February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Shamrocks 2-11, St. Raymond’s 1-12
The junior football "B" division features rarely at Gaelic Park, but on Sunday last, the Shamrocks of Brooklyn eventually overcame the threat of St. Raymond’s in an encounter which swung both ways throughout the 60 minutes.
Noel Swords opened the scoring early with a goal for Shamrocks, and this was swiftly followed by an effort from his teammate Sean Costelloe, who knocked one over the bar to extend his side’s lead.
There was a fine attacking performance by Brooklyn early in the tie, with a three pronged offense in Costelloe, Swords and Callan, all hitting more points for the Brooklynites.
St. Raymond’s full forward John Joe Sheehy replied with a couple for his team, and Tom Hoey forced through from the Raymond’s backline to notch one for himself.
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Sean O’Flynn scored two points for St. Raymond’s as his side began to claw their way back into the tie, and Sheehy banged in another before the break. Though it looked to be a worthy comeback attempt, Shamrocks edged back in front with a second goal coming from the boot of Paul Gallagher who scored for his side thanks to an accurate penalty kick. Half forward John Egan of Shamrocks, and Raymonds midfielder Brendan Wiley finished off the first period’s scoring with points each.
Going into the interval, Brooklyn Shamrocks led their opponents by a score of 2-6 to 0-7.
The second half opened on an entirely different note. St. Raymond’s were the more attack minded side, with a number of efforts sailing wide until Ted Mulvihill latched onto a pass from Sean O’Flynn to register a point, and his teammate Tom Riordan slammed one over for another.
Some intelligent midfield play from Shamrocks’ Enda Lally and Mike Lawlor resulted in more scores for John Egan and Dermot Callan, and the fixture seemed to be slipping from the grip of St. Raymond’s.
Another effort from Sheehy was goalbound until an athletic piece of goalkeeping from Brooklyn’s goalkeeper Noel Sullivan knocked the ball over, saving his side two points in the process.
Despite scores from Noel Blanchfield and another for Riordan, St. Raymond’s found themselves behind, thanks to efforts from Brooklyn’s Brennan and Callan.
A well taken goal from Noel Blanchfield, scored late in the game, was unfortunately not enough to salvage anything for this St. Raymond’s side, who came off the field of play on the wrong end of a two point difference in scores. It’s not known right now when either of these two sides will be back at Gaelic Park, but surely both will be right up there challenging for honors later in the season, when hopefully we’ll see more of them.
Brooklyn Shamrocks: Noel Sullivan, Brendan Egan, Kevin Moriarty, Jack Swords, Mike Kane, Declan Collins, John O’Donnell (0-1), Enda Lally (0-1), Mike Lawlor, John Egan (0-2), Sean Costelloe (0-1), Noel Swords (1-1), Gary Brennan (0-1), Paul Gallagher (1-2), Dermot Callan (0-2). Subs: Lenny Crowe, Packie Murray
St. Raymond’s: Pat Ryan, Dan Coakley, Michael Taylor, Brian Hogan, Tom Hoey (0-1), Pádraig Hayes, Kevin Quinn, Ted Mulvihill (0-1), Brendan Wiley (0-1), Tom Riordan (0-2), Dean O’Flynn (0-2), Noel Blanchfield (1-1), Jim Blanchfield, Aidan Molloy, John Joe Sheehy (0-4), Gerald Doherty.