South’s winning direction
DUBLIN SOUTH 4-12 ST KIERAN’S COLLEGE 4-3
TWO goals from Brian Moulds and a 1-7 haul from Eoin Foley were critical in Athy last Wednesday afternoon, as Dublin South were crowned Leinster Post-Primary Schools Juvenile Hurling ‘A’ League champions with a nine-point victory over St Kieran’s College in an entertaining finale.
It was a fine effort from the entire squad throughout the campaign, and their manager Mike O’Dwyer was thrilled to come away with some silverware, especially given the calibre of the opposition. He also felt that their 1-10 to 1-6 semi-final triumph over Dublin North was the catalyst for their success in the decider.
“Delighted to win it. Anytime you get a piece of silverware you have to be happy. It’s good to beat a Kilkenny team because they’re the standard-bearers,” O’Dwyer said.
“We probably wouldn’t have won the final without the test we got in the semi-final. The lads were brought on a lot in that match.”
Although South have played with plenty of confidence throughout the season, O’Dwyer reveals that they didn’t necessarily set out to win the competition from the word go, and instead opted to take things one game at a time.
Closer
“We went out to win every match we could. We didn’t really set out to win it, but we just said we’ll win every match we can along the way. Once we got closer to the final we set our aim on that. Once we got to the semi-final we felt we could win it.”
The lively Moulds did find the back of the Kieran’s net in the opening period, but a brace of majors from the Kilkenny men meant that the sides were level (1-5 to 2-2) at the mid-way point.
The Noresiders added a couple of more three-pointers after the restart, but despite playing against the wind during the second half, Dublin South were on top of their game, and some fine scores by the dynamic Foley (including a goal from a long-range free) and further majors from Moulds and substitute Emmet Murphy eased the Metropolitan outfit over the line.
South’s winning margin does sound comprehensive on paper, but O’Dwyer felt that the final scoreline didn’t fully reflect the way that the game had developed, and his team’s ability to finish games strongly was required in order for them to see the job through.
“The scoreline didn’t really reflect (how the game went).
” It was level with 15 minutes to go. It was level at half-time, and they (Kieran’s) played with the wind in the second half.
“We did very well in the second half, we showed great heart and commitment to come through in the end,” he added.