Our junior ‘A’ footballers by virtue of a deserved 1-8 to 0-8 victory over Mitchelstown in the final at Glanworth last Sunday afternoon retained the Division One league trophy which they won last year.
From the throw-in, Kildorrery showed no little measure of spirit and determination with the defence marking tightly and forcing the Mitchelstown forwards into errors.
Andrew O’Brien opened the scoring with a point from a free in the fourth minute and Dave Roche tagged on another less than two minutes later. Kildorrery had a third point in the eight minute courtesy of Stephen Coughlan before Tom opened their account two minutes later.
By the end of the first quarter they had drawn level at 0-3 each. Both sides were guilty of inaccuracy from very scoreable positions but inside the last quarter the losers added two points to their tally while Kildorrery could only manage one from an Andrew O’Brien free, three minutes from half-time, at which juncture Mitchelstown led 0-5 to 0-4.
Two minutes into the second half a long delivery from Mike Monaghan was fisted to the net by Dave White for the only goal of the game and which was to prove to be the decisive score.
John Paul Coughlan added a point to make the score 1-5 to 0-5 by the 35th minute. Mitchelstown came back with two points to trail by a single point before ten minutes of this half had elapsed.
Andrew O’Brien was again accurate from a placed ball to leave the score 1-6 to 0-7 by the end of the third quarter.
The sides exchanged a point again before Andrew O’Brien had his fifth point from frees with less than a minute of normal time remaining and this proved to be the last score of the game.
Kildorrery forwards were denied what looked like certain goals, by great saves from the loser’s keeper, in this second half. At the other end, Brendan Hannon, was in superb form, bringing off one top drawer save in the 55th minute.
This was a great all-round performance from the winners, who were forced to line out without Stephen Kent, Tom Whelan and Austin Walsh of the championship side. Well done to all concerned - players, team manager, Johnny McCarthy and his selectors.
|
|
