Kiltha Óg survive late scare to defeat Carrigaline in U15 P2HC
Kiltha Óg captain Charlie Howard and players celebrate after defeating Carrigaline in the Rebel Óg Premier 2 U15 HC final at the Mardyke. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Kiltha Óg edged out Carrigaline in a seven-goal thriller at the Mardyke to win the U15 Premier 2 Championship on Monday evening.
The action packed first half saw Kiltha lead after scoring four goals, but Carrigaline remained in touch with two of their own.
After finally getting on top in the second half, Carrig came agonisingly close to getting the win when they found a late goal to bring them within three, but they couldn’t break through the Kiltha backs who were excellent throughout.
The game opened up with a flurry of goals, as Carrigaline drew blood first. Cillian Murphy found himself through on goal and attempted to bat the sliotar in, but goalkeeper Jack Carlton did an excellent job of stopping him. However, he couldn’t prevent the follow up as Conor Murphy was there to volley it in.
Kiltha Óg found a response two minutes later as Mark Cody replied with a great goal, before managing his brace 20 seconds later after capitalising on a mistake at the back from Carrigaline, and pulled on the ball and raising a green flag.
Great scores from Conor Murphy for Carrig and Charlie Howard for Kiltha had it 2-1 to 1-2 in favour of the east Cork side after 11 minutes.
The teams twice traded fine scores before Ben Cooney got Kiltha’s third goal, as he produced a fine run before drilling it across goal and into the roof of the net.
Laverty leapt high to try and prevent a Kiltha point, but he knocked it down to Rory Lynch, who made no mistake in scoring a fourth goal for the team in red and green.
Carrigaline got one back a minute later though, as Carlton spilled Fionn Walsh’s effort into his own net. By the interval Kiltha led by five, with 4-5 to Carrig’s 2-6.
Kiltha’s Ben Cooney got the score of the game early in the second when he turned Diarmuid O’Beolain and pointed from range. Fionn Walsh responded with an even better score from his solo run and long-range strike.
Carrigaline eventually came to life, scoring four points from play without reply to take them within a score, but Kiltha steadied the ship, and got four points of their own to restore their advantage with nine to go.
Matthew Kiernan’s 57th minute goal handed Carrig a lifeline, but as in the Féile final between the two, they couldn’t turn it around.
M Cody 2-4 (0-3 f), B Cooney 1-2, C Howard 0-4, R Lynch 1-0, E Connolly 0-2, C Smiddy 0-1.
Conor Murphy 1-2, F Walsh 1-1, C Hanratty 0-3 (0-2 f), M Kiernan 1-0, J Murphy, D Carroll 0-2 each, O Lynch, R Murphy (f), D Fehily 0-1 each.
J Carlton; J Clifford, D Ronayne, M O’Mahony; J O’Neill, F Connaughton, K Geaney; R Lynch, C Smiddy; B Cooney, C Howard, N Leahy; E Connolly, A Ahern, M Cody.
T Casey for Leahy (43).
T Laverty; M Kiernan, S Collins, A Sanchez; D O’Beolain, R Murphy, J Scannell; O Lynch, M Kiernan; D Fehily, C Hanratty, F Walsh; J Murphy, Conor Murphy, Cillian Murphy.
D Carroll for Sanchez (21), C Kehoe for O’Beolain (37, inj), C Spillane for Cillian Murphy (39), Referee: Mark Maher (St Finbarr’s).
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