Last night was an epic night for our U13 football team. We travelled to Pairc Ui Chaoimhe to play Cobh on the 4G Astro pitch under lights in the shield final of Division 3A.
We arrived an hour before the game to allow the lads to enjoy the stadium, settle into the dressing rooms and have a light run down on the pitch before we got down to the business at hand.
For once the forecast was right and the heavens opened However,this didnt bother the boys.
We started well with Crosshaven getting an early goal to settle the nerves. Cobh responded quickly and got a goal and 3 points before we got another score. Cobh are a running the ball team and the lads had worked alot in training on tracking the runners and this was evident in the players, but especially the half back line of Luke, Mossie and Brendan. This was aided by the half forwards of Dod, Chris, Charlie, Harry, Roan, Sean and Zak who tracked every run from deep. With the space of the big field, it was a night for letting the ball do the work and through the midfielders of Daithi, Charlie and Harry, they started to feed the forward line of Oliver, Sam, Ben and Flynn with some great balls and the goals started to come. We finished the first half with a well deserved 9 point lead.
We knew that Cobh were going to come at us hard in the second half and the lads worked for every ball and fought like tigers. However, Cobh kept coming and got back to within 4 points. Cobh would have been closer to us except for the stellar work in the fullback line of Sam, Hugh, Roan, Harry and Eamonn who made Cobh work very hard for every score. WIth the booming kick outs from Daniel in goals, we managed to get the ball up the field to get a huge point to put 5 points in it.
As a team, we had spoken a lot in the last few weeks about momentum and how the great Kerry manager Paidi O'Shea had used momentum to win games. Over the next 5 minutes, the lads pinned Cobh back into their own half and the momentum swung back to Crosshaven.Danny and Tadgh came on to close out the game and did a great job holding the ball up in the opposition half until the ref blew up the game to huge roars from the great Crosshaven supporters who travelled in large numbers to the game. Sam lifted the trophy to make it two trophies in 3 years for the lads winning the John Kerins.
Special mention to Harry McGrath who played the whole game with a bad hand injury and Roan who played the game while not feeling great. From both of their performances on the night, you wouldn't have thought they weren't at the best as they were outstanding.
Finally, to Owen and Flynn Lynch, it was great to have ye on the sidelines as part of the team and we look forward to having ye back in the team when ye recover from your injuries.
We arrived an hour before the game to allow the lads to enjoy the stadium, settle into the dressing rooms and have a light run down on the pitch before we got down to the business at hand.
For once the forecast was right and the heavens opened However,this didnt bother the boys.
We started well with Crosshaven getting an early goal to settle the nerves. Cobh responded quickly and got a goal and 3 points before we got another score. Cobh are a running the ball team and the lads had worked alot in training on tracking the runners and this was evident in the players, but especially the half back line of Luke, Mossie and Brendan. This was aided by the half forwards of Dod, Chris, Charlie, Harry, Roan, Sean and Zak who tracked every run from deep. With the space of the big field, it was a night for letting the ball do the work and through the midfielders of Daithi, Charlie and Harry, they started to feed the forward line of Oliver, Sam, Ben and Flynn with some great balls and the goals started to come. We finished the first half with a well deserved 9 point lead.
We knew that Cobh were going to come at us hard in the second half and the lads worked for every ball and fought like tigers. However, Cobh kept coming and got back to within 4 points. Cobh would have been closer to us except for the stellar work in the fullback line of Sam, Hugh, Roan, Harry and Eamonn who made Cobh work very hard for every score. WIth the booming kick outs from Daniel in goals, we managed to get the ball up the field to get a huge point to put 5 points in it.
As a team, we had spoken a lot in the last few weeks about momentum and how the great Kerry manager Paidi O'Shea had used momentum to win games. Over the next 5 minutes, the lads pinned Cobh back into their own half and the momentum swung back to Crosshaven.Danny and Tadgh came on to close out the game and did a great job holding the ball up in the opposition half until the ref blew up the game to huge roars from the great Crosshaven supporters who travelled in large numbers to the game. Sam lifted the trophy to make it two trophies in 3 years for the lads winning the John Kerins.
Special mention to Harry McGrath who played the whole game with a bad hand injury and Roan who played the game while not feeling great. From both of their performances on the night, you wouldn't have thought they weren't at the best as they were outstanding.
Finally, to Owen and Flynn Lynch, it was great to have ye on the sidelines as part of the team and we look forward to having ye back in the team when ye recover from your injuries.
