Castletown complete treble in ACFL final
THE GOOD times keep on rolling for Castletown’s second string as they continued their winning form with a 1-13 to 1-7 victory over Starlights in Friday’s Enniscorthy Farm Systems Junior football championship Group B tie at a rain-sodden St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy.
Fresh from taking home the ACFL Division 3 title, and with two wins from two prior championship outings, the six-point margin here saw them advance to the quarter-finals with two games to spare.
While their industry up front and handling skills in the tricky conditions were two telling factors in taking the spoils, it was the leadership shown by a few of their younger players that was most pleasing, with Ross Cody, Shane Halpin and Darragh Brooks contributing 1-7 between them.
Brooks opened the scoring after a mere 16 seconds, and thudded home their only goal on three minutes when he was supplied by Colin Kennedy and the rather tight angle at the near post posed no obstacle.
A towering Kevin Ryan point was the pick of Starlights’ scores in that half, but Castletown continued to prosper through a brace from Halpin and Cody, while a well-measured point off the outside of his boot from George Sunderland helped in developing a 1-7 to 0-3 lead at the break.
In dire need of something different in the attacking third, the Enniscorthy natives yielded some dividends from a couple of hopeful deliveries in the third quarter.
Indeed, when a ‘45 from Lee Murphy bobbled around the danger zone, veteran Jason Russell caught and drilled through a hole in the net for a 40th-minute goal, while captain Wayne Breen blasted over a point from a similar approach soon after (1-9 to 1-4).
However, Castletown subsitute Seán Roche finished with a flourish as his hat-trick of points, each one better than the last, confirmed their passage to the last eight, where they could well be among the contenders.
Castletown: Niall Hempenstall; Eoin Cullen, Risteárd Kinsella, David Deering (capt.); Marc Halpin (0-1), George Sunderland (0-1), Danny Dixon; Rory Heffernan, Colin Kennedy (0-1); Ross Cody (0-2), Darragh Brooks (1-2, 0-1 free), Aaron Condren; Colm Morris, Joe Gardiner, Shane Halpin (0-3). Subs. - Colin Molloy for Gardiner (40), Seán Roche (0-3) for Condren (40), Stephen Rafferty for Brooks (55), Killian Breen for Deering (57), Alan Molloy for Halpin (60+1).
Starlights: Garry Murphy; Chris Doyle, Ryan Hadley, Ronan Kirwan; Wayne Breen (capt., 0-1), Killian Lett, Michael Farrell; Jason Russell (1-1), Kevin Ryan (0-1); Brendan Doyle (0-1), Lee Murphy (0-3, 2 frees), Pa O’Rourke; Craig Foley, Brendan Kearney, Will Doyle. Subs. - Declan Courtney for W. Doyle (HT), Nathan O’Connor for Farrell (38), Graham Donohoe for O’Rourke (45), Diarmuid Byrne for Kearney (55), Tom Quigley for B. Doyle (60+1).
Referee: John O’Loughlin (Monageer-Boolavogue).