U13 Footballers win Division1
Ernie will send a report - Peter sent pictures
After being runners up for the last 2 seasons, the U13 A footballers finally got their hands on gold medals! It is a well-deserved reward for a fine group of committed players but having lost our first 3 games and drawn our 4th, league honours looked beyond us back in May. However, a brilliantly consistent run of 10 wins in a row launched us up the table and we never looked back.
But, we travelled to Skerries on Saturday knowing that we had to beat the home team to take the silverware. Skerries had performed well throughout the league and we knew in this winner takes all match that we would have to play to the best of our ability on a pitch that was a fortress for our opposition all season.
We managed to get off to the perfect start when Cian Grassick was put through one on one with the keeper and he finished with aplomb. Points from Sean Guiden, Danny Taaffe and Denis Smith had us nicely settled until we conceded a sloppy goal from a high free lobbed in to the square. Almost immediately though, Josh Bannon went on a trade mark charging run from his half back position and hit an unstoppable shot, high to the roof of the net, we were back in charge. With Danny Taaffe and our midfield skyscrapers, Daragh McLoughney and Andrew Roe working hard and providing a great platform for our forwards, we greeted the half time whistle 2-06 to 1-03 to the good. The opposition goalie pulled of a couple of magnificent saves and we were wondering if we had left it behind us!
The wind shifted at half time, what was blowing across the pitch was now in our faces and we knew that only 30 minutes of championship intensity football would do. Right from the start our defence was solid, led by Jack Boyne the full back line let nothing past them (time and again Jack emerged with the ball glued to his chest) but what did was dealt with by the safe hands of Simon Murphy. Euan Farquarson reads the game so well and he mopped up ball after ball. Josh Reid was marking a top class player but he closed him out. Aaron Coleman at 6 was like Stonewall Jackson, nothing was going past him. Luke Ennis has been a revelation for us this year and with little football behind him he has the potential for huge development and will be an important part of the team next season again. With defences on top for the first 12 minutes of the second half it fell to Denis Smyth and Sean Guiden to keep the score board ticking over for us. Skerries added a point but with Niall Smyth and Conor Hoyne working their socks off in our full forward line it was hard for them to get the ball out and attack us. With 10 minutes to go, wing back, Sean Gibson, sallied forward to knock over a magnificent point from the right hand side line and when Shane O’Neill was fouled going bravely for a 50:50 ball, Denis Smith notched our final score. For the last few minutes we played out the clock in driving wind and rain to take the honours 2-10 to 1-04. A word for the referee, Ian Howley, who was fair and consistent throughout and to Skerries who were magnanimous in defeat. The Paul Doyle Cup was presented to Sean Guiden amidst scenes of great celebration, finally we are no longer runners up.
The aims at the start of the year of course were to try and win the League but we also wanted to bring through and develop as many players as we could. Our subs on Saturday, Pearse Clyne, Odran Monaghan, Sean Mulvey and David Deneher are an important part of the squad, indeed we have played 29 lads in A matches this season, which shows a good depth.
While winning any Division 1 title is an achievement, we hope that this is not the summit of the players ambitions and while we enjoyed Saturday we will be moving forward to think about 2015 in the next few weeks. Defending a title is always hard as every team will want to beat us even more so we will have to come back even stronger.
Thanks to all the players from our other 2 teams who have pushed the lads forward in training every week, many of them came out to support on Saturday. Thanks to the parents for their support and encouragement, to our Sponsors, Securus Insurance (did we put any bonus clauses in that contract Eoin?) and to the club and Juvenile committees who have given us great advice and help and to all who have cheered for us at matches. Finally thanks to Noel Smyth, who brought the team back to the Cock Tavern for some food after the game, a great way to start the celebrations.
