Castlerea St. Kevin's power their way to Division One minor football title
The Castlerea St. Kevin's minor football panel that powered their way to this year's Division One Championship title in Enfield on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Roscommon GAA
The Castlerea St. Kevin’s minor footballers retained their Division One championship title with a powerful performance that Pádraig Pearses had no answer to at Enfield on Saturday afternoon.
Noel Curran’s side made light of the bitterly cold conditions at the home of St. Croan’s GAA Club to prevail by 2-18 to 1-9, warming the hearts of their supporters with a superb team display.
Roscommon minor football captain, Dara Curran, was the class act on show, hitting 1-7 over the hour, but there was much to like about the way Liam Finneran, Dylan Keane, Jamie Dowd, Seán Vaughan, Jack Dolan and Kevin Hester contributed to a dominant performance where Castlerea were never in any trouble over the 60 minutes.
They could have scored a couple of goals inside the opening minute with the wind at their backs, but when the green flag did come, it was Dolan who got it after an emphatic seventh-minute finish.
A couple of Keelan Kelly frees just about kept Pearses’ heads above water, but a necklace of delightful Castlerea scores left them 1-8 to 0-3 ahead at the break.
Pearses sorely missed the scoring prowess of John Price, who was introduced after the break, but there was no stopping a Castlerea team who continued to master the basic skills with their intensity and outstanding off-the-ball running.
Dylan Keane converted a two-point free — the only orange flag of the contest — and when Curran scored an exquisite individual goal after 46 minutes, the result of the contest was put beyond doubt.
Seán Finneran converted a late penalty for Pearses, but it was merely a consolation score as Castlerea St. Kevin’s ran out convincing 12-point winners.
