U13 Boys Footballers Win Plate: The under-13 footballers of Éire Óg Greystones carved out a fine victory over St Nicholas in the ‘D’ Plate final in Avondale on Monday evening following a thoroughly entertaining battle where the ability to take your chances was all that really separated the sides in the end.
This was a very decent game of football with lots of capable players on both sides and some excellent scores grabbed throughout the 60 minutes on a cool but beautiful September evening.
St Nicholas looked to be the dominant outfit in the opening quarter as they played a lovely brand of running football and opened up a 0-4 to 0-2 lead, their points coming from the impressive Shane Hourigan, Harry Orr, Daire Metcalfe and John Tyrrell with Éire Óg’s replies coming from the boots of Ronan McGuigan and Evan Darcy who showed excellent composure when fisting over the bar under pressure.
St Nicholas would fire wide with a goal chance at the end of that first quarter although in Conor O’Sullivan, who would move out the field for the third quarter, Éire Óg had an excellent goalkeeper.
Shane Hourigan’s second point seemed to put St Nicholas in the driving seat but Éire Óg struck back superbly when Aaron Doherty walloped home low and hard to the back of Luke O’Shaughnessy’s net with the St Nicholas goalkeeper, who put in a fine shift between the sticks, having no chance.
Worse was to follow for St Nicks as a shot from Luke Murphy was saved by O’Shaughnessy but the ball spilled to the excellent Dafydd Davies who showed fine poaching skills to finish to the back of the net and utterly change the landscape of the game.
Credit to St Nicholas they recovered very well from those two blows and added two fine scores before the end of the first half, the first from a free by Ray Daniels, the second from John Tyrrell after good work by Cian Doyle.
Luke Murphy then gave the Éire Óg cause a massive boost when he fired home their third major after stunning soccer skills along the sideline from the Greystones lads allowed the ball to be worked to the majestic Murphy in the square. That made it 3-2 to 0-7 in favour of Éire Óg early in the second half.
St Nicholas will know all too well that they created more than enough chances to take this title back out west. Alas, they registered 11 wides over that second half while playing some really nice football.
It was such a shame their finishing couldn’t match their excellent work out the field but at least they know they are capable of creating the chances and on another night those shots would go over or under the bar.
Bear in mind too that Éire Óg had sent Evan Darcy back to be goalkeeper for much of that second half and he proved an excellent number one while they eventually drafted Conor O’Sullivan back in to avail of his superb kick-outs when St Nicholas were piling on the pressure.
A fine Dafydd Davies point gave Éire Óg more breathing space after 20 minutes of the second half and when Evan Leahy bagged their fourth major a minute later you felt that the St Nicholas goose was cooked at 4-4 to 0-7.
But they kept fighting right to the bitter end with Hary Orr, Cian Doyle and Shane Hourigan all raising white flags while the outstanding Dafydd Davies would close the scoring for Éire Óg.
St Nicholas certainly had the ability and the chances to win this game and they had excellent performers in Finn Moore, Jack Francis Moynihan, Kyle Tipper, Mark Kenny, Ray Daniels and Ted Parke.
Éire Óg were deserving winners. You win games and titles by taking your chances and they did just that.
They had strong showings from Harrison Lynch Reynolds, Lucas O’Shea, Conor Church, Aaron Doherty, Hugo Fallon, Sean Donnelly, Tom Fox, Conor Lehane and Donnacha Hinphey.
Éire Óg Greystones: Conor O’Sullivan, Hugo Fallon, Conor Lehane, Donnacha Hinphey, Harison Lynch Reynolds, Luke Murphy (1-0), Lucas O’Shea, Conor Church, Dafydd Davies (1-2), Evan Leahy (1-0), Aaron Doherty (1-1), Ronan McGuigan (0-1), Evan Darcy (0-1), Sean Donnelly
U15 Boys Footballers Win 10 Goal Thriller: Éire Óg came out on the right side of a frantic ten-goal thriller by beating An Tóchar 5-14 to 5-13 in the under-15 ‘A’ football championship on Saturday evening.
Greystones was the venue for a highly anticipated top of the table clash between two very talented sides. Both Éire Óg and An Tóchar came into this fixture with only two defeats each in their previous seven championship outings this season. The game had a lot riding on it for both squads, which made it even more intriguing.
Eanna Nolan who was at the centre of everything good about his team all day opened the scoring for An Tóchar, with a score from a free. Éire Óg responded in impressive fashion, scoring quite a strange goal.
Oisin Murphy carved open the opposition defence, powering his way towards the goal before losing possession, however, in a mad scramble for the ball, it seemed to take a deflection off an opposition defender before sneaking its way into the back of the net. It was a rather strange goal, but that wouldn’t have bothered the home side as they were on the scoreboard, with an early two-point lead.
The hosts dominated much of the opening quarter, seeming very comfortable with the ball. Tadhg O’Donnell was getting on plenty of ball in the middle of the field, rewarded with a lovely point of his own early on. In the forward line, Cael McCloskey and Murphy were linking up well, scoring points of their own.
Approaching the water break, the home side led 1-5 to 0-03. Nolan was looking lively for his An Tóchar, keeping them ticking on the scoreboard. On the brink of the first water break, the talented midfielder added to his own personal tally with a well taken goal. It was 1-5 to 1-3.
The second quarter was a real purple patch for the visitors where they managed to score four goals, along with a few points. The young men from Roundwood were firmly in the driving seat, with wave after wave of impressive attacks. Their second goal of the contest came when some good running from Josh Healy helped him linkup with Nolan before the move finished in a goal for JJ Brady. The movement for the goal was superb.
Joseph McDonald was a very influential player for the visitors, playing a crucial role in many of the goals. The lively corner forward bagged two goals in this period. One of the goals came when a Nolan shot dropped short, before it was turned into a goal by McDonald. Nolan scored another goal of his own before the first half was out. At this point, An Tóchar had built up quite a significant lead, however, Caelann O’Callaghan blasted the ball in the top corner, just before the half time interval, keeping the Greystones team in the contest. It was 2-5 to 5-6.
An Tochar looked firmly in control, holding an impressive ten-point cushion, however, the second half would provide many more twists and turns in the fixture. It was clear that Eire Og were conscious of the big deficit as they were looking for goals early on, deciding against going for points. This was a real period of dominance for the hosts with Robert Moore growing into the game, scoring a few points along the way. They trailed by 8 points going into the last quarter, it was 2-9 to 5-8.
The final quarter was one of the most entertaining periods of football you’ll ever see at any age grade. The back-and-forth battle was enthralling to watch. Éire Óg needed goals and that is exactly what they got.
The three goals came from Tom Meyler, Oisin Murphy and Frank O’Shea. These goals made the difference as it helped Éire Óg snatch victory.
However, the game had some late drama, Joseph McDonnell was through on goal before he was dragged down just short of the penalty area, certain members of the crowd yelled for a penalty, but the referee deemed it as a free. The game finished 5-14 to 5-13, Éire Óg edging victory and securing top spot.
Éire Óg Greystones: Federico Ascoli, Frank O Shea, Robert Moore, Sean Meyler, Tadhg O Donnell, Corey O Brien, James O Dowd, Oisin McManus, Gavin Lincoin, Cael McCloskey, Tom Meyler, Oisin Murphy, Piaras Healy, Sean Mclaughlin, Liam Finn, Subs: Nathan Donlon, Sean Lehane and Caelann O’Callaghan
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