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Conor 'Killer' Kilcoyne brings glory home with Andrew Neville looking on

Cork County Minor Football Championship Final Replay

St. Michael’s 0 – 13            Carrigaline 1 - 5

County Champions! The Minors gave St Michael’s supporters something to shout about with the highlight of the club’s season coming with the sound of the final whistle in Pairc Ui Rinn at 9 p.m. on Friday 21^st November.

Conor Kilcoyne’s cheerful words from the victory stand and Frankie O’Connell serenading us with the sound of  “We’ll Bring Glory Home” made this victory feel like it was somehow inevitable.

But Carrigaline had other ideas in this keenly fought county final replay.

It was only in the last few minutes that Michael’s pulled away and put four unanswered points together.

The highpoint for Carrigaline was not so much their first-half goal as a superb save made by the Carrigaline keeper early in the second half when the teams were locked at 0 – 7 to 1 – 4. Certainly their fans gave their loudest cheer for that one and the rumble from the stand suggested that they thought this was the turning point of the game.

It is testament to the skill and spirit of a superb Michael’s team that they were at their most convincing when Carrigaline began to throw everything at them. Even though the boys in blue sensed that something was on, their scoring in the last 25 minutes was kept down to two points. This was in a period when Michael’s got six. Every man on the team played a part in putting that statistic together.

Once again Eoghan Buckley was immense and Steve Mahon created havoc for the opposition winning lots of possession and taking off on so many jinking runs. But this was not a performance by individuals: Every one of the Michael’s players stood up to a tough but fair physical test from their opponents.

The first half saw Michael’s outplay Carrigaline in many areas of the field and yet there was little enough between them at half time when the score stood at 0-6 to 1-2. 

Point scorers for Michael’s were: Eoghan Buckley (5), Steve Mahon (5), and one each from Steve McCarthy, Kevin O’Regan and Robert Creagh.

For Carrigaline, a ball that ricocheted off the crossbar was banged in for Carrigaline on the 14^th minute and they had a clear chance five minutes later. But for a stunning save by Martin Burke on the Michael’s line on the 19^th minute the tide could have turned – we might not have gotten to hear Frankie singing at all.

Steve Mahon terrorises the Carrigaline defence

Bucks is off again!!

Pics from the drawn 1st game

 

 

The panel that beat Carrigaline