On Tuesday the 20th of December 2022 Clara played Rathdowney in a semi-final match in the Juvenile Gaelic Football Competition. It was a sunny day but cold. Perfect playing conditions.
Clara started with some great passing which led to the first point, scored by Sean Mullen. Sean came back and scored another point. Clara gave away a free kick in a dangerous position and Rathdowney scored a point. They scored another point to level the game. Dylan Dunne got fouled, and Dylan Deehan Kavanagh scored from a long distance out and to bring Clara’s confidence back up. Rathdowney’s defense was weakening, and Dylan Dunne ran by their whole defense to score an excellent goal followed by a point from Ryan Handy. Rathdowney got back into the game with a goal. Rathdowney’s attacking play was strong and they scored another point.
At the start of the second half Daniel Stoyanov went in for Jake Lynch. Rathdowney scored the first point of the second half to make it a draw. It was an intense game. Clara was putting a lot of pressure on the Rathdowney defense, but Rathdowney took the lead by one point. Dylan Dunne scored a point to get Clara back into the lead. Tadgh Maher was fouled right beside the box and Dylan scored another point. Dylan Deehan Kavanagh followed with another point. Dylan scored an exceptional goal and went onto score two more points. James Dolan came off for Conor Byrne and Sean Mullen off for Thomas Wier. Dylan scored a great point. Nathan Kelly went in for Niall Clerkin. Tadgh got a great point and Charlie Dignam came off for Darragh Rowen. Dylan got fouled and scored from his free kick and then got the final goal of the game.
The final score was Clara 3-15 and Rathdowney 1-5.
Starting Lineup, Clara: Goalkeeper was Niel Gaffey. The back line was Jack Griffith, Charlie Dignam, Jake Lynch, Oisín Guilfoyle, Dylan Deehan Kavanagh and Tommy Molloy. The two midfielders were Laim Fitzpatrick and John Carrol. The forwards consisted of Tadgh Maher, Dylan Dunne, Niall Clerkin, Ryan Handy and James Dolan.
Subs: Conor Byrne, Jack Fleming, Nathan Kelly, Craig Kelly, Mathew Moran, Evan Redmond, Darragh Rowen, Daniel Stoyanov and Thomas Wier.
The Final of the Juvenile Gaelic Football competition will be played on Monday 16th January 2023.
Article by OKM – 1st year
