Last Saturday night in a cold and windy Crosshaven, the Carrigaline Junior A footballers took on Shamrocks in the first round of the football championship. The strong crosswind was slightly in Shamrocks favour in the first half but it was Carrig who opened the scoring with a fine point from Paul Kelleher in the 6th. minute. Shamrocks responded straight away with a point of their own, leaving the score at one point a piece after 7 mins. It was Shamrocks that enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the next 10 mins. however with a couple of wides Carrig were still in touch. Fine fielding from the Carrig midfield pairing of Kevin O’Driscoll and Sean Corkery kept Carrig in touch but it was Shamrocks who were to add the next point in the 17th. min. 2 points to 1 after 17 mins. Shamrocks added a goal to their tally in the 21st. min. and a point in the 22nd. leaving Carrig with a lot of work to do before half time. Carrig responded straight away with a well-taken point by John Winters. 1 goal 3 points to 2 points after 24 mins. Shamrocks keep the scoreboard ticking with a point in the 25th.min. Paul Kelleher then scored his 2nd. and Carrig’s 3rd. point from 30 yards which was soon followed with a well worked point from John Winters after a fast free from the impressive Kevin O’Driscoll to close the deficit to a goal. Shamrocks added a point in the 31st. min. but it was Carrig who were to have the last word before halftime with a quick ball from Alan Murphy into Paul Kelleher who hit the back of the net for Carrigaline leaving the score 1 goal 5 points to 1 goal 4 points in favour of Shamrocks, who lost the influential Chris O’Neill after a nasty clash just before halftime.
The start of the 2nd. half saw the introduction of Carrig’s Garry Harrington for the injured Nathan Wall. It was Shamrocks who started the quicker and added 2 points in the first 7 mins. The 11th. min. saw a great point from Alan Murphy and Shamrocks lead was closed to 2 points. Shamrocks added another point to their tally 1 goal 8 points to 1 goal 5 points. Carrigaline were awarded a free in the 15th. min. which Mark Doody converted and Carrig were within 2 points again. Shamrocks quickly cancelled that score with a point of their own bringing their lead back to 3 points. 1 goal 9 points to 1 goal 6 points after 22mins. Barry O’Keefe was introduced to strengthen the Carrig attack as they tried to close the gap. Carrig were awarded another free in the 26 th. min. which Mark Doody again converted leaving it 1 goal 9 points to 1 goal 7 points with 4 mins. to go. Shamrocks again cancelled the Carrigaline score with a point of their own leaving the final score 1 goal 10 points to 1 goal 7 points to Shamrocks.

Team: Michael Webb, Richard Jenkinson, Brian Irwin, Andrew O’Keefe, Nathan Wall, Eoin O’Mahony, David O’ Riordan, Sean Corkery, Kevin O’Driscoll, (capt.) Daniel Twomey, John Winters, Philip Ahern, Paul Kelleher, Alan Murphy, Mark Doody, Gerry Harrington, Barry O’Keefe.

UNDERAGE REPORTS

South-East League Fe 12B(2)
Carrigaline (2) 4-4 V Ballinhassig 4-2.

On a beautiful evening, Carrigaline 2 pulled off a surprise, but deserved victory over near neighbours Ballinhassig. In a match that was evenly contested in the early stages, the Carrig lads with some well taken scores from Owen O’Donovan and Kevin Kavanagh, were a couple of points to the good at the break. Carrigaline stretched their lead early in second half with two further goals, which involved some good team work between Dylan O’Brien, Stephen Ahern and Kevin Kavanagh. Eight points up with minutes remaining, Carrigaline held on for a two point win, after a late surge from Ballinhassig, which saw them score two goals. Eoin O’Donnell and Mickey Quinn played brilliantly and deserve special mention. Well done to the Team.
Team: J. O’Keeffe, E. O’Donnell, I. Silke, D. O’Sullivan, M.Quinn, P.Ahern, J.Kind,
S.Dwane, E.Moyihan, D.O’Brien, K.Kavanagh, E.O’Donovan, K.Conlon, M.Lynch, B.Curran,C.Gould,C.Diggins, S.Ahern, M.Intrye, C.O’Reilly.

Fe 11 John Kerins Memorial Cup

An Under 11 football tournament in honour of the late John Kerins, was launched last week by An Garda Siochana. Many of the group stages took place last Saturday. The top two in each group qualify for the finals on May 15th in Pairc Ui Rinn.
Carrigaline 11’s were based in Trabeg along with Nemo Rangers, St.Michaels and Douglas.
In Carrig’s first game we were paired with Douglas and playing with the wind built up a comfortable lead at half time, with goals from Michael O’Grady and Kevin Kavanagh, and points from Eoin Moynihan, Michael Lynch and Robert O’Shea. Douglas came into the game much more in the second half but couldn’t get the scores against a very tight Carrig defence. Carrigaline winning by a score of 3-4 to 0-1.

In a very close second game against Nemo Rangers, Carrigaline had to dig deep to come back and secure their place in Pairc Ui Rinn on Finals Day. Nemo took an early lead, but Carrig fought back to be in front at the break by 1 point. Two early points in 2nd half put Carrig 3 points to the good, but then Nemo hit the net to leave the scores level. Carrigaline put in a great finish to score a further 1-2 and run out 5 points winners on the score of 3-5 to 2-3. A great performance by Carrigaline’s Robert O’Shea in the middle of the pitch saw him score a total of 3-3.

With St.Michaels left to play and knowing both teams had qualified for May 15 this was a great game that had all what’s good about football. Good scores, hard tackling and a game that wasn’t decided till the final 5 minutes. With Michaels playing with the wind and downhill, they opened the scoring and put Carrigaline under great pressure in first half. The defence controlled by Killian McSweeney and a brilliant save from goalie John O’Keeffe, we did well to hold Michaels to a 4 point lead 1-2 to 0-1 at the break. The never say die attitude from the Carrigaline lads in the second half saw them storm back into the game, when Dylan O’Brein and Michael Lynch scored two great goals to edge Carrigaline in front. Further points from Conor Gould and Michael Lynch was enough to give Carrigaline victory over a very good St.Michael’s team on the score line of 2-5 to 1-3.
This was a great morning of football and after three 30 minutes games, all of the Carrigaline lads deserve a mention for their performances on the day and are looking forward to a great day out in Pairc Ui Rinn next month. Well done lads!

Fe 12B1 South East Football
Carrigaline played some fine flowing football in this exciting encounter played at Ballinhassig, last Monday night. It was a strong performance by the Carrig lads throughout and we dominated for extended periods, but Ballinhassig stuck to their task admirably until the end.
The first half score of 3-6 to 0-1 reflected Carrigaline’s consistent pressure play. Padraig Conway caused the Ballinhassig full back line many headaches and grabbed two close range goals. Michael O’Grady and Alan Cooney also chipped in with a goal a piece either side of half time. Alan Cooney was particularly inspired on the night and defended and attacked with boundless enthusiasm, scoring many fine points. Other to stand out in a fine overall display for Carrrigaline were Diarmuid Hickey, Morgan O’Hanlon, Luke O’Hanlon, Stephen O’Mullane, and goalkeeper, Jack Lennon. Credit must also be given to the Ballinhassig lads, who fought gamely for every ball and were unlucky not to put some more scores on the board, but for some fine Carrig defence.
Team: Jack Lennon, Stephen O’Mullane, Morgan O’Hanlon, Anthony O’Reilly, Killian McSweeney, Chris Allen, Diarmuid Hickey, Richare Aherne, Robert O’Shea, Alan Cooney, Luke O’Hanlon, Cian O’Flynn, Michael O’Grady, Padraig Conway, Stephen Caffery, Darragh McCarthy, Ciaran Molone, Chris Naughton.

Heartbreak defeat for Intermediate Footballers

The Intermediate Footballers suffered a heartbreak one point defeat to Nemo Rangers in the first round of the championship. Having never been headed in the game Carrig looked secure for the third round before Nemo goaled in the last minute of the game to take the lead for the first time. Rarely has a team played so well and been defeated in a game. The lesson, however, is that teams like Nemo have to be put away when the chance presents itself. The team can take great credit from their performance and if the same fitness levels and levels of commitment are kept up we have a great chance of advancing through the “back door” where we will meet the losers of the Glanmire/Cill na Marta replay.

The Junior A Footballers are in Championship action over the weekend, taking on Shamrocks in Crosshaven on Saturday evening at 6.45.

The Junior B Footballers had two games, being defeated by St. Finbarrs but putting up fine display on Sunday morning in Shanbally where they defeated the locals.

The minors hurlers and footballers had victories over Nemo (hurling 3-14 to 1-4) and Ballygarvan in football.

Intermediate Football Championship

The only consolation after the final whistle was that we would be getting a second chance in the losers group. This was as good a performance as given by a Carrigaline football team playing excellent football for most of the game with the midfield paring of Nicholas Murphy (giving a timely reminder to Billy Morgan) and Eoin Barry (who is in contention for a place in the Cork Under 21 team) totally dominating proceedings.

Nicholas laid down a marker from the off bursting through the Nemo defense and setting up Eoin Barry for the opening point in the second minute. Two minutes later Alan O’Keeffe set up Ollie Conlon for a point. Carrig continued to drive forward and Eoin O’Sullivan pointed from 45 meter out to put Carrig three points to the good. Colin Corkery opened Nemo’s account in the 11th. minute from a 45and if it was not for the Cork Senior star Nemo would have struggled to put any score on the board in the first half.

A great catch from Eoin Barry sent a delivery into Eoin O’Sullivan who set up Alan O’Keeffe to restore the 3 point advantage in the 12th. minute. Three Corkery points had the teams level by the 21st. minute. But Carrig were back in front when Peter Murphy set up Ken O’Keeffe for a point in the 26th minute to leave the half time score Carrigaline 0-5 Nemo 0-4.

Another Corkery free in the 4th. minute had the teams level. Carrig were back in front after a great effort in the 6th. minute but this was immediately cancelled out. Carrig got the break that they were looking for when Ollie Conlon was brought down in the square and he coolly slotted home the penalty to put a goal between the teams. Nemo responded with a point in the 12th. minute. However it appeared to be going Carrigs way when Ken O’Keeffe pointed in the 13th. minute and within a minute another spectacular catch from Eoin Barry set up Ken O’Keeffe who set Peter Murphy who put four points between the teams.

Neo reduced the deficit to three points in the 17th. minute but two minutes later came the turning point of the match. Eoin O’Sullivan burst through the Nemo rearguard but his well hit shot cannoned off the crossbar when a goal would have surely wrapped things up. As is so often the case Nemo broke up field immediately but Matthew O’Sullivan saved brilliantly to keep the goal in tact.

Carrig went into their shell at this stage but managed to hold Nemo scoreless until the 29th. minute of the half when they reduced to lead to the dreaded two points. A very harsh free after what looked a very good tackle from Geoff Dillon gave Colin Corkery the chance to put an attack in motion which ended with Newmarket man John Paul O’Neill getting the crucial goal for Nemo despite the best efforts of the Carrig full back line who were superb through out.

A heartbreaking defeat but one that can act as a catalyst for a determined effort for the remainder of the season.

Team: Matthew O’Sullivan, Killian Forbes, Neally Hayes, Kieran Blake, Geoff Dillon, Tom Burke, Ger Cooney, Nicholas Murphy, Eoin Barry (0-1), Ken O’Keeffe (0-2), Eoin Murphy, Peter Murphy (0-2), Ollie Conlon (1-1), Alan O’Keeffe (0-1) and Eoin O’Sullivan (0-1). Sub Paul Holland

Junior B Football

The Junior B Footballers scored a great victory over neighbours Shamrocks in the City Division Junior 3 Football League in Shanbally last Sunday morning. Shamrocks went in to this game unbeaten but they came up against a Carrig team in determined mood. In fact after only five minutes of play Carrig had 6 points on the board courtesy of Paul Kiernan (2), Chris Irwin (2) David Moore and Barry O’Keeffe. Irwin and Kiernan were a constant thorn in the side of the Shamrocks defense, some of the point taking being of the top order. Shamrocks recovered form the early Carrig blitzkrieg with points in the 6th and 10th minute. Paul Kiernan pointed a minute later but this was immediately cancelled out. Amazingly after 12 minutes there were ten points on the board, seven for Carrig and three for Shamrocks.

The great veteran Meathman, Joe Harte, pointed in the 17th. minute much to joy of his family who traveled down for the occasion. Two further points for Shamrocks before Chris Irwin pointed in the 26th. minute and was in hand again on the call of half time to cancel out another Shamrocks effort. After a great first half of football Carrig lead at the break 10 points to six. Despite the lead we wondered at half time if the Carrig team would hold out against a more youthful Shamrocks line out who sported a number of their Under21 winning team from the previous week.

A Shamrocks point straight from the throw in increased these fears but the Carrig defense was to stay solid with center back Mick Duffy in dominant mood ably assisted by Eoin Murphy, Shane Collins and goalkeeper Alan Murphy (jnr.) who was very vigilant in goal. The outstanding Chris Irwin pointed in the 8th. minute. With Colin Corkery dominating mid field ably assisted by Barry O’Keeffe, Carrig took a firm grip on the game. John Dineen pointed in the 12th. minute and substitute Michael Quinn showed his worth with points in the 15th and 16th minute. Shamrocks pointed a free in the 18th. minute but Colin Corkery wrapped up the game in the 18th. minute with a ground shot to the Shamrocks net. Shamrocks tried to come back into the game and were rewarded with a goal and two points before Denis Lenihan blew the final whistle with Carrig ahead by 1-14 to 1-10.

Team: Alan Murphy, Eoin Murphy, Kieran Staunton, TJ Cronin, Shane Collins, Mick Duffy, Paul Keohane. Barry O’Keeffe (0-1), Colin Corkery (1-0), Gary McGovern, John Dineen (0-1), Michael Kiernan (0-3), Joe Harte (0-1) David Moore (0-1) and Chris Irwin (0-5). Subs Karl Browning, Michael Quinn and Barry Houlihan.

Minor Football

The minor footballers had an easy win over Ballygarvan to go joint top of the table with Nemo Rangers. A penalty converted by Tony O’Sullivan helped us to a 1-8 to 0-0 lead at half time. The second half was one way traffic with Timmy Kenneally helping himself to two goals with goals also from Hugh Cox and goalkeeper Shane O’Hanlon who got in on the act after moving into the forward line.

Team: Shane O’Hanlon (1-0), Kieran Kelleher, John Walsh, Paul Kiernan, Peter Donnellan, Raymond Keohane, Alan Noonan, Gary Harrington (0-1), Andrew Duggan (0-2), Colin Lynch, Timmy Kenneally (2-1), Alan Jenkinson, Wesley O’Brien (0-1) Cormac Creed Nolan (0-2), Tony O’Sullivan (1-3). Subs, Hugh Cox (1-0), Alan Murphy, Daragh Cotter, Jonathan Kelleher, Michael Webb, Jason Kidney, Valy Procovaru, Wesley Roynane, Colin Twohig.

UNDERAGE REPORTS
FÉ 13 City Football
Carrigaline 0-12 The Glen 1-3

Carrigaline’s under 13’s began their year with a fine win against The Glen at Carrigaline last Saturday. The Carrig lads played some fine football in the first half and led at half time by 0-8 to 1-1.
The Glen came out in the second half and fought tenaciously. It was end to end stuff. However, our lads were up to the task and played some great “thinking” football. Carrigaline ran out eventual winners 0-12 to 1-3.
Oisin Finn had an outstanding match and played with great heart throughout. Richard Duggan and Eoin Brennan also played out of their skins for the whole game.
Michael O’Donovan and Cian Barry were superb in defence.
Team:
S.Mellett, M.Dwane, M.O’Donovan, S.Timmins, D.Spillane, C.Barry, W.Bruton, K.Spillane, S.Conlon, C.Sisk, D.Drake, R.Duggan, O.Finn, E.Brennan, D.O’Keeffe and S.O’Halloran.

Carrigaline’s Fe 12B’s played their last challenge match, before the season starts properly, last Sunday evening against Blackrock. They have performed well in all these challenge matches, so let’s hope they will continue likewise in the south east league, which gets under way next Wednesday.
Carrig were ready for their hardest match against Blackrock. They came out fast and looking to close down Blackrock at every chance and impose themselves on the match. Robert O’Shea and Richard Aherne stood their ground in midfield and began to get the upper hand by creating scoring opportunities, in which Robert O’Shea scored a great goal. Blackrock took some great points and at half time Carrig led 1-2 to 4 points.
Throughout the match, Carrig’s Michael Grady, Morgan Hanlon and Anthony Reilly dominated in the backline and forced Blackrock to take scores from the half forward line, but they themselves were able to score another goal by Ciaran Malone and created chance after chance, in which they took most of them and ended up with another win of 2-7 to 8 points.
Squad: Stephen Flynn, Chris Naughton, Michael Grady, Morgan Hanlon, Anthony O’Reilly, Diarmuid Hickey, Darragh McCarthy, Chris Ahern, Stephen O’Mullane, Killian McSweeney, Robert O’Shea, Richard Aherne, Alan Cooney, Luke Hanlon, Cian O’Flynn, Padraig Conway, Ciaran Malone, Stephen Caffery, Jack Shannon.

FEILE FOOTBALL 2004
GLANMIRE 3 – 7: CARRIGALINE 0 – 5

On Sunday evening, Carrigaline under 14 footballers were away to Glanmire in the first round of the Feile competition. Carrigaline started very well, with David O’Regan and Gary Naughton in mid-field supplying a lot of ball into the full forward line. Simon O’Brien and Kaelan Spillane were unlucky on a few occasions. David Spillane and Cian Barry, working very hard also in the forward line, had some very harsh refereeing decisions taken against them. Carrigaline were leading 4 points to 2, when Jason O’Leary put Simon O’Brien straight through on goal, only to be brought down, and to the amazement of everybody present, the referee awarded a fourteen yard free, when it was felt that a penalty should have been awarded.
This was a huge turning point in the match, especially when Glanmire immediately broke straight up the field to score a very good goal.

The second half started with Glanmire opening up Carrig’s defence and getting some fine scores. Carrigaline tried very hard, but unfortunately the breaks did not come. Brian Twomey, playing his first game at centre back, was the most accomplished player on the field. James O’Shea also had a marvellous game on the day. This was a very good game of football, and the final score did not give a true reflection on the way the game was played. The under 14 players will again be in action this Friday night, when the South-East League commences.

UNDERAGE REPORTS
City Football

Fe 13
Carrigaline 6-13 Mayfield 3-2

Carrigaline’s under 13’s has their second outing last Saturday against Mayfield in the Fé 13 City Football. The conditions were very windy and favoured Carrigaline in the first half. From the start our lads took control of the game and converted some fabulous scores. Kaelan Spillane shone with an individual score of 1-4. Oisin Finn and Captain Dylan O’Keeffe were also outstanding and each scored 1-1. Cian Sisk, David Drake, Stephen Gorman and David Spillane added some individual superb points. They went in at half time well ahead with the scoreline 3-10 to 0-0.

The second half was an altogether different affair. Although Carrigaline scored an early goal through Oisin Finn, Mayfield started to play some fine physical football. They scored 3 goals and 2 points in quick succession. However, our lads were up to the challenge converted another 2 goals by Dylan O’Keeffe and Sean Mellett and 1 point each from David Drake, Kaelan Spillane and Michael O’Donovan, to run out eventual winners with a scoreline of 6-13 to 3-2.

Michael Dwane, Sean Timmins, Eric Callanan and Wayne Bruton played some great defensive football throughout. David Spillane and Sean Conlon were outstanding at centre field and each and every one of the forwards played great football.

Team:
S.Mellett, M.Dwane, MO’Donovan, S.Timmins, E.Callanan, C.Barry, W.Bruton, D.Spillane, S.Conlon, D.Drake, K.Spillane, S.Gorman, C.Sisk, O.Finn, D.O’Keeffe.

City Football
Fe16
Carrigaline under 16 footballers were at home to Glanmire last Tuesday night in what was a very entertaining game of football. Carrigaline had the better of the exchanges in the opening half, and led at halftime 2-4 to 0-4.
Glanmire came more into the game in the second half and put it up to the Carrig lads who responded accordingly. In the end it was a good win for the home team, 3 – 9 to 2 – 8.
It was a sound team performance, but super sub Simon Deady played really well when he came on scoring 1-2.
SCORERS: S. DEADY 1-2, C.NEVILLE 1-2, S. GRIFFIN 1-1, P. CAMPBELL 0-2 AND IVAN WARD AND SHANE BARRY 0-1 EACH.

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FÉ 14B South East Football

Carrigaline 2-4 Sliabh Rua 8-10

Our Fé 14B footballers played their first game in the South East league last Friday against a very strong Sliabh Rua team. The Carrig lads started the game very promisingly with 2 well taken points by Patrick McGrath and Dylan O’Keeffe. For the first 10 minutes, it was all Carrigaline. Then our lad’s seemed to drop their heads when Sliabh Rua replied with 2 goals and 2 points in quick succession. It was all Sliabh Rua for the rest of the first half and they came in at half time Carrigaline 0-3 to Sliabh Rua 3-7.
Sliabh Rua came out in the second half as determined as they finished the first. They appeared unstoppable. The Carrig lads rallied for the last 15 minutes and played some great football and added a goal and a point to their score, but Sliabh Rua were too strong on the night and they ran out eventual winners 8-10 to 2-4.
Team:
D.O’Connor, C.Sisk, M.Dwane, J. Brandon, W.Bruton, D.Spillane, S.Conlon, D.Drake, S.Gorman, O.Finn, D.O’Keeffe, R.Duggan, E.Brennan, E.Callanan, P.CGrath.

Fe 16 South East Football
Carrigaline v Sliabh Rua
Carrigaline defeated Sliabh Rua on a score line of 1-12 to 2-4 last Wednesday . Carrig started the better with some good scores from Stephen Griffen and centre forward Craig Neville. Carrig’s defence of Conor Hurley, Mitchell Cuddihy and Paul Campbell were brilliant on the night, with Conor Hurley really standing out. This was a very good all round display from Carrig, who were never in danger over the hour.
Scores for Carrig: Craig Neville 5 points, Stephen Griffen 1-2, Paul Campbell 2 points, Kieran Manley 2 points, Simon Deady 1 point.

Fe 16 Football South East
Carrigaline v Ballinhassig
Carrigaline played Ballinhassig last Sunday in Ballinhassig. This was very one sided match with Carrig running out easy winners on a score line of 4-10 to 2 points.
Panel: Niall Coakley, Jerry McCarthy, Ger Kiely, John Bray, Paul Campbell, Peter Roynane, Danny Cullinhane, Stephen O’Regan, Mitchell Cuddihy, Kieran Manley, Craig Neville, Simon Deady, Shane Barry, Ivan Ward, Stephen Griffen.

Fe16 South East (2nd team)
The second Fe16 team had a busy week with a good win over Ballygarvan in the south east football league, but lost to Clonakilty last Friday night.
In the City, this team also played their first hurling match, gaining victory over Brian Dillons.

Fe 12B1
On Wednesday, March 31st, Carigaline’s Fe 12’s first team started their south east football campaign at home to Dougals 1 Fe 12’s team.
Carrig got off to a great start and scored a point, after only three minutes of play. Douglas responded quickly and scored two brilliant points from well worked play. The game then settled down and with some great defending by both teams kept chances to a minimum. Carrig equalizer came from a free, but Douglas opened up Carrig’s defence and scored a great goal, Carrig up their game and scored two points. One Robert O’Shea and another from Alan Cooney which brought Carrig back into the game. Douglas attacked again and scored another point. Just as the half was finishing, Stephen O’Malone for Carrig, never gave up on what looked like a lost cause ball, which he returned back in play to Jack Shennon, who was brought down for a penalty. Richard Aherne put away the penalty and at half time the scorer was Carrig 1-4, Douglas 1-3.
The second half started with Carrig playing great football and scored 1 goal 3 unanswered points in 8 minutes. Even though Douglas attacked regularly, a brilliant full back line of Morgan Hanlon, Anthony Reilly and Chris Naughton kept them at bay. Douglas then scored two points from frees that proved to be their last scores. Michael O’Grady put the game beyond doubt with an immaculate display scoring 3 goals and a point. Luke Hanlon and Cian O’Flynn helped out with a point each, leaving the final score, Carrig 5-10 Douglas 1-5.
Team: Stephen Flynn, Chris Naughton, Michael Grady, Morgan Hanlon, Anthony O’Reilly, Diarmuid Hickey, Darragh McCarthy, Chris Ahern, Stephen O’Mullane, Killian McSweney, Robert O’Shea, Richard Aherne, Alan Cooney, Luke Hanlon, Cian O’Flynn, Padraig Conway, Ciaran Malone, Stephen Caffery, Jack Shannon.

Fe 12B2 South-East League
Carrigaline (2) 3-4 V Douglas 3-9.
In their first competitive match of the season Carrigaline 2 played a cracking match on Wednesday evening last against a slightly stronger Douglas team. In a game that flowed one way then the other and with plenty of scores Carrigaline started well with Eoin Moynihan and Stephen Dwane on top in the middle of the pitch. Two early scores had Carrigaline 4 points up. Douglas hit back with some good scores of their own and from there on to half time it was score for score with Douglas 4points to the good at the break.
Carrigaline laid siege to the Douglas goal early in the second half and had the gap reduced to one point with a well taken goal from Conor Cremin. Some great forward play ended with the ball crashing off the Douglas crossbar and denied Carrigaline a goal, which was the telling point in the game. Kevin Kavanagh, who was outstanding throughout the game, fielded some great ball and kept Carrigaline in touch to the end. Douglas with a couple of late scores at the end of the match ran out 6 point winners. But this a great performance by the Carrig lads who are playing teams a year older than them.
Squad: John O’Keeffe, Michael Lynch, Jamie Kind, Stephen Dwane, Eoin Moynihan, Dylan O’Brien, Eoin O’Donnell, Darragh O’Sullivan, Eoin O’Donovan, Cian Diggins.

Fe12C South East
On Monday March 29th Carrigaline Fe 12c football team played Tracton at home in their 1st clash of the South East competition. Tracton started off well and after about 10 minutes they were ahead by 3-1 to no score. Some changes were made to the Carrigaline line out and with some skillful play Carrigaline was ahead by 2 points at half time.
Second half started and Carrig kept up the pressure with Robert O’Shea, Luke and Morgan Hanlon and Martin Molloy teaming up to pick off points. Brian O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Mahony & Shane Griffin the full back line for the last 10 minutes of the game, played like a brick wall stopping everything that was thrown at them.
Final score Carrig 6-11, Tracton 5-1.
Squad: Stephen O’Flynn, Garry Murphy, Peter Bresnan, Brian OSullivan, Garry Mahony, Martin Molloy, Terrence McSweeny, Aidan O’Flynn, Stephen OMullane, Thomac Keant, Ciaran O’Reilly, Greg Nester, Jamie Buckley, Paudraig Conway, Cormac Conway, Stephen Brophy, Darragh O’Mahony, Cian O’Flynn, Luke & Morgan Hanlon, Robert O’Shea, Cian Conway, Eric Ward, Michael Curtin, Aimir Alli & Shane Griffin.

Under 21 A Football Championship Final

Age old rivals, Carrigaline and Shamrocks, served up an excellent hours football in the South East Under 21 Football Final in Ballygarvan on Sunday night. Unfortunately from a Carrigaline point of view we came out on the wrong end of the scoreline going down by 2-12 to 2-9.

Shamrocks played with the strong wind in the first half and had four points on the board by the tenth minute. Tony O’Sullivan opened Carrigs account with a point in the 13th. minute and this was followed by points by Paul Holland and O’Sullivan again to leave just a point between the teams 17 minutes into the half. Carrig were coping well playing into the elements at this stage but Shamrocks took a grip again in the ten minutes before half time. They added two points before a defensive mix up left Shamrocks in for a goal on the 25th. minute. A further pointed free left the half time score, Carrigaline 0-3 Shamrocks 1-7.

Playing into the wind it was Shamrocks who scored first, a point in the fifth minute. Carrig were throw a life line when the perseverence of Barry O’Keeffe set up Tony O’Sullivan for a goal. Tony had an outstanding game at corner forward and within a minute he was through again but this time his well struck shot went over the bar. In the 12th. minute Tony was again on target and the margin was down to three points. Shamrocks continued to move the ball very well against the wind and were rewarded with a pointed free in the 18th. minute. This was cancelled out by an excellent point from a free by Paul Holland from out on the left wing.

The last ten minutes were a roller coaster ride for the supporters of Carrigaline and Shamrocks. Shamrocks restored their four point advantage with a point in the 21st minute. They looked home and dry when they had their second goal with 5 minutes left of normal time. Carrig to their great credit kept plugging away. Paul Holland, who had another good game, sent over a point and Eoin O’Sullivan soloed through from fifty yards out for a wonder goal in the 28th. minute. Shamrocks once again lifted the siege and two points left five between the teams entering injury time.

Carrig responded again and points from Ray Keohane and Elliot O’Keeffe brought the margin back to a single goal. Unfortunately time ran out and we relinguished our title. This team has certainly improved throughout the campaign and it is hoped that all the players will show the same enthusiasm for the rest of the season as a number of them have really improved their performances over the last couple of weeks.

Once again the much derided under 21 grade has produced some fine games of football and is a great opener to the Gaelic season.

Team: Mathew O’Sullivan, Andrew O’Keeffe, Cian O’Mahony, Raymond Keohane (0-1), Colin Lynch, Gary Harrington, Rory Barrett, Eoin Barry, Ronan Hennessy, Eoin O’Sullivan (1-0), Paul Holland (0-3), Daniel Twomey, Barry O’Keffee, Elliot O’Keefe (0-1) and Tony O’Sullivan (1-4). Subs: John Winters