Arslan shines as Hogans triumph
Adam leads charge against Dwyers
MICHAEL HOGANS MICHAEL DWYERS 1-11 1-6
MICHAEL HOGANS captured the Minor ‘C’ football championship when they overcame Michael Dwyers in an enjoyable and keenly contested encounter played at Annacurra on Sunday morning last. This was a game brim-full of good football with some fine players spread across both sides.
Hogans got off to the kind of start that most teams dream about when contesting a final. And it appeared to have been planned. Conor Short won the throw in and fed Dylan Byrne moving up from half-back. Byrne soloed straight through the middle and set up Adam Arslan to shoot home an opening goal in the first 20 seconds.
Michael Dwyers took a few minutes to recover from this set back as Hogans continued to move the ball up and to mount further attacks. The midfield diamond of Sean Fleming, Dylan Byrne, Cathal Baker and Adam Arslan were prominent in these early minutes but were guilty of over elaboration and attacks broke down and possession was squandered.
Cormac McGraynor pointed a free and Patrick Laccardi added a second point when Cathal Baker carried through the middle to put the corner forward into a scoring space.
Slowly Dwyers got going with Sean Harmon, Oisin Morrissey, Adam Kinsella and Ciaran Harmon carrying the ball forward. Ewan McCrea got Michael Dwyers opening point after 11 minutes.
Both sides continued to move the ball up and down the field in good passing movements but
there was no further score for almost ten minutes. Both defences were in control and Dwyers attack wasted a few scoring opportunities with bad wides.
Conor Byrne broke the deadlock when he hammered home a goal after 20 minutes to bring Dwyers right back into the game leaving Hogans just one point ahead at 1-2 to 1-1. This score seemed to shock the Michael Hogan side out of any complacency they might have gained following their great start and they added four points before the break.
Cormac McGraynor pointed from play, James Murray converted a free, Cian O’Neill had a point
following a fine run through by Cathal Baker and Cormac McGraynor completed the scoring for the half with a pointed free.
Michael Hogans led by 1-6 to 1-1 but Dwyers could have and should have been closer.
Hogans almost repeated the throw in act at the beginning of the second half but this time they had to be satisfied with a Cormac McGraynor point from a free. Ciaran Harmon pointed a great 45 for Dwyers but James Murray responded with a Hogans point.
Harmon came back with a pointed free to still leave that fivepoint gap between the sides. We went through a repeat of the first half where neither side scored for almost ten minutes as play moved up and down field.
Shane Arthur and Leo Byrne and Conor Edwards in the Hogans full-back line were proving to be big stumbling blocks for Dwyers attacks. Byrne, in particular, cut out many dangerous situations by good anticipation and positioning and had a fine game overall.
A point following a fine run up the middle by Adam Arslan left two goals between the sides at the water break. Arslan proved to be an excellent link man for Hogans and carried the ball forward at pace.
Too much of the good work of Conor Byrne, Cathal Baker, James Murray and Adam Arslan came to nought because of an apparent desire to score spectacular goals, none of which came off.
Dwyers made a determined effort to pull the game out of the fire in the final ten minutes. They were unfortunate to see one goal effort come back off an upright, an attempt at a point come back off the other post and finally a goal shot on target was smartly saved by Callum McKenna.
Substitute Jack O’Toole pointed for Dwyers while James Murray and Ciaran Harmon exchanged pointed frees. Patrick Laccardi eased Hogan worries when he sensibly fisted over their final point, something which should have happened on a few occasions prior.
The final score of the game came from Adam Kinsella when he blazed over the bar for Dwyers to leave Michael Hogans winners on a score of 1-11 to 1-6.
The winning captain received the winner’s trophy from Katrina Byrne, secretary of Bord na nÓg. Adam Arslan received the ‘Man of the match’ award from Liam O’Loughlin on behalf of sponsors Wicklow People.
Callum McKenna; Leo Byrne, Shane Arthur, Conor Edwards; Sam Carroll, Sean Fleming, Ryan Kavanagh; Dylan Byrne, Cathal Baker; James Murray 0-3 (2f), Adam Arslan 1-1, Cian O’Neill 0-1; Patrick Laccardi 0-2, Cormac McGraynor 0-4 (3f), Conor Shortt. Subs: Jack Bailey Johnson for Ryan Kavanagh, Josh Kavanagh for Cian O’Neill, Dylan Doyle for Patrick Laccardi, Hugh Gunning for Sam Carroll.
Shay Barrett; Caoilin Goetelen, David Vierra, Fionn Morrissey; Cathal Sheehan, Sean Harmon, Charles Canning; Tom Parker, Oisin Morrissey; Adam Kinsella 0-1, Ciaran Harmon 0-3 (2f ‘45’), Ewan McCrea 0-1; Conor Byrne 1-0, Adam Byrne, Conor O’Neill. Subs: Eoin Byrne for Oisin Morrissey. Sean Murphy for Ewan McCrea. Jack O’Toole 0-1 for Conor O’Neill. Oisin Morrissey for Caoilin Goetelen.
REFEREE: Brendan Furlong (Tinahely)