Match Report

The under 19 team played St John’s, Ballyfermot, on Thursday in the Under 19 League final. The venue was the astro pitch in Pearse Park, Crumlin.

The game started at a frenetic pace and it took a little time for any quality play to evolve. The St Kilian’s keeper, Adrian Jesoniek, was first to be called into action when he had to divert a long range shot over the crossbar. This was quickly followed by a St Kilian’s move which resulted in a shot going narrowly wide. The game settled down and both teams constructed good passing moves but there was little action for both goalkeepers -a game of cat and mouse. However, in the last ten minutes  of the first half, both teams went very close to opening the scoring. Firstly, St John’s broke through to see their shot hit the post and minutes later, Liam Ryan struck an excellent shot from the edge of the box that eluded the keeper but hit the upright.

The stalemate continued into the second half, with Liam Ryan and Cathal Kelly proving to be a headache for the St John’s defense. Both teams continued to nullify each other for long periods of the game but disaster struck for St Kilian’s when they were defending a corner. There didn’t appear to be a great threat but a blocked clearance by a St Kilian’s player resulted in a scrambled goal for St John’s. St Kilian’s responded well to the setback and were pressing the St John’s team into some desperate rearguard defending. Disaster appeared to have struck for St John’s when their keeper upended the player who was offering another threat,  Daniel Barker, in the penalty area but the referee waived away the penalty claims. St Kilian’s continued to press and were awarded two free kicks in the dying minutes. The second produced a great delivery from Stefan Weber but Hugo Heisterkamp couldn’t direct his header on target and, moments later, the referee blew for full time.

Al Sugg, Soccer Coach