Adult Football Championship Reports.
Inters : Junior 1 Championship Final
The big day arrived for our Inter Footballers as we headed to Ballgriffen in big numbers for the final against Fingallians
We travelled with a certain amount of trepidation ,as Fins results to date were very impressive. They beat Ballyboden in their round robin game by 7 points, while we beat the same opposition by 4 in the Qtr. Final. They beat Kilmacud Crokes in the Qtr. Final by 7 ,while we beat the same opposition by 4 in our round robin match. We played down the hill in the first half with the aid of a strong wind that was blowing into the corner. From the throw in Fins showed full intent ,when a good movement saw them break the defence line easily, but their shot for goal was brilliantly saved by Peter O Curry. We were getting some good ball into the forwards, but we found it hard to finish due to the tricky wind. In the eight minute we broke the deadlock when Joey Quirke went on a diagonal run before a lay off to Shane Mc Cann who slotted over a point. We followed up with another when a good lay off from Jack Long to John Clair cleared the black spot. The first of our goal chances came when Johnny Quirke made a dazzling run through the middle ,but his shot was saved and the rebound was driven over. John Clair kicked another point to leave the score after 14 minutes, 4pts to nil. Fins first score ,a point came in the 18th minute. We had another half gaol chance when Shane Mc Cann intercepted the Fins kick out ,but instead of laying off, his speculative attempted lob of the keeper went narrowly wide. The next point came when Jack Long won a one on one and his lay off to Joey Quirke was cooly kicked over. On the 20th minute, with the score at 7pts to 1 we lost the experienced Peter o Curry to injury, but his replacement ,the young Oisin Cronin did his job very well for the remainder of the game. We followed with a well worked point from John Clair and another from Joey Quirke from a good turnover. Our goal arrived just before half time ,when Naoise Cronin fielded a Fins kick out among a pile of players and laid off to John Clair . John speculative shot deceived the Fins keeper and dropped into the corner of the net. The goal could not have some at a better time, as it left the score 1-8 to 0-3 at HT, giving us a bit more breathing space.
Fins got the first score of the second half , a point in the 44th minute. We then lost another experience player ,Shane Mc Cann to injury , to be replaced by the experience Sam Tully. The tackles were coming in hard and fast when Fins kicked another point . We then had a let off when a Fins player broke the tackles coming in from the wing, but his blistering shot came off the crossbar to go over .Fins kicked the next point to narrow the gap to 4 points. We then had our best QTR of the match. The full back line of Cormac O Dwyer , Finn Nolan and Karl Mc Donald were winning the high balls that were delivered in by Fins and our half backs were winning breaking balls. We got our first score of the second half in the 46th minute ,when Jack Kenneally at centre back won a dirty ball and his layoff to Eoghan Seoighe saw Eoghan take on his man and kick a point. John Clair kicked the next 2 points, one from a tight angled free , the other from play when Finn Nolan laid off to him following a burst up the field. We then created 2 goal chances from excellent movements, but failed to take either. While Fins kicked 2 points on the trot we came back with a point from a free , when Johhny Quirke was fouled following another great run. Joey his brother kicked another point and with 5 minutes left the score was 1-14 to 0-7 . The last 2 points for us were excellent scores. Johnny Quirke going on a 40 m run, cutting in from the wing to hand pass over. Then to finish Finn Nolan broke the tackles coming out of defence , laid off to Paddy Quinn Glennon who delivered a 40m pass to Jack Long. Finn continued his run to take it off Jack to split the posts . Final score 1-16 to 0-8. So we scored 8 points in 16 minutes mins in the second half and as stated, some of very high quality. Numerous players stood out but the way we carved out this win was due to a massive team effort.
After all the years of near misses and disappointments , we reached the holy grail. In the last 10 years we contested 1 final, 2 semifinals and 3 QTR finals . It is a further indication of what this team achieved in that it had a mayor rebuild over the last 2 years ,when a number of players moved up to Senior and also a number moved to the comfort of Junior B football. It is therefore a great credit to the Management Team of Colm O Donnell, Aidan Field, Brian Monaghan , Peter O Curry and Darren Chambers. Next year we will play intermediate Championship, which will be another big challenge ,as we come up against the big hitters of the likes of Crokes and Na Fianna. That’s for another day as the celebrations went on into the early hours of Monday morning. Many of the players will get an opportunity to shake off the affects when they start their preparation for the U21 championship this week.
Junior B : Jun 6 Championship
The Junior Bs maintained their unbeaten record with a hard fought win against Wanderers in a blustery Marlay Park on Sunday afternoon. So the march for the double , league and championship continues.
Playing with the wind at their backs in the first half it took a while to adjust to the conditions and to break down a resolute Wanderers defence but eventually the scores started to land. Points from Colly O'Donnell, Billy Daveron Ciaran McCabe and Cian Duffy steadied matters leaving the score at 5 points to 1 after 12 minutes . Wanderers scored a fine solo goal leaving nothing between the sides with 15 minutes gone. A couple of "2 pointers" from Cian Hallinan and an opportunistic goal from Shane McGonagle after Brian Monahan cleverly played the ball off the keeper left the HT score 1-9 to 1-2.
An early point from Cian Duffy in the second half followed by further points from Colly O'Donnell, DJ Corbett, Sean Duffy and Ciaran McCabe meant a comfortable second half before the score of the game from Cael Maher wrapped matters up on a scoreline of 1-15 to the 1-5. Two interesting points on the match . Colly O Donnell and Brian Monahan after managing the Inter team to Junior 1 Championship honours turned in great performances. I am sure their pints tasted great in the clubhouse after. The other was Ciaran Mc Cabe kicking 3 great points from wing back. It shows that you can improve with age.
The semi final is fixed for Sunday November 3rd against Templeogue Synge Street in Marlay Park at 2-30.
Inters : Junior 1 Championship Final
The big day arrived for our Inter Footballers as we headed to Ballgriffen in big numbers for the final against Fingallians
We travelled with a certain amount of trepidation ,as Fins results to date were very impressive. They beat Ballyboden in their round robin game by 7 points, while we beat the same opposition by 4 in the Qtr. Final. They beat Kilmacud Crokes in the Qtr. Final by 7 ,while we beat the same opposition by 4 in our round robin match. We played down the hill in the first half with the aid of a strong wind that was blowing into the corner. From the throw in Fins showed full intent ,when a good movement saw them break the defence line easily, but their shot for goal was brilliantly saved by Peter O Curry. We were getting some good ball into the forwards, but we found it hard to finish due to the tricky wind. In the eight minute we broke the deadlock when Joey Quirke went on a diagonal run before a lay off to Shane Mc Cann who slotted over a point. We followed up with another when a good lay off from Jack Long to John Clair cleared the black spot. The first of our goal chances came when Johnny Quirke made a dazzling run through the middle ,but his shot was saved and the rebound was driven over. John Clair kicked another point to leave the score after 14 minutes, 4pts to nil. Fins first score ,a point came in the 18th minute. We had another half gaol chance when Shane Mc Cann intercepted the Fins kick out ,but instead of laying off, his speculative attempted lob of the keeper went narrowly wide. The next point came when Jack Long won a one on one and his lay off to Joey Quirke was cooly kicked over. On the 20th minute, with the score at 7pts to 1 we lost the experienced Peter o Curry to injury, but his replacement ,the young Oisin Cronin did his job very well for the remainder of the game. We followed with a well worked point from John Clair and another from Joey Quirke from a good turnover. Our goal arrived just before half time ,when Naoise Cronin fielded a Fins kick out among a pile of players and laid off to John Clair . John speculative shot deceived the Fins keeper and dropped into the corner of the net. The goal could not have some at a better time, as it left the score 1-8 to 0-3 at HT, giving us a bit more breathing space.
Fins got the first score of the second half , a point in the 44th minute. We then lost another experience player ,Shane Mc Cann to injury , to be replaced by the experience Sam Tully. The tackles were coming in hard and fast when Fins kicked another point . We then had a let off when a Fins player broke the tackles coming in from the wing, but his blistering shot came off the crossbar to go over .Fins kicked the next point to narrow the gap to 4 points. We then had our best QTR of the match. The full back line of Cormac O Dwyer , Finn Nolan and Karl Mc Donald were winning the high balls that were delivered in by Fins and our half backs were winning breaking balls. We got our first score of the second half in the 46th minute ,when Jack Kenneally at centre back won a dirty ball and his layoff to Eoghan Seoighe saw Eoghan take on his man and kick a point. John Clair kicked the next 2 points, one from a tight angled free , the other from play when Finn Nolan laid off to him following a burst up the field. We then created 2 goal chances from excellent movements, but failed to take either. While Fins kicked 2 points on the trot we came back with a point from a free , when Johhny Quirke was fouled following another great run. Joey his brother kicked another point and with 5 minutes left the score was 1-14 to 0-7 . The last 2 points for us were excellent scores. Johnny Quirke going on a 40 m run, cutting in from the wing to hand pass over. Then to finish Finn Nolan broke the tackles coming out of defence , laid off to Paddy Quinn Glennon who delivered a 40m pass to Jack Long. Finn continued his run to take it off Jack to split the posts . Final score 1-16 to 0-8. So we scored 8 points in 16 minutes mins in the second half and as stated, some of very high quality. Numerous players stood out but the way we carved out this win was due to a massive team effort.
After all the years of near misses and disappointments , we reached the holy grail. In the last 10 years we contested 1 final, 2 semifinals and 3 QTR finals . It is a further indication of what this team achieved in that it had a mayor rebuild over the last 2 years ,when a number of players moved up to Senior and also a number moved to the comfort of Junior B football. It is therefore a great credit to the Management Team of Colm O Donnell, Aidan Field, Brian Monaghan , Peter O Curry and Darren Chambers. Next year we will play intermediate Championship, which will be another big challenge ,as we come up against the big hitters of the likes of Crokes and Na Fianna. That’s for another day as the celebrations went on into the early hours of Monday morning. Many of the players will get an opportunity to shake off the affects when they start their preparation for the U21 championship this week.
Junior B : Jun 6 Championship
The Junior Bs maintained their unbeaten record with a hard fought win against Wanderers in a blustery Marlay Park on Sunday afternoon. So the march for the double , league and championship continues.
Playing with the wind at their backs in the first half it took a while to adjust to the conditions and to break down a resolute Wanderers defence but eventually the scores started to land. Points from Colly O'Donnell, Billy Daveron Ciaran McCabe and Cian Duffy steadied matters leaving the score at 5 points to 1 after 12 minutes . Wanderers scored a fine solo goal leaving nothing between the sides with 15 minutes gone. A couple of "2 pointers" from Cian Hallinan and an opportunistic goal from Shane McGonagle after Brian Monahan cleverly played the ball off the keeper left the HT score 1-9 to 1-2.
An early point from Cian Duffy in the second half followed by further points from Colly O'Donnell, DJ Corbett, Sean Duffy and Ciaran McCabe meant a comfortable second half before the score of the game from Cael Maher wrapped matters up on a scoreline of 1-15 to the 1-5. Two interesting points on the match . Colly O Donnell and Brian Monahan after managing the Inter team to Junior 1 Championship honours turned in great performances. I am sure their pints tasted great in the clubhouse after. The other was Ciaran Mc Cabe kicking 3 great points from wing back. It shows that you can improve with age.
The semi final is fixed for Sunday November 3rd against Templeogue Synge Street in Marlay Park at 2-30.
