On Saturday 14th October in Caherconlish our Minors played Knockainey in the Football Championship Final. Having to play against a strong wind during the first half we decided to play an extra player around midfield. Patrick Dolphin played this part and he did an excellent job. He was well assisted by Karl Moloney and Donnacha Connolly.
With some lovely passing movements from midfield and the running off the ball by Phillip O’Toole and Richard Murphy we created a number of scoring opportunities and got some quality points which were scored by Killian Scanlon, Shane O’Connor, Philip O’Toole and Richard Murphy. Eoin Feeney and Shane O’Connor also put away two unstoppable goals. After a lot of hard work during the first half we were ahead at the break by 2 – 5 to 0 – 8.
We knew that Knockainey would come back at us in the second half and during the first 15 minutes they picked off very good points. So much that they went one point ahead of us. During this period John Bourke our goalkeeper made a couple of great saves. Our full back line Tom Shanahan and Darragh O’Keeffe defended very well and they made sure the ball was carried out of the danger zone as quick as they could.
It takes a good team to get back to winning ways and get some momentum going. Michael Fitzgerald grabbed a couple of great balls in the air and we began to build from the back. Michael was well assisted by Philip O’Toole and Ciaran Humphries who won two frees at a vital stage of the game. From these Karl and Donnacha notched on another couple of points.
Just like in the semi-final we finished strongly with Padraig Byrnes and Matthew Stenson keeping the Knockainey defence under pressure it paid dividends as Karl and Peter Boohan scored a couple of excellent points. With just a couple of minutes remaining a quick ball was played in from midfield which Peter ran on to and with one touch he tucked just inside the left post for a great goal. It was like something that you would see at the Markets Field. We went on to win the game with a full time score of Crecora Manister 3 – 11 Knockainey 0 – 12
It was great to see the smile and delight on Donnacha Connolly’s face as he accepted the cup and the nice words he spoke on this win.
These are a brilliant bunch of lads to work with and the club is in a very good position going forward with these players at the helm.
Panel: John Bourke, Tom Shanahan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Phillip O’Toole, Michael Fitzgerald, Ciaran Humphries, Karl Moloney, Donnacha Connolly(captain), Killian Scanlon, Richard Murphy, Shane O’Connor, Patrick Dolphin, Eoin Feeney, Peter Boohan, Padraig Byrnes, Matthew Stenson.
