Castletown remain unbeaten
CASTLETOWN 3-16 OYLEGATE-GLENBRIEN 2-14
AN IMPRESSIVE second-half display ensured Castletown made it three wins from three in the Greenstar Under-20 football championship Division 2B, as they overcame Oylegate-Glenbrien in Oylegate on Wednesday.
In the early stages, Oylegate-Glenbrien were looking comfortable with Fiachra Hourihane in flying from, kicking three points in the opening minutes.
Castletown just couldn’t seem to find their feet, with their only scores in the first 20 minutes coming from two tidy efforts by Jamie Doyle.
At that stage Oylegate-Glenbrien had ran up a six-point lead thanks to Eoghan Herlihy, Conor Nolan, Pierce and Richard Murphy, and Hourihane.
Amazingly, the home side found themselves behind within two minutes.
Castletown struck with venom, hitting the net with two clinical finishes from Frank Kavanagh and Jamie Doyle, both excellently set up by Darragh Brooks.
Brooks and his namesake, Robbie, then added points shortly afterwards to put the visitors up by two nearing half-time before a response from Hourihane, Mike Kelly and Jack Reck gave the home side a one-point advantage at the break.
It was impossible to guess what way the second-half would go given how much the first period had swung back and forth, but Castletown began to show their true potential after the re-start and slowly but surely took hold of proceedings.
They hit seven points in the third quarter to give themselves a four-point lead, with the impressive Darragh Brooks grabbing five.
With ten minutes to go that lead was reduced to one as Pierce Murphy hit the net with a great finish, as the boys in blue looked to take their advantage back.
But in a frantic final ten minutes, the winners showed their worth as substitute Alex Murphy hit the net before Darragh Brooks, Jamie Doyle and Shane Halpin added points as they closed out the half with an extremely strong display.
Castletown: Seán Harte; Mike Fenlon, Martin Doyle, Chris Callanan; Cian Bealin, Frank Roche, Eoin Cullen; Robbie Brooks (0-1), Cillian Pierce; Jamie Doyle (1-2), Darragh Brooks (0-8, 3 frees), Frankie Kavanagh; Shane Halpin (0-1), Cathal Meenagh (0-2), Frank Kavanagh (1-1). Sub. - Alex Murphy (1-0) for Meenagh.
Oylegate-Glenbrien: Peter Rowley; Ryan Hill, Lee Kehoe (1-0), Conor Nolan (0-1); Evan Kelly, Mike Kelly (0-1), Jack Reck (0-1); Gary Conroy (01), Eoghan Herlihy (0-1); Fiachra Hourihane (0-6, 5 frees), Pierce Murphy (1-1), Richard Murphy (0-1); Barry Doyle, Adam Shanahan, Joe Dunne (0-1). Subs. - Tommy O’Rourke for Doyle, Kevin Cosgrave for Shanahan, Adam Gethings for Conroy.
Referee: John O’Loughlin (Monageer-Boolavogue).