The old adage “Goals win matches” was never more true than in Monday evening’s U12 football game in Carrig na bhFear against Carrigtwohill. St Colmcille’s dominated play in the first half with Tom Kelleher playing a captain’s part in the middle of the field and leading by example.
Colmcille’s had an early point through Donncha Hickey, but failed to build on this as the squandered over a dozen chances to extend their lead. Things looked ominous coming up to half time as a far more economical Carrigtwohill got four points in a row. Carthach Kelleher put over a good free to narrow the gap. Then came the turning point of the game when great pressure from Craig Kennedy forced the Carrigtwohill fullback to touch the ball on the ground and concede a penalty which the aforementioned Carthach Kelleher duly dispatched on the stroke of half time.
After half time Ben Cashman thundered into the game and set the tone with a good point. This was quickly followed by a well worked goal from the industrious Tom Forrest, followed quickly by another major from Ben Cashman to extend the lead for his side. Carrigtwohill worked hard to get back in the game with a number of superb points but their path to getting an important goal was blocked by a teak tough back line which defended cohesively as a unit.
Carthach Kelleher would go onto to score two further goals and a few points from frees as he would end up as the scorer in chief on the day. He would ensure that his team, despite only notching ten scores to their opponents eleven scores, would end up with a deserved 5-5 to 0-11 victory.
Team: James Lenihan, Noah O’Sullivan, Max O’Reilly, Ethan Roche, Harry Horgan, Joseph Crowley, David Lynch, Tom Kelleher, Cillian Manley, Conor Buckley, Ben Cashman, Carthach Kelleher, Donncha Hickey, Craig Kennedy
Subs Used: Ayo Osunboyede, Joe Coughlan, Paul Colbert, Sam O’Reilly, Jay Cambridge