AFL10 Croi Ro Naofa V Cuala
Sunday 28th Feb 2016
The first match of the new season for Cuala 4ths was an away trip to Tallaght against Croi Ro
Naofa, with a 3.30 throw in. With club panels still taking shape the squad was boosted by the
availability of a few 2nd and 3rd team squad players on the day and with a total 21 players
travelling we were able to field a fairly strong starting 15 plus the luxury of 6 subs, most of whom
would normally be in the starting 15. Conditions were good – dry and no breeze or wind that
would make a difference.
Lineout:
Eamon Droomgoole
Andy Donoghue Jack Butler Peter McKeown
James McCarthy Karl Schutte Ben Fennell
Brian Sexton Alex Brock
Luke Kelly Greg Egan Paddy Murray
Oisin Misteil Cormac Spillane Colm Begley
Subs: John Paul Comber Liam McDermott Karl Wolohan
Conor Bass Conall Molumby Mick Kennedy
Cuala registered the opening score of the match with Paddy Murray having the honour of scoring our first point
of the new season. However, CRN were quick to respond and opened their account with a well-taken goal. This
score seemed to settle CRN and for the next 15 minutes they maintained the upper hand and we found it hard
to break out of our own half. But for all their possession CRN were unable to make their dominance show on the
scoreboard and they only managed 3 more points in the first half while points from Oisin Misteil, Greg Egan,
Luke Kelly and Colm Begley kept us in contention and at the break the scores were even at 1-02 to 0-05, despite
our patchy performance.
The second half was a much better effort. Andy, Jack and Peter took control of the back line and out in the
middle third we started to win more ball, particularly through Alex and Luke. Strong running from Paddy, Oisin
and Colm started to open up the CRN defence and, unlike CRN, we were able to convert the effort and chances
into scores. Paddy Murray knocked in 2 goals with a point from Luke in between and suddenly there was some
daylight as CRN struggled for chances and scores. We were 3-06 to 1-06 ahead after Oisin banged in our third
goal. We finished out the game well on top, knocking over 3 unanswered points before the end from Luke, Alex
and a boomer from Conor Bass.
Final score Cuala 3-09 : Croi Ro Naofa 1-06
Scorers: Paddy Murray 2-1 ; Oisin Misteil 1-01; Luke Kelly 0-03 ; Greg Egan, Colm Begley, Alex Brock and Conor
Bass 0-1 each
Subs: all subs used. JP Comber for Ben Fennell, Karl Wolohan for Karl Schutte, Conall Molumby for Greg Egan,
Conor Bass for Cormac Spillane, Liam McDermott for Colm Begley, Mick Kennedy for Oisin Misteil