St. Declan’s Champions !
The St. Declan’s U17 football team ended their successful season on a high after beating Coláiste Éanna on penalties to win the Metropolitan Junior League Division One.
FIRST HALF:
St. Declan’s had a slow start as Coláiste Éanna dominated the play and got their reward by going one up after rifling the ball past Cillian Campion, and into the top corner.
We found our feet after a rocky start. The lads made some adjustments and started to look more dangerous on the attack. The ball fell kindly for Adam Fennessy, as he tucked it away to bring the game level.
SECOND HALF:
The Declan’s lads came out into the second half, all guns blazing, the crowd getting fully behind them. 15 minutes into the half, a ball was whipped into the back post by Adam to Cillian Crawford Corbett. He showcased his goalscoring ability and put the Deco’s boys 2-1 up. As the clock ticked down, Coláiste Éanna levelled the score, with a free man at the back post. He slotted it away to make it 2-2.
We kept searching for the goal to go back ahead and we found it when Seán Farrell was fouled in the box. Kevin Sajan confidently stepped up and put the penalty away, with composure, as the opposition crowd tried their best to put him off. We were ahead again, at 3-2.
Both sets of fans were highly entertained, and the game was on a knife-edge.
In the later minutes of the game, while St. Declan’s were trying to hold out for the win a tackle inside the box led to us conceding a penalty in the last kick of the game.
Our fans put in their best efforts to throw off the penalty- taker but he put it away and the ref blew the final whistle and off we went into penalties.
PENALTIES:
The boys won the game on penalties. Goals from the spot by Onri, Josh, and Luke with Evan O’Leary providing us with the winner from the spot. It was great to see the school supporting the boys and for the lads to make history.
Big thanks to Mr. O'Driscoll and Ms. Byrne for their hard work throughout the year. Also, a big thanks to Mr. Reid who presented the trophy for the lads to take home. UP THE DECOS!!!
A massive thank you to 5th Year Kian Keegan for the photographs!
Written by Reese Rodriguez, Karl Duffy, Adam Fennessy and Oscar Gallagher.