Under 17 Championship Semi Final

St Josephs 6-09 St Michaels 4-11

St Josephs Under 17 footballers made a Sunday morning trip to Ballycomoyle to play St Michaels(Ballycomoyle/CFCW) in the semi final of the Division 3 Under 17 Championship. Michaels had won their group so had home advantage in this game and in fine but blustery conditions, this turned out to be a real game of shifting fortunes as both sides had periods of ascendency. We played into the breeze in the opening half and got the better start goaling early on. The home side soon hit back with a green flag and did put our lads under pressure but there was little to separate the teams overall with St Josephs trailing by 1-2 to 1-5 at half time. The second half commenced with our opponents getting on top with 1-1 to lead by 2-6 to 1-2 a couple of minutes in. St Josephs hit back rapidly with two goals in as many minutes to cut the deficit to one before Michaels stretched out to 2-10 to 3-2 at the waterbreak in the second half. At this point, the home side looked favourites to progress but looks can be deceptive! Three points in succession followed swiftly by two more levelled the game at 3-7 to 2-10 with about eight minutes left. St Michaels then fired home 1-1 without reply to lead by 3-11 to 3-07 with five minutes left. A quickfire reply of 1-1 from St Josephs drew the game once more and as the Michaels defence fell apart we scored two goals in two attacks to lead by 6-08 to 3-11 with the game heading to a finish. St Michaels did get in for a late goal but St Josephs had the last say with a point to win by four in the end and reach the County Final! It was a very wholehearted display from our young men who displayed great grit and determination throughout. Well done to all the team and mentors and we look forward to the final which should be in a couple of weeks time. 

Team:Stephen Fennessy,Jake Gannon,Adam Kelly,Ciaran Keegan,Ryan Fogarty,Frankie Day,Thomas Conlon,Daniel Keegan,Noah Mc Donnell,Ben Mc Donnell,Jamie Mc Donnell,Joseph Cusack,Peter Reid,Mikey Lynam,Alan Conlon. Subs: Josh Gannon,Mark Lynam,Gerard Reid,Dylan Drake,Eanna Rabbitte.

 

Junior Football Championship Relegation Final:

St Josephs 3-08 Delvin 0-08

Normally there is great excitement when you get to a final but this was a game that neither Delvin or St Josephs wanted or planned to be in as the loser faced relegation from the Junior Championship to Junior 2 for 2021. It was a bad situation to be in but the game was there to be won and St Josephs had too much in hand for Delvin in Clonmellon on Saturday 12th September and won comfortably on the day. St Josephs started the game well and this has been a trait recently with us as Brian Keegan kicked over a good score within 30 seconds. Delvin hit back in the second half with a point but the games opening goal came two minutes later when Ross Elliffe clipped home a three pointer from close range. Niall Moran landed a point in the 7th minute before Ross was on hand for the games second goal as St Josephs led by 2-2 to 0-1 after 12 minutes At he water break which came on 17 minutes our lead stood at 2-3 to 0-2 after Brian Keegans second point of the game. Delvin did come into the game a bit with their best score being in the 26th minute from a sideline while Niall Moran notched our further scores as we led by 2-5 to 0-6 at half time. Both teams traded scores in the opening minutes before further points from Niall Moran and Brian Keegan left us 2-8 to 0-7 ahead by the second half water break at the 15 minute mark. The result was fully settled two minutes later when a quickly taken free by Andy Scally was landed with pin point accuracy to Ross Elliffe who fired home his and St Josephs third goal to stretch the lead out to 10 points. That was our final score as the game got more niggardly as it headed to its conclusion and though Delvin did register a late point, the final margin of nine was about right after a hard fought encounter. As stated earlier, this was a game neither side wanted to be in and we take no pleasure in seeing Delvin relegated out of Junior. It shouldn’t be this way and we hope that there is a way to reverse what most if not all Junior football clubs deem to be unacceptable. Nevertheless, the game was won and that was our objective on the day following what has been a championship campaign of near misses. We lost out late on to St Lomans who are now in the County final. We lost out to CFCW after extra time on Tuesday in the relegation semi final in Kinnegad so with very little imagination our we could possibly be contemplating a Junior final. Still, the confidence gained by many of our younger players will stand them well in the future and certainly the next season or two could be very promising indeed. 

Team: Niall Rabbitte,Kieran Boyle,Pearse Weir Norris,Jack Fennessy,Eoin Kelly,Andy Conway,Aaron Mc Donnell,Wayne Mc Cormack,Ross Elliffe(3-1),Dean Slevin,Brian fitzgerald,Brian Keegan(0-3),Padraig Moran,Niall Moran(0-4),Andy Scally. Sub introduced: Gerry Gleeson for Jack Fennessy (second half)

 

Junior football Relegation Semi Final:

St Josephs 3-11 CFCW 1-19 (AET)

The splendid Kinnegad pitch was venue for our Junior Football Championship relegation semi final game against CFCW on Tuesday 8th September. CFCW who were in the Junior final last year were favourites in this game but for long stretches it looked more likely that St Josephs would prevail. To the credit of both teams it was a cracking game and would have been worthy of a large crowd to witness it. Both teams gave it everything. St Josephs started off like greased lightening with Jordan Mc Donnell opening the scoring through a free inside a minute. CFCW did hit back with a third minute point but with St Josephs making the running, a point from Padraig Moran was followed by a Penalty converted by Jordan to put us 1-2 to 0-1 ahead after six minutes. CFCW hit back with points in the 7th and 9th minutes to leave two between the sides but we hit the gas over the next five miutes scoring 1-3 without reply as Dean Slevin(2) and Jordan Mc Donnell along with a well worked goal finished by Ross Elliffe left us 2-5 to 0-3 in front by the waterbreak. The waterbreak actually broke our momentum and CFCW came into the game with a goal in the 18th minute followed by points in the 19th,25th,28th and 29th minutes to reel in our lead to one point with scores at 2-5 to 1-7. In added time, Andy Scally broke through and was fouled for the games second penalty which like the first was finished home by Jordan Mc Donnell leaving St Josephs ahead by 3-5 to 1-7 at half time.  On the resumption we pushed our lead to five with Brian Fitzgeralds point in the 3rd minute. CFCW fired over two points in succession before Niall Moran hit one after 9 minutes leaving scores at 3-7 to 1-9. Two further points in the 10th and 12th minutes for CFCW cut our lead to two before the second half water break. CFCW were having the better of things at this stage and they kept the pressure on drawing level by the 24th minute of the half. The game was well in the melting pot at this stage and looked to be drifting away from us as the north county side went two ahead by 1-15 to 3-07 with four minutes remaining. Credit to the lads, they kept at it and points from Ross Elliffe and a Jordan Mc Donnell free in the 29th minute brought the sides level. We could have nicked it very late on as substitute Hugh Boyle was desperately unlucky to see his shot drift narrowly wide with the last kick of normal time.  Two ten minutes of extra time then ensued as both teams limbered up yet again. The scoring rate dried up for both sides but CFCW did edge ahead by 1-17 to 3-9 at the end of the first half (ET). They moved three ahead soon afterwards but as in normal time we hit back with two points from Padraig Moran and Jordan Mc Donnel leaving St Josephs 3-11 to 1-18 behind with three minutes of extra time remaining. The games seminal moment came two minutes from time when a high shot from CFCW was deemed a point after match officials deliberated for almost a minute as to whether it was or not. If it went to court, the Jury would have ruled against the match officials on this one as a score was given and this proved to be the winning score. In the final minutes we tried for a winning goal which ultimately proved a bridge too far on a night where both teams performed with great heart and plenty of skill.

Team: Niall Rabbitte,Kieran Boyle,Pearse Weir Norris,Jack Fennessy,Eoin Kelly,Andy Conway,Aaron Mc Donnell,Wayne Mc Cormack,Ross Elliffe(1-1),Padraig Moran(0-2),Jordan Mc Donnell(2-4),Brian Keegan,Niall Moran(0-1),Dean Slevin(0-2),Andy Scally. Subs Introduced: Brian Fitzgerald(0-1),Hugh Boyle

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