Cremin goals lights up Killavullen in U16 final.
November 19, 2022
Two goals from Charlie Cremin in the opening half lit up this U16 C Grade Rebel Óg North football Championship final against Castlelyons, which was played in Shanballymore earlier today.
This is a 13 a side competition and that allowed for loads of space, that both teams were trying to exploit. Killavullen started brightly and had the opening score from Colm O Mahony, but Castlelyons had a very clever tactic of drawing our full back line away from the goals area, and strong running in behind them yielded dividends on several occasions. Castlelyons equalised in such a fashion, and then raced into a deserving lead with two converted frees and another from open play. We were strong down the middle of the field, and worked ourselves into good scoring positions, but we were wasteful with our kicking, and missed two close in frees. Those missed opportunities were costly when our opponents went further ahead with a lovely point from play, and another converted free.
Killavullen responded by upping the pace of the game considerably, and on a dead and heavy pitch, that takes a lot of work to achieve. Colm converted a close in free when the lively Owen Magner was fouled and then, added a further point, when the 2nd player in the 2-man full forward line, Charlie Cremin was fouled, after David Walsh set him up nicely. Again, Colm was accurate with the free to bring the score to 0-06 to 0-03 in favour of Castlelyons and 18 minutes gone. Thomas Fennell and Niall Feeheny exchanged passes in the middle of the field and released Charlie, who goaled to bring us right back into the game. Castlelyons went down the other end, and good defending by Evan Sheehan and Eoghan Forde repelled the initial attack, but Castlelyons followed up cleverly to score and take the lead again.
Killavullen took a decisive moment in the game, when Charlie reacted quickest after the Castlelyons custodian parried the initial shot from Owen bur Charlie reacted, and finished to the net. Castlelyons got the final score of a very entertaining opening salvo; with a converted free to leave the score at the interval Killavullen 2-03, to Castlelyons 0-08.
On the resumption, Colm got the opening score of the game with another free and Seamus Cronin was introduced for David Walsh, who had put in a great shift in terms of effort, and a great deal of tracking back. Colm tacked on two further points to stretch the margin out to four points. At the back, Niall Fitzgerald, Yann O Suilleabháin, and Conor Barrett got through an amount of work, and stifled out the goal scoring threat of Castlelyons. In goals , Darragh O Connor was coolness personified as he commanded his area very well and marshalled his defence into the appropriate places. His kick outs, were very accurate as well, and he had the ability to go long or short, depending on the opportunities in front of him. Kian Murphy was introduced for Yann, from the considerable bench of Killavullen, though that bench may not have been so plentiful throughout the year. Castlelyons lost two players in quick succession to black cards as the Killavullen forwards direct running style, and off the shoulder availability of an additional player from the back was causing problems. Conor O Neill expiated that work ethic in spades. Niall Feeney, got the point that his tireless running all day deserved, and quietly and steadily, the margin was pushed out to 5 points, and only a hand full of minutes left.
Castlelyons kept pressing through, and when a deflected shot went in past Darragh in a crowded goal mouth, the margin was only two points again. We lost a player to a black card then as well, to add to the drama. Killavullen were doing enough to repel our opponents though, and we introduced Jack Stafford and Liam Martin for Charlie Cremin and Conor O Neill. Castlelyons gave us further heart palpitations though with another point, and time nearly up to bring the margin back to a minimum. From the kick out though, Colm O Mahony and his hard working mid-field accomplice, Thomas Fennell won possession, and worked the ball forward through Seamus Cronin. We held the possession in the forward line, and time expired for Castlelyons.
Killavullen though underdogs before the start of the game, and robbed of the very considerable talents of Colm Hayes, one of our most exciting forwards, who unfortunately had to have his tonsils removed during the week would have been delighted to finish with some silverware for the year. This team have trained well for the year, but shipped some big beatings earlier before the gradings were adjusted and brought them to Division C.
Afterwards, Denis Twomey from Rebel Óg presented the cup to our captain, Charlie Cremin, who graciously accepted it. Charlie’s speech was short, and succulent, he thanked the referee, Denis Motherway, the host club in Shanballymore, and our opponents in Castlelyons.
He also thanked the coaches, Greg Fennell and the intelligent John Stafford, (Winner of the Senior Citizens Table Quiz the night previous), and the parents for ferrying the players to the training sessions and matches, all yearlong.
The team was treated to a burger meal in Super-Mac’s, in Killdorrery before triumphantly returning to the village.
Killavullen Abú.
The team and those who scored were;
- Darragh O Connor
- Evan Sheehan
- Eoin Forde
- Yann O Suilleabháin
- Niall Fitzgerald
- Conor Barrett
- Colm O Mahony (0-06, 0-05F)
- Thomas Fennell
- David Walsh
- Niall Feeney (0-01)
- Conor O Neill
- Charlie Cremin (2-00)
- Owen Magner.
The substitutes were
- Seamus Cronin
- Kian Murphy
- Jack Stafford
- Liam Martin
- Aaron Forde
- Sean O Shea
- Darragh Taylor
- Sean Taylor
- Cormac McCarthy
Afterwards, Charlie was able to revert back to assisting the hard workers, putting up the Christmas lights in Killavullen Village.
Well done to all.