16’s win Hurling Championship in style

Final Score O’Tooles 4-16 Round Towers Clondalkin  2-4

It’s been a while since we’ve won a championship here in O’Tooles but today the winds of change blew favourably for the Larriers.

On a cold, wet and windy day in Parnell Park, this great Under 16 Team never looked in trouble from the time the ball was thrown in at 1:30pm. Within two minutes from the start, Luke Webster took a tidy point off his left to start the scoreboard ticking over. By the five minute mark, O’Tooles led 1-2 to no score. The goal came after Luke Webster hit a free from the half way line and the keeper misjudged the flight of the ball.

At the 15 minute mark Con Rock hit an outrageous point off his left from under the stand 45 meters out, he was only getting started. A minute later, Con picked up the ball 40 yards out and beat what seemed like half of the Towers defence to rattle the net. A quarter hour gone, O’Tooles cruising 1-5 to no score. On 27 minutes, Con again won a long puck out and ran at the defence, this time however,  the keeper made a great save to deflect the ball over the bar. At half time, Round Towers still hadn’t registered a score despite a couple of close wides. O’Tooles had scored 2-13. Con Rock, a personal tally of 1-10.

Towers had the wind in the second half and came out fighting. A goal from a 25 metre free after 7 minutes and a couple of frees in quick succession started to make a match of it.

It took 13 minutes for O’Tooles to raise a flag and it was a green one.  Cathal Keane alive to a keepers bat-out and he made no mistake with the finish, rifling it to the net. Cathal would finish with a tidy 1-2 for his days work.

It was certainly worth staying to the end. Towers scored 1-1 with a great goal from the corner forward in injury time. Then, man of the match Con Rock picked up the ball in the middle of the park and after breaking a tackle picked out his cousin Aaron Keating with a majestic pass off his left. Aaron ran at the defence and took a great goal in the Donnycarney End with a “Fennelly-Flick” to the net. The Towers defence didn’t make it easy on him and he had a bloodied face to show for it afterwards. (see the video of the goal  Here)

This was the last action of the game, all that was left to do was for captain Adam Craig to climb the steps of the Parnell Park Stand to accept the Championship cup like so many O’Tooles greats had done before him.

Although this was an exceptional team performance, it would be a shame not to give a few special mentions. Given the nature of the team performance: Well done and hats off to the management team: Enda Hoey, Terry Sheridan, Mick Webster and Lenny Rock.  Well done lads, all of your hard work shone through on the pitch today.

Also: To  keeper Daniel “Danno” O’Neill for his booming puck outs. To Aaron Cooling for his cool head and game-reading ability. To Sean McHugh for his work rate and gold-standard positioning. To Adam Craig for his courageousness and no-nonsense style of play. To Luke Webster and Evan Caul for their honesty of effort in the middle of the pitch. To Cathal Keane for his athleticism and score-taking ability. Finally to Man of the match Con Rock, who scored 1-10 with a towering performance. His dummy to avoid an oncoming shoulder and several flick pick-ups were worth the entry fee alone.

Here’s hoping that the next O’Tooles Championship success won’t be so long in coming.  With this kind of talent coming out of Blunden Drive, it’s likely the green and white jersey will be back climbing the steps in Parnell Park again in no time. Larriers Abu

O’Tooles U16 Hurling Champions 2019

Team:

Daniel O’Neill , Evan O’Neill, Aaron Cooling, Darragh McEvoy, Ryan coffee, Adam Craig, Sean Mc Hugh, Luke Webster, Evan Caul, Ben McGibney, Cathal Keane, Seamus O’Drioscall, Ben O’Neill, Conn Rock, Sean Maher

Scorers