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Minor. Co. League Final:
Dr. Crokes 2-07 Kerins O`Rahillys 2-10. On Sunday
evening last in the Fitzgerald Stadium we came up short
against a strong O`Rahillys side. This is the fourth
year in a row that these sides have met at this juncture
of the competition and the honors are now split evenly
both Clubs having two victories each. This was a game we
were always chasing and despite losing the influential
Ruairi Mangan to injury in the opening half we were
level at the break 1-05 each, our goal coming on the
strokes of half time from Daithi Casey following a
tremendous run through the Strand Road defense. On the
resumption our opponents hit with an early goal
following some clumsy defending when we failed to clear
our lines and we fell 5 points behind. Another great run
by Casey resulted in he expertly tucking it away to the
bottom corner brought matters back to a 1 point game but
we unable to seize the initiative and our opponents
tacked on two points to secure victory. On a night when
many of players failed to reach our full potential we
were best served by goalkeeper David Neeson who made
some superb saves and could not be faulted, defenders
Michael McMahon and substitute Eoin Clifton were the
pick, at midfield Johnny Buckley tried hard while in the
forwards Man of the match Daithi Casey, Philip O’Connor
and Jamie Doolan were always dangerous
Round 1 --------- Dr Crokes 6-9
-------- Kerins O'Rahillys 0-9 (Played
in Strand Rd on Sat 24th March 2007)
We had a
very good start to the Minor County League with victory
over our great rivals Kerins O'Rahilly's in Tralee on
Saturday the 24/03/07.We must not get carried away
however by this big win as our opponents were missing
their talisman Barry John Walsh. Our lads played some
very good football throughout the game,the forwards
having a great service from our dominant midfield of
Johnny Buckley and John Bartlett.
Our defence gave very little away, keeping
their net intact after conceding four goals to Legion in
our recent East Kerry League victory.
While Jamie Doolan might have been our scorer
in chief he got great support from our other attackers,
notably Philip O'Connor who is improving with every game
since coming back from injury.
Dr Crokes Best Player;
Johnny Buckley.
Team and Scorers; David Neeson; Fionn
Fitzgerald, Jonathon Clarke, Michael McMahon; Donal
Cronin, David O'Leary, Timothy Dudley; Johnny Buckley
0-1, John Bartlett 0-1; Daithi Casey 1-1, Philip
O'Connor, Niall O'Connell 0-1; Jamie Doolan(capt) 3-3,
Ruairi Mangan 1-2, T.J.Cronin 1-0. Subs; Chris
Egan, Pat Fuller, Keith O'Leary,Kieran Ward, James
Barry.
Round 2 -------- Dr Crokes 3-10
----------- Laune Rangers 2-5(Played in Lewis
Road on Friday 31st March) Even though we wer'nt
as impressive as in our 1st Round win against Kerins
O'Rahilly's we still gave a good display. This is a
good, young Killorglin side who made us fight hard for
victory. We were well on top in the first
quarter and though we scored two goals in that period we
were not able to pull away from our opponents who showed
great resilience to hang in there and leave us just four
points ahead at the break, 2-5 to 1-4. Again the
third quarter was evenly contested until a great goal
going into the last fifteen minutes put us into an
unassailable lead. Rangers never gave up and had a goal
from the penalty spot, their second of the day in the
last minute of the game. One would have to
question the format of this competition. All four teams
after playing six matches are going to qualify for the
semi finals even though the top two will be rewarded
with home venue in the penultimate round. Surely the top
team should get into the final with second and third
playing a semi final and the team in fourth place being
eliminated. Team ; David
Neeson, Timothy Dudley, Jonathon Clarke, Michael
McMahon; Donal Cronin, David O'Leary, Fionn Fitzgerald'
Johnny Buckley, John Bartlett; Daithi Casey, Philip
O'Connor, Niall O'Connell; T.J.Cronin, Ruairi Mangan,
Jamie Doolan. Subs; Shane O'Neill, Pat Fuller,
Chris Egan, Mark O'Donoghue, Kieran Ward, James Barry.
Dr Crokes Best Player; Donal Cronin.
Round 3 -------- Dr Crokes 2-16 ---------
Austin Stacks 1-11(Played in Lewis Road on
27/04/07) We had a very good start in this game
,scoring four points without reply.We continued to
dominate midfield through the efforts of Johnnie Buckley
and John Bartlett.We led ten points to four at half time
with Stacks coming more into the game as it progressed. The
second half was more competative but our midfield
domination ensured an eight point victory for us even
though our opponents made us fight right to the end.Our
goals were scored by our Kerry minors Johnny Buckley and
Jamie Doolan. Team; David Neeson; Michael
McMahon, Jonathon Clarke, Tim Dudley; Donal Cronin,
David O'Leary, Fionn Fitzgerald; Johnny Buckley, John
Bartlett; Niall O'Connell,Daithi Casey, T.J.Cronin;
Shane O'Neill, Ruairi Mangan, Jamie Doolan.
Subs; Philip O'Connor, Pat Fuller, Eoin Clifton,
Keith O'Leary, Kieran Ward, P.J.Lawlor. |
