Adult Hurling vs Faughs
Sun, 19th September 2004

Result: 3-15 to 2-08

Castleknock showed their true colours in a fine exhibition of hurling throughout this championship semifinal. The mood in the changing room was unusually quiet prior to the throw in, some wondered if this was a lack of appetite, but right from the fore, it was evident that it was the opposite, the lads were extremely focused.

Castleknock started off against a strong wind but this did not deter them as they scored the two opening scores of the half. Faughs gave the game everything and were unlucky not to be nearer to Castleknock at the end only for the dominance of the Castleknock defence and the sometimes brilliance of Brian Lalor in the Castleknock goal. Right from the start Castleknock dominated with the half back line clearing a lot of ball into the half forwards and the full back line mopping up anything that happened to come through to them.

Tommy Corcoran was getting through a lot of hard graft in the middle of the field with James Lacey dancing round the half forward line, laying off the ball regularly and scoring two fine points himself. Ciaran O’Dwyer and Mick Barry chipped in with points at a stage when Faughs were closing the gap this was followed by a wonderful point into the wind by Keith O’Brien.
Micky “Goal Machine” Stokes was back to his best scoring two fine goals in the first half, the first of which was a marvellous pull in the air, which ensured Castleknock led by 2-6 0-5 at the break.

The second half continued in the same fashion, the defence playing wonderful as a unit and helping each other out in times of difficulty continued to supply good ball to the forwards. Ciaran O’Brien showed wonderful gile and speed many times through this half as he set up scores and scored himself. The half forward trio of O’Dwyer, Barry and Lacey, an asset to any team, continued to torment the Faughs defence. Faughs to their credit kept trying and who despite Brian Lalor making some exceptional saves, scored two goals to bring themselves back into the game.

Castleknock were not to be put off and some good vision by Ciaran Gallaghy spotted Keith O’Brien free on the square and a quick pass followed by a first time pull ended up in the back of the net. This was a true team performance by Castleknock with every player contributing to the cause. Castleknock won a sporting contest, hard fought by the two sides on a final score line of 3-15 to 2-8.
In the end, it means another final for Castleknock to compete in, but nothing has been won yet !

Castleknock: Brian Lalor, Terry O’Brien, Patsy Haugh, Ken Walsh (Captaein), Paul Morrissey, Mick Geaney, Liam Walsh, Ciaran O’Brien (0.2), Tommy Corcoran, Jimmy Lacey (0.3), Ciaran O’Dwyer (0.2), Mick Barry (0.2), Ciaran Callaghy (0.2), Mick Stokes (2-3), Keith O’Brien (1-1).
Subs: John O’Meara for Liam Walsh, Enda Shiels for Keith O’Brien. Donnacha Howard, Edwin Forrest, Paul Sweeney, Colm O’Dea, Ger MacCann, Eoin O’Reilly, Paddy Wade.