21 Aug 2020
Castleknock 3-12 Clontarf 3-7

A game full of sweeping Castleknock passing movements resulted in a deserved five-point victory over Clontarf in Round 1 of the new Minor ‘C’ Football Cup in windy Somerton this evening (Aug.21).

Playing into the stiff breeze in the first-half Castleknock got off to the ideal start with a Ruairi Deehan interception setting-up Adam Pettit for the opening point on four minutes.

Clontarf responded with a well-worked fisted goal but Castleknock had the perfect response less than a minute later when Adam Pettit’s shot hit an upright and dual player Jack Lynch buried the rebound..

Between then and the 21st minute Castleknock controlled the game. Michael Ryan pointed at the end of a pitch length move, Ruairi Deehan was involved three times before firing over another point, Jake Lyons pointed on the run and Finn Woodger turned inside well to point off his left to give Castleknock a 1-5 1-2 lead.

Then it was Clontarf’s turn to gain the upper hand. In the final minutes of the first-half they scored 2-2 to just 0-2 for Castleknock, Jack Lynch and Adam Pettit, the home scorers to leave Clontarf with a three-point interval lead, 3-4 1-7.

However, in the second-half Castleknock outscored their opponents by 2-5 0-3 to end up decisive winners. Two minutes after the restart substitute Oisín Dillon rolled the ball to the Clontarf net and within another two minutes Jack Lynch had levelled the scores with a pointed free 2-8 3-5.

The next 12 minutes went without a score on either side largely due to a brilliant save by Alex Conroy nine minutes in. The next score was always going to be vital and it went to Castleknock when a terrific passing movement was expertly finished to the Clontarf net by another substitute Tom Lally.

While Clontarf scored two more points Castleknock had the upper hand in the final quarter with Adam Pettit (2), Josh McCann and Jack Lynch completing the scoring.

The Castleknock effort was total, the backs out in front winning some great ball, the midfielders aided by Ruairi Deehan always up in support and while Diarmuid Brady was the only forward not to score, his constant movement up and down the pitch was the source of numerous scores for the rest of the forward line.

All in all, a fine team performance.

Castleknock: Alexander Conroy; Daniel O’Leary; Eoin Monaghan; Tyrone Kelly; Jake Lyons (0-1); Ivan Carroll; Joshua McCann (0-1); Ben Canny; Finn McKay; Diarmuid Brady; Adam Pettit (0-4); Jack Lynch (1-3); Finn Woodger (0-1); Ruairi Deehan (0-1); Michael Ryan (0-1). Subs used: Oisín Dillon (1-0); Kieran Mullen; Tom Lally (1-0); Luke Callinan.

Management: Daniel Canny; Donal O’Leary; Tommy Monaghan; Stephen Byrne.
Report: Kevin Mallon