Donabate Community College 5-10
St Macdara’s Community College 1-6
On Thursday the 26th of May, the u14s played against St. MacDara’s in Abbotstown in the GAA Shield final. The atmosphere on the bus was subdued and nerve-wracking compared to the bustling atmosphere on the way back!
With a stern wind blowing across the pitch, DCC were under pressure and had to work extremely hard to push the ball out of their defence with Daire Gleeson, Conor Brady and Cian Latham particularly impressive at turning over possession. The team felt they started off slowly, but this wasn’t noticeable from the sideline. Brian Collins pulled off a number of stunning saves to keep DCC in the game throughout. Kevin Burke was instrumental in ensuring DCC held a five point lead at the break.
St MacDara’s came right back at DCC early in the second half, and 1-1 in a minute narrowed the deficit to a single point. However, DCC regained their composure and a Jack Scott Lee goal ensured DCC put their noses back in front. We noticed that Callum Wright stepped up and kept the team in the lead while James Freel and Harry Stenson continued to propel the ball forward. Other players who came on for the second half and added to the score were Liam McNamara, Aidan Walsh and a terrific goal from Calan O’Reilly.
Star of the match Kevin Burke had this to say about how he played: “I thought I took my frees well and gave a good few passes into Andy (Caswell) and he put them into the back of the net.”
The Captain, Harry Stenson. was hard on himself, but the team all agreed that he was their man of the match. Although he missed a few frees, his passes and kicks were accurate, timely and set up the DCC attack.
Congratulations to all the players and thanks to Mr. O’Meara and Mr. Hopkins for coaching our u14s this season.
Thanks to Hazel McGoey and Ava Pender for this report and for helping Ms Clery with the photography. We are looking forward to even more sporting action in the new academic year!
You can view more photos from the game here.
Donabate CC: Brian Collins, Sean Kennedy, Daire Gleeson, Conor Brady, Cian Latham, Conor O’Leary, Billy Stanbridge, James Freel, Harry Stenson, Liam Murray, Kevin Burke, Callum Wright, Aidan Walsh, Graham O’Brien, Andy Caswell, Jack Leahy, Liam McNamara, Finn McGivern, Jack Scott Lee, Tiernán O’Rourke, Michael Manning, Calan O’Reilly, Harry O’Mahony, CJ Jones, Aidan Bukovec.
