TOMACORK TOPPLE DWYERS
Greene stars in very entertaining under-13 final
TOMACORK MICHAEL DWYERS 4-06 2-03
THE footballers of Tomacork and Michael Dwyers served up a humdinger of a battle in the under-13 Shield final in chilly Ballinakill on Monday afternoon last.
As tough and tense a game of football as you’re ever likely to see this was, with both sets of players going at it hammer and tongs over the course of the hour with some superb scores on both sides and some fine football on show throughout.
Their ability to get goals at key moments proved decisive for the Tomacork men who ran out 4-06 to 2-03 winners over a brave and fiercely committed Michael Dwyers outfit.
Such was the ferocity of the play that both sides collected a number of injuries with referee Chris Canavan having to stop play on a number of occasions to go back to a body lying prone on the turf. That’s not to suggest that this was a dirty match by any stretch of the imagination, it absolutely wasn’t, but the exchanges were solid and uncompromising and not for the faint hearted.
It was Michael Dwyers who got off to the better start with a fine point from midfielder Tom Parker. In fact, the west men’s midfield pairing of Parker and Adam Kinsella impressed throughout this game with both lads looking like young men with plenty of potential.
Tomacork’s threat in front of goal was soon to be displayed. The tricky Ben Gilligan had Ewan McCreal picking the ball out of the back of his net when he lashed home a savage shot with 120 seconds on the clock.
Gilligan looked hungry for goals but his next effort flew wide but Richard Greene did manage to split the posts with eight minutes on the clock before Gilligan’s ability had him drawing fouls from the Dwyers defence and he popped over his own free to make it 1-02 to 0-01.
Dwyers were always within shout of the Tomacork side. Points from Adam Kavanagh and the very impressive Conor Byrne reduced the Tomacork lead to just two points on the quarter-hour mark.
But Robert Greene, who had started the game very well, was about to unleash a monster of a shot. He gathered possession around the middle of the field and rampaged towards the Dwyers goal before unloading a missile from about 30 yards that flew into the bottom corner of McCreal’s net, giving the young goalkeeper absolutely no chance of stopping it.
Two further points for Greene left Tomacork in a promising position, but a long ball from out the field from Dwyers found its way to Adam Kavanagh and the half-forward, with loads of work to do, kept his cool, rounded three Tomacork defenders before blasting home past Billy Molloy for a vital goal.
The half-time score read 2-04 to 1-03 in favour of Tomacork.
The second half was a pure battle. Michael Dwyers never stopped working and launching attacks where possible. Tomacork looked to build on their lead and with goals from Luke Wallace, a fine instinctive strike, and Roland Chlechowitz, they were soon looking comfortable.
Dwyers found shooting difficult in the second period and registered a number of wides but Enda Goggin did lash home on 29 minutes not long after a Ben Gilligan point at the other end and the man of the match Richard Greene grabbed the final score with a lovely point to complete the tally at 4-06 to 2-03.
Both teams possess some fine footballers. Four goals might have gone in past Ewan McCreal but they were all rockets and he showed himself to be quite capable in the rest of the play.
Eoin Kehoe, James Boland and Caoilin Goetelen formed a quality full-back line while Jack O’Toole, Cathal Sheehan and Fionn Morrissey defended heroically and attacked where possible.
Adam Kavanagh, Adam Byrne and Sean Murphy are fine footballers while Conor Byrne, Sean Kelly and Devon Byrne have buckets of potential in the full-forward line. The Dwyers were glad to be able to call on quality on the line in the form of Enda Goggin, Andrew reel, Niall O’Keeffe and Ben Harmon.
Tomacork were physically stronger in some positions and that helped them to their victory. Billy Molloy is a classy goalkeeper. Will Molloy, Maurice Sheil and Darragh Rawson sold scores at a very expensive price. Zach Jordan and Cillian Doyle were willing lieutenants either side of Ruairi O’Brien who looks like he will make a formidable centre-half back. He might have had at least one goal but for an ankle injury.
Shane Byrne and Daniel Redmond had a great battle with Tom Parker and Adam Kinsella while Jack Brownrigg, Richard Greene and Callum Patterson formed a very impressive half-forward line.
Up front, Jack Keogh, Roland Chlechowitz and Ben Gilligan were thorns in the Dwyers defence while Luke Wallace and Brian Kenny gave of their all when required.
Scorers – Tomacork: Richard Greene 1-04, Ben Gilligan 1-02 (1f), Luke Wallace 1-00, Roland Chlechowitz 1-00.
Michael Dwyers: Adam Kavanagh 1-01 (f), Enda Goggin 1-00, Conor Byrne 0-01, Tom Parker 0-01.