Senior Footballers retain joint top position in AFL 1 after a hard fought win over St Judes.
We are now half way through the league campaign and we are joint top with Ballymun Kickhams on 11 pts after 5 wins ,1 draw and 1 loss.
We started the league with a comprehensive victory away to Thomas Davis on a scoreline of 3-14 to 1-10. Our next 2 games were a lot tighter affairs , V Na Fianna 2-10 to 1-11and Clontarf 1-15 to 1-13. We unexpectedly lost to Raheny by the narrowest of margin 1-13 to 0-17 . It was a game we badly missed our midfielder and Captain Eoin Fitzpatrick as the still excellent Brian Fenton dictated the play. Our home match V Kilmacud was also close. Despite leading by 9 points going into the last ten minutes we had to pull out all stops, with the winning point coming from Jack Long. Our next game V Cuala was an end to end intense match between two balanced young teams . In our fourth year in a row away ,we played our best football up the hill in the first half and restricted Cuala to 7 points as at the 50th minutes . However tiredness allowed Cuala in for 2 goals and they then got a 2 pointer free for a 3 up infringement to level the match on a score of 2-10 to 0-16
So onto to Tymon pk on Wednesday night for our match V a young St Judes side who have been making good progress in the league over the last few weeks after a slow start. We got off to a good start with a point from play by Liam Fenton. Judes hit the next score a 2 pointer , their first of 5. A Jack Lundy free followed a good move by Finn Nolan . Tackling was intense on both sides so scores were at a premium, but we got the next score when an great break by Seamus Fenton who gave a lay off to Jack Long for a point. Jack Lundy kicked a point from a tight angle and followed up with another when our full back Matt Gardiner laid off to him on the Judes 14 m line. Our minor Donal O Meara kicked a good point from just inside the arc before Judes hit back with their second 2 pointer. Our best point of the half came from Seamus Fenton who despite been tackled by two Judes players , turned onto his left foot to kick over. Half Time score 0-7 to 0-4.
The second half started brightly with a Jack Lundy free from a tight angle. Then Judes struck with their third 2 pointer. The only goal of the game came when Liam Fenton carried the ball 30 metres , breaking 3 tackles before hitting the back of the net with a rasping shot. A poor turnover on our backline gave Judes a point . An outstanding 30 m foot pass from Donal O Meara to Joey Quirke resulted in a point . With 15 mins left we had a 6 point cushion before Judes brought it back to 5 . A poor turnover in our defence gave Judes their fourth 2 pointer. We rallied and both Jack Lundy and Liam Fenton kicked points. Judes came back with 2 points . Joey Quirke kicked a great point again from the right on his right to leave 4 in it. Judes came back to hit their 5th 2 pointer to leave only 2 in it and so it was squeaky bum time for the last 2 minutes of injury time , However dogged defending ensured victory on a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-5. The game reflected a lot about how the game of football has changed under the new rules. Judes launching pad was their strong mid fielder and they only scored 5 single points with all their other scores coming from 2 pointers. Our position was not helped when Patrick Coleman had to go off injured after 10 mins and our captain Eoin Fitzaptrick having to come on despite only coming back from injury .
Well done to all our players for their huge commitment in pulling off this win. Best for Johns ,were Ronan Murray our young minor keeper making his senior debut in the league and played with the confidence of a veteran , Colm Fitzpatrick at corner back and Finn Nolan in the other corner, the Fenton brother Seamus and Liam , Jack Lundy , our other minor Donal O Meara and Joey Quike who had a difficult first half but kicked 3 excellent points in the second.
Next up is St Pats Donabate in Donabate on Saturday at 4.30
Kieran Duffy
