Poulfur have a point to spare
Brave show from Castletown
THERE WERE fireworks both inside and outside St. Patrick’s Park on Tuesday as Poulfur took on Castletown in an explosive Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League mini-sevens boys’ football final.
Poulfur bolted out of the blocks with a display of pace, power and precision. Within the opening minutes they had carved out many chances and with scores through Kyle Baker and Kean Molloy they quickly went three points ahead.
This stranglehold on the lead became significantly stronger when midfielder Cillian Byrne blasted an unstoppable shot into the net.
Castletown on the other hand were all at sea. Despite their best efforts, a chance didn’t come their way until the seventh minute.
Even then, their shots seemed to go just barely wide or were ex- pertly saved by Poulfur netminder Finn Brennan-Pilkington.
The goal that was badly needed to get them back into the game came from Doran Daly-O’Toole, and this gave them a glimmer of hope going into half-time.
True to form and their fighting tradition, Castletown came out for the second-half and made an astounding comeback. Doran Daly-O’Toole was once again to the fore when he put a point on the board.
But, it was his stunning top corner goal that really caught the eye. The goalscorer then turned provider when he set up Niall Condren for a similarly impressive top corner effort to ensure a thrilling finale.
With the scores at 2-5 to 3-1, it was all to play for.
It was now Poulfur’s turn to respond and that they did. Castletown goalie Niall O’Shaughnessy produced two excellent saves to keep the game alive. One of these was a very brave block about 20 yards from his goal-line.
The best that Poulfur could manage against a tough Castletown defence was a Cillian Byrne ’45 to steady the nerves.
There was still work to do however, and a tough tackle was required to deny P.J. Crotty as Castletown attacked late in play. The resultant free was tapped over to put the minimum between the teams but the clock was ticking.
There was a late sideline chance to engineer an equaliser but Poulfur were never going to let their grip slip on the cup and they emerged as worthy winners after an exciting half-hour of football.
Poulfur: Finn Brennan-Pilkington, Conor McLoughlin, Bill Nunan, Cillian Byrne, Morgan Ellis, Kyle Baker, Kean Molloy, Jamie Waters, Conor Folan, David Conway, Lennon Foley, Páraic Gleeson.
Castletown: Niall O’Shaughnessy, Ross Higgins, Jack O’Gorman, Gavin Kelly, Michael Kavanagh, Doran DalyO’Toole, P.J. Crotty, Niall Condren, David Byrne, Gracjan Gurlowski.