KIlcullen Juniors 2015

It has been a turbulent few weeks for Kilcullen juniors in a very competitive senior league div 4. A few defeats and a heavy loss of personnel would have been enough to break most teams but Kilcullen Juniors are made of stern stuff as they proved tonight in a difficult away match against Ellistown.

Ellistown got off to a great start racing into a 1-09 to 0-03 lead but that proved to be as good as it got for the home team. Points from Jack Dooley, Ben Phelan and an Alan Kenny free and a Colm Sheehan goal before half time gave the Kilcullen lads plenty of belief and even a last minute first half controversial goal for Ellistown didn’t do anything to demoralise the Kilcullen lads as they trailed 2-10 to 1-03 at half time.

The second half was all about Kilcullen as they started the comeback with early an point from man of the match Colm Byrne. Attack after attack yielded free after free and mister reliable Alan Kenny was on hand to slot 5 unanswered frees over the bar without reply from the home side. Kilcullen even had a cast iron penalty ignored by the referee who claimed to ‘not see a thing’ as Colm Sheehan was cynically fouled one on one with the keeper. A crucial decision at a critical time proved to have a huge bearing on the outcome of the game.

Kilcullen continued to dominate the second half with a point from Martin Murphy and another free from Alan Kenny getting the Kilcullen lads to within touching distance of Ellistown. Unfortunately the clock ran down and Ellistown managed to get home by a score line of 2-14 to 1-10 in what was a hugely spirited performance by the Kilcullen juniors.

Plenty to build on for the juniors as they prepare for the championship where Ellistown will be one of their major rivals and with a good balance of youth and experience and a plentiful supply of determination and desire to win the Juniors will continue to go from strength to strength.

Team: 1. Paddy Maher 2. Stephen Willis 3. Jason Lynch 4. Johnny Caples 5. Luke Dowling 6. Ben Phelan 7. Jack Dooley 8. Dwayne O Connor 9. Colm Byrne (MOM) 10. Joe Carey 11. Martin Murphy 12 Niall McCormack 13. Tim Carey 14 Colm Sheehan 15 Alan Kenny. Sub Used: Tom Dixon, Robert Byrne & Sean Fitzgerald.

Mentors: Mark Phelan, Kevin O Brien & Eddie O Loughlin.