Castletown advance to ‘B’ championship final

CASTLETOWN 1-12 OLI-ST. FINTAN’S 1-8

CASTLETOWN ADVANCED to the Greenstar under-20 football Premier ‘B’ county final when they ground out a 1-12 to 1-8 victory over home-side combination Our Lady’s Island/St. Fintan’s in Sunday afternoon’s semi-final played in unpleasant conditions in Ballymore.

The locals made impressive use of the strong wind blowing towards Killinick when they developed a 0-4 to no score lead after twelve minutes.

All of their points during this prosperous spell were of a high standard, with Liam Flood getting the ball rolling with a nice point on five minutes, and the prominent Shane Pettit screwing over their second point three minutes later.

The former lofted their third after finding himself the furthest player forward on ten minutes, while Pettit’s second of the day was arguably the pick of the bunch as he found the range from the left of the posts.

In contrast, Castletown were sloppy in possession and wasteful up front as the likes of Vinny Quinlan and Daniel Cranch saw goal chances come and go before Brian O’Leary clipped over their opener on thirteen minutes.

His opposite number Jack O’Leary cancelled that out almost immediately, although a pin-point pass inside by Liam Coleman saw Quinlan make it 0-5 to 0-2 midway through the first half.

Pettit (‘45) and Colum Meenagh traded scores before Quinlan’s under-hit shot was flicked to the net by the alert Cranch as the north county men restored parity by the 24th minute.

Things looked to be unraveling somewhat for Castletown in a one-minute spell before half-time, however, when they first lost the influential Coleman to a black card, and then conceded a goal when captain Ross Cody inadvertently punched to his own net after Pettit had dropped the ball towards the danger-zone as OLI/St. Fintan’s sat 1-6 to 1-4 in front of their opponents at the interval.

Some positional changes saw Eoin Cullen come in for Coleman, where he slotted in at wing-back, with Brian O’Leary moving to partner Rory Heffernan in midfield and Frankie Kavanagh re-locating to full-forward.

And after Heffernan and Pettit swapped two frees each in the early exchanges after the break, Kavanagh began Castletown’s revival with the first point from play in the second half on 41 minutes.

Mark Doyle kicked the leveller after Quinlan’s shot was blocked, while Kavanagh heralded the lead they wouldn’t subsequently surrender after increasing maroon pressure in the final third.

Jack O’Leary departed the scene on a second yellow offence on 49 minutes, and Castletown responded with three points down the home straight from the outstanding Heffernan, Quinlan and Kavanagh again to confirm a second straight county final in this grade.

In the interim, they await the winners of the other semi-final between Starlights and St.Anne’s/ Sarsfields this weekend, with the final on the following weekend if the weather allows.

There was some frustration in the Castletown camp towards the end of the game when one of their players, Killian Pierce, lay on the pitch with what looked like a serious lower leg injury, but play wasn’t stopped to allow for treatment.

While referee Sean Whelan was well within his rights to allow play continue as it wasn’t a clear head injury, the issue lay in the fact that earlier in the half he had stopped play when an OLI/St. Fintan’s player had cramp.

But, with the player in question’s parents hunched over him as he lay on the pitch while the home side’s physio lended assistance, and yet play still carried on, surely player welfare was of upmost importance?

CASTLETOWN: Sean Harte; Sean O’Hagan, Ross Cody (capt, an own goal), Mikey Fenlon; Frankie Kavanagh (0-3), Killian Pierce, Cian Bealin; Rory Heffernan (0-4, three frees), Liam Coleman; Alex Murphy, Vinny Quinlan (0-2) , Mark Doyle (0-1); Daniel Cranch (1-0), Brian O’Leary (0-1), Colm Meenagh (0-1). Subs: Eoin Cullen for Coleman, black-card (28), Sean Óg Stafford for Meenagh (38).

OLI/ST.FINTAN’S: Josh Burke; David Pettit, Ed Cleary, Brian Moore; Dylan Connick, Paul Cummins, Rob Cloney; Shane Pettit (0-5, two ‘45’s, one free), Cian Meyler; Jamie Sinnott, Adam Devereux (capt), Dean Corish; Liam Flood (0-2), Jack O’Leary (0-1), Liam Crowley.

REFEREE: Sean Whelan (St.Martin’s).