Match Reports

U14 Vs James Stephens 14th Sept 2014

13/09/2014
The Dunnamaggin U14 team contested the Roinn A championship ¼ final against James Stephens in a bright but breezy John Locke Park on Sunday morning. The City team were first to get on the scoreboard within the first minute scoring a point but Dunnamaggin were quick to equalise after good work from Darragh O’Keeffe who fed Robbie McCauley to take the score. The next 15 mins saw both sides battle it out heroically with neither defence willing to concede a score. Dunnamaggin were led from the back by towering Full back Conor Hoban who marshalled his square well all day, ably assisted by his tidy cornerbacks Conor Brett and Dylan Carroll. The Village were first to break the impasse halfway through the half but Dunnamaggin responded through a lovely point from Denis Walsh. This signalled a very good period of the game for Dunnamaggin. They midfield of Adam Fitzpatrick and Ian Walsh together with the ever running centre forward Darragh O’Keeffe were starting to get into the game. Ian put over a massive point from the sideline on the town side of the field which was followed up with a free by Robbie. Alex Moore who had now switched with Andy Hickey to the half forward line fed a lovely ball to Robbie to split the sticks again. Dunnamaggin 0:05 James Stephens 0:02. The Village however were not gone away and Dylan Wall had to be alert in goal to bat a close range shot away only for Conor to clear it to the wings. The danger had not cleared however and the resulting James Stephens saw the goal being breached to put the side’s level. Andy Hickey provided the correct response immediately with a good point from play but they managed to split the sticks again to send the sides in level at half time Dunamaggin 0:06 James Stephens 1:04
Harry Walsh opened the scoring in the second half with a well taken free, but the village responded with two from play. Robbie responded with a free but the city side were finding space easier and forced another great save from Dylan in the goal who coolly deflected the ball over the bar from a close range shot. The Dunnamaggin half back line of Dylan Crehan, Harry Walsh and Eddie Dunne were working extremely hard. Adam Farrell then came on for Sean O’Keeffe. The village followed this score up with a free and another point from play. The switch of Ian to centre back did shore things up and Darragh continued to drop deep to help out his defence but Dunnamaggin attacking chances were getting harder to come by. As the game went into the last 10 mins Alex moved to corner back and Eddie Dunne moved into the forwards to push for a score but it was the village who added two points. Dunnamaggin then got a break they were finding so difficult to come by – a penalty which was unfortunately saved. At this stage Dunnamaggin players were running themselves into the ground covering ground they had no right to cover as they threw everything they had at their physically bigger opposition. Jamie O’Keeffe came on then for Andy. As the game drew to a close Dunnamaggin were awarded a 21yard free in front of posts and Ian’s shot on goal just rose over the bar for a point which was to be the last score of the game. Dunnamaggin 0:09 James Stephens 1:11. A huge effort from the Dunnamaggin team, a team which has 10 players eligible for this grade next year. Well done to players and mentors on a huge effort.
Panel:- Dylan Wall, Conor Brett, Conor Hoban, Dylan Carroll, Eddie Dunne, Harry Walsh, Dylan Crehan, Adam Fitzpatrick, Ian Walsh, Andy Hickey, Darragh O’Keeffe, Robbie McCauley, Sean O’Keeffe, Alex Moore, Denis Walsh, Jamie O’Keeffe, Adam Farrell, Derrick Carroll, Cathal Ryan, Ger Coffey, Darragh Walsh, Kieran Buckley, Ger Donovan.