‘We came here to win’
crowd in his ears.
A tough day for Kilmac but they have youth and ambition on their side and will be back without a shadow of a doubt.
Dunlavin go Senior. They need to consolidate and steady before going on to thrive as they most certainly can.
- Dunlavin: Shane O’Rourke 0-5 (f), Darragh Dillon 0-1, Cian O’Sullivan 0-3, Eoin Murtagh 0-1, Tomas Lawlor 0-2, Marty Caplis 0-1
Kilmacanogue: Sam O’Callaghan 0-7 (6f), Niall Meldon 0-1,
Tom McGuirk; Padraig Carmody,
Scorers DUNLAVIN:
Sean Phelan, Daryl Huntley; William Kennedy, Paul Murtagh, MJ Moran; Aaron Phelan, Mark Reid; Shane O’Rourke, Cian O’Sullivan, Darragh Dillon; Gary Allen, Eoin Murtagh, Shane Carthy. Subs: Daniel Dawson for W Kennedy (41), Tomas Lawlor for D Dillon (51), Marty Caplis for G Allen (54), Fionn Deegan for A Phelan (56), Harry Cloeburn for S O’Rourke (60), Alan Deering for C O’Sullivan (63).
KILMACANOGUE:
Niall King; Donal Tuohy, Cian Rafferty, Paddy O’Donnell; Simon Doyle, Gavin Burke, Ben O’Callaghan; Andrew Molloy, Robert Conan; Michael Whelan, Conor Finn, Luke O’Callaghan; Josh O’Callaghan, Sam O’Callaghan, Niall Meldon. Subs: Kevin Redden for C Finn (31), Stephen Flynn for P O’Donnell (52, inj), Craig O’Neill for M Whelan (60).
REFEREE:
Eugene O’Brien (Aughrim) STRONG and fair defending and attacking in numbers were what brought Dunlavin to their wonderful victory on Sunday according to captain Sean Phelan.
‘In the first half there was a small bit of a breeze there and they’re generally a running team, but in the first half they sort of felt like they had to kick it in and that sort of suited us. They got very little return from that.
‘In the second half, when they got that bit of a run, the breeze I don’t think played a huge factor, but it was in their heads that they needed to run it against the breeze and they sort of did get a run on us in the second half. But we did what we’ve done well all year and that’s defend and go attacking in numbers.
‘We build our game on that (defence). All you have to do is be as disciplined as you can, as hard as you can and as fair as you can and hope that you get the ball,’ he said.
The performance of MJ Moran will be forever remembered as the key to stifling Kilmacanogue’s running game that has unlocked umpteen defences this season,
‘MJ played with us last year but didn’t really make an appearance.
‘His work rate is second to none, he’ll go all day and we just thought no better man to go and pick up one of their main threats, Simon Doyle, was MJ and he had to do it and he done it well, and that’s why he deserved the Man of the Match award,’ he said.
Sean dedicated the victory to his late friend and club colleague Louis Caplis.
‘Louis, he was always one up in the training, putting it in most, and if he didn’t have training, he’d be up doing his own.
‘And apart from that, if he didn’t have training, he was training juveniles, proper, proper club man, and he never gave up,’ he said.
Sean said that he felt energised on the big day and he suggested that his late friend was part of the reason for that.
‘I didn’t feel tired at all there. I came in at half-time and I never had as much breath, maybe I just wasn’t working as hard as I should have been.
‘I had the energy there and we knew we were going to get over the line.
‘Even when they got their bit of a purple patch, we knew we would hold out. There was no other option, we came here to win,’ he added.