Knockbeg College 2-18 St Peters College 1-1
By Brian Broderick (TY)
The Knockbeg Junior footballers got their championship off to a flying start on the cold morning of the 21st of October with an impressive win over St Peters of Wexford in Graiguecullen.
There was a strong wind travelling across the field, but this did not affect Mikey Murphy as he converted his first of many points of the day through a free kick from close range to give Knockbeg an early lead. St. Peters responded with one of their own shortly after, before a second Murphy free and a fine point from Jack Behan gave Knockbeg the lead once more. Knockbeg kept the scoreboard ticking over with more points from Murphy before captain Jeremy Kelly got a point for himself at the end of the half to leave the score at 0-8 to 0-1 to the men in white and blue.
Kelly opened the second half the same way he left it with a good point. Midfielder John Phiri was rewarded for his excellent fielding of kickouts alongside fellow midfielder TJ Nolan with a point of his own. The deadlock was finally broken as the lively Bobby Doyle struck for a goal. More points from Murphy, a second for John Phiri off the left, a third for Kelly and a deserved point for TJ Nolan really put daylight between the two sides. Full forward Murphy was also on hand to finish off a well worked goal, with subs Eoin Mulhall and Kyle Holden also getting their names on the scoresheet late on. Eventually the outstanding Knockbeg defence was beaten with a goal from St Peters who never gave up.
Overall, it was a brilliant team performance, which also saw fifteen subs getting a run. Big thanks to coaches Mr Conway, Ms Moore and fellow management who have helped get the lads off to a wonderful start to the season. Hopefully this is the start of even better things to come!
Michael Gaffney(Killeshin), Cian Cashman(Palatine), Daniel Wall(Grangeolvin), Cian Campion(Palatine), Mackenzie McIvor(Ballylinan), Darragh Loughman(Ballylinan), Kevin Fennelly(Annanough), TJ Nolan (0-1/St Laurences), John Phiri (0-2/Askea), Jamie Walker(Tinryland) , Jeremy Kelly (0-3/St Josephs), Jack Behan (0-1/Arles Kilcruise), Bobby Doyle (1-0/Tinryland), Mikey Murphy (1-9, 0-7f/St Josephs), Pierce O’ Dwyer(St Laurences).
Subs- E. Mulhall( 0-1/Arles Kilcruise), O Kirwan( Grange), K Holden (0-1), C Fitzgerald, E English, E Askins, R Doran, J Milton( Killeshin), C Tucker, A Downes ( Graiguecullen), L Bramley( Askea), D Downey( Ballylinan), C Nolan, J Fitzharris( Palatine),A Hennessy, B Corcoran( Stradbally Parish Gaels), C Long ( Fenagh), D Walsh ( Athy)