U-12s into Summer League Final!
Oldcastle 0-13 St Michael’s 0-11 ((AET)
It was a good job Vera had a defibrillator with her today as the U-12’s provided us with enough excitement to send the blood pressure through the roof. Taking on rivals, St. Michael’s in the Summer FL Semi-Final at Millbrook on Saturday (13 Aug.2016), both sides were slow to get into the match.
It was St. Michael’s who opened the scoring, going 2 ahead before Rory Crawley took a great pick-up and shot it between the posts. A super save off the line by Ciaran Connell stopped an almost certain score by the opposition. Rian Mulvanny took the next, followed by a good piece of play involving Rory Crawley, Fionn McCabe, Ryan Kevin, Rory Crawley again, on to Jack Kellett, Paul Hennessy and finally to Eoin Smith who made good use of it and took a good score, Jamie Keatinge took the next, J.P. Purcell was doing great work marking the St. Michaels’ dangerman, keeping him out of the game altogether. A free to Rian Mulvaney yielded a score, with Rory Crawley adding another couple of points to leave it Oldcastle 7, St. Michael’ s 2 at half-time.
Whatever the St. Michael’s coaches said at the break worked as they came out fighting, taking the first three scores of the second half. Rory Crawley got Oldcastle back into the game with a score to bring it to 8-5. But St. Michael’s took the next two scores, before a Ryan Kevin free fed on to Jamie Keatinge gave Oldcastle the next. It was now 9-7 to Oldcastle but St. Michael’s were putting on the pressure, and now scored three in a row to give them the lead, 9 to 10. With the clock ticking away, Rian Mulvanny saved the day with a converted free to level it up 10 – 10, just seconds before the referee blew the whistle.
Extra time was now on the cards, so lads stretched aching muscles and everyone focused on the task ahead. 5 minutes aside was agreed. A nice bit of play between Ryan Kevin and Rory Crawley got the ball forward to Paul Hennessy who scored! That was the sole score of the first half so it was Oldcastle 11, St. Michaels 10 heading into the final five minutes. Lloyd Colleran took a great ball out of midair, passing it on to Eoin Smith, Paul Hennessy, Jack Kellett and on to Ryan Kevin who calmly kicked it between the posts to give Oldcastle a 2 point lead.
However St. Michael’s came back straight away with a score of their own, to bring it back to 12 – 11. An Eoin Muldoon kickout to Rory Crawley, on to Ryan Kevin, Ciaran Connell, back to Rory Crawley again, on to Jamie Keatinge and finally back to Rory Crawley for the final score of the match resulted in mass celebrations amongst the Oldcastle supporters. On a scoreline of Oldcastle 13, St. Michael’s 11, we march on to the U-12 summer league final!
What a game of football the lads put on for us today, tough and hard fought from end to end, the supporters were (nearly!) as drained as the players by the end. Well done to each and every one of you today lads, and the best of luck in the final.
Oldcastle: Eoin Muldoon, Lloyd Colleran, Ciaran Connell, J.P. Purcell, Cormac O’Connell, Fionn McCabe, Paul Hennessy (1), Ryan Kevin (1), Eoin Smith (1), Rory Crawley (5), Kealan Swinburne, Jamie Keatinge (2), Rian Mulvanny (Captain) (3). Subs: Jack Kellett, Tomas Kizelis, Prionsias O’Reilly.