
KILMACUD CROKES: C.Coogan,D.Linehan,T.Ambrose,F.Donnohoe,R.Robertson,R.Flannery,J.Ryan(Capt),E.O’Donovan,C.O’Sullivan,C.Criostoir,F.Lydon,E.Kenny, R.McNamara,R.Gargan,C.Moriarty.
Subs: James Friel, Jonathan Axelsson(Moriarty 53),Hugh Brosnan(Robertson 31 mins), Matthew O’Rafferty(McNamara 55), Lochlainn Kennedy(Kenny 56), Ryan Crowley(Gargan 45), Joe Tuliani(O’Sullivan 58).
