Post date: Mar 4, 2019 4:14:25 PM
Saturday 2nd March 2019
Venue: St Kevin's Abbey Rangers vs St Kevin's
Our under 16’s made it two wins from three with a comprehensive victory over St. Kevins on Saturday. A kick of a ball usually separates the teams when we’ve come up against each other over the past few years and we expected this game to be no different. So, nobody was as surprised as we were when the final whistle blew with the scoreboard reading 6.5 to no score in favour of Abbey Rangers.
The score line does not really tell the whole story as, for much of the game, it was a much closer affair than the score indicates. We played with a very strong breeze in the first half and an early Jack Curran goal got us off the mark. With St. Kevin’s struggling to get out of their own half due to the strong wind we pressed hard and were rewarded when Rory McGrath rattled the net for our second goal.
Mid way through the half the home side took control of the game but were guilty of some poor shooting and missed a number of chances. John Kelly got forward from corner back to fire over a superb point and Dara Byrne hit two similar scores to extend our lead to 9 points. St. Kevin’s kept coming at us but just couldn’t hit the target and as half time approached Jack Curran struck for our third goal to leave it 3.3 to no score at half time.
The home team dominated the opening period of the second half but poor shooting and some excellent defending by our lads kept the scoreboard static. Cian O’Dowd and Ciaran Byrne were solid at the heart of our defence while Cole Grattan and Eoin Callan worked very hard on the wings. Having weathered the St. Kevin’s onslaught, we finally broke their spirit with two goals in quick succession. The first was a cracker from Oisin Irvine while the second came from a Ciaran Byrne free that deceived everyone before making its way to the net.
As the home side battled on, Jack Curran and Danny Holohan added points before Cormac Finnegan netted our sixth goal after Thomas Browne and Russel Grattan had combined to put him through.
While we are delighted with the superb performance that our lads gave, we have to feel some sympathy for the home team finishing the game scoreless. However, we are under no illusions that if we were to meet again the game would probably be a much tighter affair.
Our next League game is at home to Confey in three weeks time (23rd March 2019).
Abbey Rangers
Sean Fitzgerald, John Kelly, Cian O’Dowd, Joe Broughall, Cole Grattan, Ciaran Byrne, Eoin Callan, Russell Grattan, Thomas Browne, Oisin Irvine, Daragh Byrne, Cormac Finnegan, Stephen Whyte, Jack Curran, Rory McGrath. Subs: Joe Walsh, Danny Holohan
Report and Picture (Attached) by: Declan McGrath