St. Kevins 0:11 Dundalk Young Irelanders 1:06
Our Senior men advanced to the semi finals of the Intermediate Football Championship for the first time since our 2016 Junior win.
After leading by 6 points at half time, St. Kevins looked to have one foot in the semi final after the half hour mark. But a valiant second half display by the Dundalk Young Irelanders left an action past last 15 minutes where the Philipstown men dug deep to hold on to the victory.
TJ Doheny set the tone for his side early on, nailing a 45 after 3 minutes. St. Kevins moved the ball extremely well through the hands in the opening quarter of the hour in a fine evening for football in Stabannon with Karl Martin, Shane Meade and Tom Matthews all winning fouls.
The Kevin’s free takers and choice of a kicker from every angle seemed to a major difference. With Lee Crosbie making no mistake from close range dead balls and Cameron Maher pointing from the deck from the side line. DYI struggled in this department, missing 5 ‘scoreable’ frees with 3 different takers in the first half.
Three unanswered scores in the last 7 minutes of the half by Patrick Clarke and a mark and free by Lee Crosbie sent St. Kevin’s into the interval leading 0:09 to 0:03 in a half that was fairly one sided.
Thomas Macnamee’s side started the second half strongly with Tom Matthews wonderfully flicking a pass into Lee Crosbie who was fouled and he converted respectively.
Since then, Dundalk Young Irelanders started to find their rhythm gaining a lot more possession and were handed a lifeline back into the game earning a penalty after Kerry native Cathal Ferriter was fouled inside the box and Peter McStravick made no mistake stroking home.
Although the momentum evidently shifted in the favour of the Dundalk men, St. Kevin’s defended as a group extremely well (as they have done all year) forcing shots from wide. Finbarr Lynch, Darren McMullan and Keelan Maher all came up with decisive interceptions in the second half.
St. Kevins went 18 minutes without a score in the second half, but Lee Crosbie kicked over from close to the 45 at a stage where his team needed a score badly, a point good enough to win any tie, which seemed to give St. Kevins another gear as they battled hard off the ball for the last 12 minutes.
DYI closed the gap down to two late on but even at that, failed to create any big chances after their penalty, which is a credit to the 14 outfield players in red and black.
So many strong individual performances from St. Kevins in particular from Crosbie, who had a tally of 0-6, and TJ Doheny at centre forward but 18-year-old Cameron Maher wearing no.6 in his first year of senior football was a different class throughout, dictating the play from minute one.
St. Kevins alongside Roche Emmetts, Cooley Kickhams and Hunterstown Rovers go into the hat for the last 4 of the Intermediate Championship and they would have to fancy themselves against anyone in the form they are in.
UPDATE: Our Senior Mens were drawn to play Roche Emmets in the Semi Final of the CTI Business Solutions Intermediate Football Championship.