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FINAL;
Cordal 1-10-------- Dr Crokes 0-10(Played in
Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday 17th November 07)
In atrocious conditions
Cordal who were by far physically stronger deservedly
beat us by a goal in the final of the O'Sullivan
Cup.There was a great hunger about their display as they
were trying to win the competition for the first time
since 1976. They had also suffered six defeats in finals
in the interim. We were also very much up for the game
as we had prepared well and even though we fell short by
a score we must credit our lads for giving their all.
Despite facing the
elements we had the first two points of the game.Cordal
had drawn level by the tenth minute and went ahead two
minutes later with a point. In the 15th minute came the
crucial score of the game , a very well taken goal by
our opponents. They added on a point to go five points
ahead. We added on two points to their one in the last
ten minutes of the half to go in at the interval 1-5 to
0-4in arrears.
Cordal went six points
ahead with two points in the first two minutes of the
second half.We had our best period of the game in the
next ten minutes with four unanswered points, three from
Jamie Doolan(he scored a total of seven points, five
from play) and another from Edmund O'Sullivan. to leave
us just two points in arrears. After near misses by both
sides in the next eight minutes Cordal broke the
deadlock with two points in a row, the second one a
great 45 from their goalkeeper after our netminder David
Neeson had made a great save at the expense of that 45.
There were still eight minutes to go and we launched
several attacks but could only register a point. We
failed to breach their defence for an equalising goal to
leave our opponents deserving winners 1-10 to 0-10.
Our second string had a
great year, winning the East Kerry Junior League and the
Molyneaux Cup and just falling short in their only other
competition, The O'Sullivan Cup. Our thanks to the
players who put in a great effort all year and also to
the mentors James Cronin, John O'Shea and Eddie O'Connor
for the tremendous amount of work they put in to achieve
this success.
Dr Crokes Best
Player; Jamie Doolan.
Team and Scorers;
David Neeson; Kevin Landers, Brian O'Donoghue, David
O'Leary; Kevin Smith, Ian Howard, Tommy Ryan; Johnny
O'Sullivan 0-1, James Jones; Daithi Casey 0-1, Brian
Clarke, Jamie Doolan 0-7(0-2frees); Tommy Brosnan,
Ruairi Mangan, David Looney. Subs; Chris Egan, Barra
O'Connell, Edmund O'Sullivan 0-1, Denis Galvin, Tommy
O'Regan.
We had a
good win over Scartaglin in the first round, 3-7 to 1-4.
In the Quarter Final we were put to the pin of our
collar to beat Firies by the minimum margin.
Semi Final;
Dr Crokes B 2-11 ------- Kilcummin B 0-8.
We were slight
underdogs going into this game as our opponents had
knocked out the favourites Fossa in the previous
round.It's true Kilcummin were missing a few key players
from that win and the result would surely have been a
lot closer if they were at full strength. Nevertheless
our lads were full value for their win and look forward
to giving a good account of themselves in the final.
In the first half we
relied very much on the accuracy of Daithi Casey from
frees to give us an 0-5 to 0-3 lead at half time.
The game was won by us
in the third quarter when we went from two points ahead
to ten points mainly through the slick forward play of
Brian Clarke, Jamie Doolan and substitutes Edmund
O'Sullivan and Rory Mangan.Our opponents were well on
top for most of the last quarter and redued the deficit
to five points. We can thank goalkeeper David Neeson
during this period as he brought off several top class
saves.We finished strongly at the end, scoring a goal
and two points to emerge victorious by a flattering ten
points.
Dr Crokes Best
Player; David Neeson.
Team and Scorers;
David Neeson; Tommy Ryan, Brian O'Donoghue, Kevin
Landers; John Bartlett, Ian Howard, Kevin Smith; James
Jones, Daithi Casey 0-4(frees); Tommy Brosnan, Johnny
O'Sullivan, Philip O'Connor 0-1; David Looney 0-1, Brian
Clarke 1-0, Jamie Boolan 0-2. Subs, Rory
Mangan 0-1, Edmund O'Sullivan 0-2, Chris Egan, Shane
Kavanagh,Tommy Regan 1-0. |
