Junior A Football vs Trinity Gaels
Sun, 9th October 2005

Result: 1-09 to 0-06

Bono and Bob Geldof sit side by side at the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony in Stockholm. Bono’s phone buzzes with a text message: Spread the word, the famine is over. Bono lets out a roar followed by Geldof asking what the matter is. Bono tells him the famine is over, maaaann.
Geldof says: “Does this mean….?”
“Yes brother Bob, Castleknock have finally won the Junior B championship. It’s a beautiful day”
“Tell me why I do like Sundays….”

And so news spread far and wide of the mighty Castleknock win over Trinity Gaels in the Junior B Championship final on Sunday (October 9) in a windswept Parnell Park. A truly Herculean effort was required by all involved with Castleknock and they ran out winners by six points. Castleknock got off to a poor start with Gaels going two points up in the first five minutes. They worked the ball well up the stand side of the pitch and were patient with their passes until the opportunity arose to take their scores.

The midfield engine began clicking into gear and Eoghan O’Callaghan, playing like a man possessed, took hold of proceedings. Any thoughts that Eoghan pushed himself to the limit for the victory because a replay would result in Eoghan having to miss it due to a planned holiday with the missus are totally unfounded. Allegedly. Your honour. He broke forward on several occasions and drew the foul from the Gaels backs. Paddy Molloy punished any indiscretions with his superb freetaking in a blustery breeze. The forwards found it difficult to adjust to the conditions although Rory Corcoran found the target after being found outside after a breaking ball and scored a great point. John Greene also came up trumps after being initially blocked down as he slotted over to display coolness personified.

The backs really showed their true colours with Denis Lally having a right old ding dong battle with the Gaels full forward with Stephen McCabe having a very solid game sweeping up behind him. The Raff put himself about as usual and was the first man to get the name in the referee’s notebook. Very unlike Alan. Extremely clean player – sure doesn’t he give himself a good wash before every game? Eoin O’Bailie pulled off two or three great saves to keep Castleknock in it and one in particular to palm a piledriver goal effort over the bar was the pick of the bunch. Castleknock trotted off at the break two points to the good but more effort would be needed to ensure victory was gained.

Half Time: Castleknock 0-5 Trinity Gaels 0-3

Gaels, geed up by their half time talk, tore into Castleknock on the resumption. An early point by them put the bare minimum between the teams and put the wind in their sails. However this Castleknock side are not one to panic and a point from Gerry Kelly steadied the ship. Barry Farrelly then scored a monster free to extend the lead after a foul on Stephen Lynch. Still Gaels came back and put another point on the board following a harsh free awarded by the referee. The centre forward had no place to go and hounded by Castleknock backs, he simply ran out of steam. His staggering gait obviously signaled to the ref that he must have been fouled and Gaels pointed the resultant free.

Castleknock came again and with the likes of Paddy O’Brien and Brian Kelly motoring well in the half back line it wasn’t long until Castleknock scored again with Paddy Molloy converting a free from 25 yards.

The move of the match took place shortly after which resulted in a goal for Castleknock. The wind carried a Gaels pass over the sideline and Paddy O’Brien was alert to take a quick kick and find Paddy Molloy in the half forward line. Molloy turned like a flash and arrowed a screaming ball across the 21. Tommy Corcoran met it like a train, side-stepped a defender and buried the ball under the keeper’s left hand. This score effectively sealed the game for Castleknock.

Gaels to their credit tried gallantly to get back into the game but their efforts fell short due to sterling effort of the backs and the steadiness of Eoin O’Baillie between the sticks. An accidental challenge between Paul Mulvhill and the Gaels centre forward resulted in the Gaels player being knocked unconscious. The game was delayed for ten minutes until an ambulance arrived. Hopefully the Trinity Gaels player came through unscathed. Surely in this day and age with reports of seemingly young fit able-bodied players suffering mysterious deaths, the possibility of these incidents should be accounted for. With three championship finals taking place an ambulance should have been made available for the day in Parnell Park. Let’s hope something was learned and one is put in place for the three finals taking place next week.

One of the Gaels players unfortunately saw red when play resumed and went in heavily on Mulvhill who had to be replaced with a facial injury. Bang goes the modelling contract. Castleknock played out possession football for the remainder of the game to ensure Trinity Gaels never got the ball to engineer a comeback. The ref then blew his whistle to the joy of the Castleknock contingent and put the icing on a truly memorable season for the footballers. Skipper Barry Farrelly marched up the steps to lift the cup on behalf of the parish.

From January, the players and management put in a magnificent effort training twice a week with matches every weekend. Congratulations go out to all. A big thanks to the sizeable support that turned up for the match. Don’t worry lads, we could hear your encouraging (and sometimes not so encouraging!) words on the pitch. Also thanks to the Bell for the meal laid on for the players after. Reports that Donal Cunningham tucked into two dinners (including the Bull’s) are yet to be verified. Some liquid refreshments were quaffed and all players and supporters were home in bed by 11pm. Allegedly.

This is definitely, probably, one of the greatest days in Castleknock, in GAA circumstances.

Team: Eoin O’Baillie, Stephen McCabe, Denis Lally, Alan Raftery, Paddy O’Brien, Paul Mulvhill, Brian Kelly, Eoghan O’Callaghan, Stephen Lynch, Tommy Corcoran (1-0), Paddy Molloy (0-4), Gerry Kelly (0-1), John Greene (0-1), Barry Farrelly (0-2), Rory Corcoran (0-1)
Subs: Ambrose Galligan (for Paul Mulvhill), Stephen Keogan (for John Greene), Darach MacNamara, Liam Kinnucane, Martin Griffin, Niall Tutty, Colm Byrne, Paddy Gaffney, John Smith, Eoin Maloney, Damien Griffin, Dominic Smith.
Injured: Davy Leydon, Dec Reilly,
Mentors: William Brennan, Mick Lynch, Donal Cunningham