U-16 County League Division 2 Final
Kilcummin 1-11 Ardfert 3-4
A blustery Austin Stack Park was the venue for the County League Finals on Wednesday night August 14th last and Kilcummin emerged deserved winners in Division Two after a massive battle with Ardfert.
Playing with the strong wind, Kilcummin got off to a disastrous start as the opposition rattled off 1-1 in the opening minutes and they were grateful to full-back Cian Murphy for a superb block down and to goalkeeper Jaden Tynan for a great save to prevent further damage.
However, with good team play, excellent points from wing-forwards Colin O’Leary and Adam O’Sullivan got Kilcummin off the mark and despite several wides 3 points in-a-row from centre-forward Cian Foley had the teams on level terms. With Oran Dwyer winning good ball in defence, Colm Kelliher impacting the game in midfield and corner forwards Micheal Sweeney and Oisin O’Leary working hard for possession and tackling deep, another good point from the flying Colin O’Leary had Kilcummin 0-6 to 1-2 up at the break.
With Andrew Lowin and Turlough O’Connor driving on from defence, Kilcummin stretched further ahead on the resumption with fine points from substitute Jack Fogarty and corner-back Killian O’Brien. However, Ardfert struck the net again to lead 2-3 to 0-8 with a Cian Foley free soon after levelling matters again. Ardfert pressed for home and a point, followed by a deflected goal, saw them lead 3-4 to 0-9 with the wind at their backs and less than 10 minutes remaining.
It was now that Kilcummin showed true heart. With Cian Murphy and Dara O’Callaghan defending stoutly, Jack McClain fielding strongly in midfield and Cian Foley leading the attack with purpose, they took over from here to the end of the four minutes of additional injury time. Evan O’ Sullivan, Brandon Griffin and Padraic Moynihan all made a big impact off the bench with the latter kicking a great score coming in off the right wing.
When Mark O’ Shea finished superbly to the top of the net after great teamwork the teams were level at 3-4 to 1-10 with time almost up. Cian Foley kicked over from a free with the last score and Kilcummin retained possession excellently in injury time to emerge victorious after a mighty battle.
Well done to the entire panel, this win was just reward for all the outstanding commitment to training right through the spring and summer.
Team: Jaden Tynan; Andrew Lowin, Cian Murphy (c), Killian O’ Brien (0-1); Oran Dwyer, Dara O’Callaghan , Turlough O’Connor; Jack McClain, Colm Kelliher; Colin O’Leary (0-2), Cian Foley (0-5, 0-2f), Adam O’ Sullivan (0-1); Oisin O’Leary, Mark O Shea (1-0), Micheal Sweeney.
Subs: Evan O’Sullivan, Brandon Griffin, Dara O’Shea, Cathal Brosnan, Gearoid Mulvihill, Kirill Healy, Daniel Horgan, Robbie Moynihan, Jack Fogarty (0-1), Padraic Moynihan (0-1), James Williams.
Management: James Foley, Diarmuid O’Callaghan, Dave Kearney, Kevin O’Riordan and Michael O’Callaghan.
