U14s win over Crokes to go top

Although playing against the wind and strong sun Syls got the perfect start with an early goal but then allowed Crokes to dominate possession for much of the first half. The loss of center back Mikey Dowling early with a hamstring injury seemed to unsettle the home team and the Syls backs were under severe pressure as Crokes ran in a couple of goals and tagged a few points. Syls were not playing well at this point and if it wasn’t for some wayward shooting by Crokes and a few outstanding saves by our goalkeeper Sean O’Connor the half time deficit of 1:2 to 2:5 might have been a lot worse.

Whatever choice words Brian Barnes and Paul  Reinhardt used at at the interval seemed to do the trick as the second half performance was a huge improvement in attitude and application. A goal from the throw-in and a couple of quick points reduced the deficit immediately and set up what was a cracking half with the lead changing hands several times. Syls started to dominate possession around the center where Osian Dulligan was having a stormer and Aaron Lynch was scrapping for every breaking ball. Assisted now by the breeze and with some excellent ball been delivered into the forwards the chances started to come as Sean Daly and super sub Colm Casey were causing major problems for the Crokes defence. Daniel Brennan was having one of those days a full forward dreams of as he managed to be on the end of some slick forward play and rattled the net 4 times in the half. Syls were guilty of missing a lot of chances however, which ensured the result was always in doubt as Crokes fought valiantly and hit back twice for goals when it looked like Syls might pull away. In the end there was a goal in it but it was heart stopping stuff and kept the large home crowd tense right to the end. Final score Syls 5:9 Crokes 4:9

So its onwards to the Div 1 semi-finals for this team as they join Na Fianna, the Feile champions Ballyboden and St Judes in what should be an exciting end to the U14 season.

Team: Sean O’Connor, Ryan McCarthy, Ben O’Neill, Phelim Butler, Aaron Lynch(0:1) Mikey Dowling, Denis O’Brien, Daniel Deneher, (0:3) Osian Dulligan, AJ McCabe, Conor Mulcahy, (0:1) Luke Hughes, Jack Whelan, (0:1) Daniel Brennan, (5:2) Sean Daly (0:1) Subs: Robert Mazzarella for Mikey Dowling, Liam Butler for Ryan McCarthy, Colm Casey for AJ McCabe, Marcus Young for Conor Mulcahy, Bobby McCarthy for Jack Whelan.