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| Peter Kelly Memorial 2009 |  |
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The Peter Kelly Memorial Cup 2009
The Annual Peter Kelly Memorial Cup took place in CFC, Doctors Road on Saturday 29th August 2009.
This year’s participants were the Under 15 Panels from:
Crumlin United
Maynooth Town
Naas Town
Clane United
An open draw was made and Clane United drew Crumlin while Maynooth took on Naas for the first games at 11.00 am.
Clane United (1) 5 v Crumlin (1) 3
Clane kicked into the wind in the first half and knew they were in a tough game from the off. End to end football ensued with good stops made by both keepers.
Just before half time Dylan Hannon received a super pass from Karl Cleary, looked like he was going to shoot first touch, then manoeuvred around the Crumlin defender to get a better look at goal and slammed the ball past the net minder.
The second half saw the rain fall but not Crumlin’s determination to let this game
slip away from them. They came to Doctor’s Road to win and were not giving up easily. They piled on the pressure but the Clane back line of Scot Hannon, Stephen Byrne, Dean Slattery and Danny Boyle held solid until 2 minutes from time when Crumlin equalised.
Penalties were to decide the winners, and Clane’s keeper Peter Hogarty was the hero of the hour, making two great saves to put Clane into the Final.
Maynooth Town gave Naas Town a tough game and it looked liked like another penalty shoot out when Naas scored with 5 minutes to go and Naas booked their place in the Final.
Refreshments were served by Margaret O’Rourke and Margaret Cleary in the Rugby Club, to which we would like to extend a huge ‘Thank You’ for allowing us the use of their premises yet again, and indeed to the ladies who came up trumps with a wonderful spread of delights and home baking from the parents of the Clane team. Many thanks to you all.
The Final
Clane United (1) 5 V Naas Town (1) 3
The sun started to shine for the kick off of this game and the Clane supporters came out in numbers to support the team in the Final. This game was hard fought in midfield with excellent displays from Killian Patchell, Dylan Hannon, Luke Allen and Clane’s’ Captain, Karl Cleary. They dominated the midfield play and Clane were unlucky not to be 2 up before half time with shots from Hannon and Allen just missing the target. Against the run of play Naas had a shot at goal which was saved by Hogarty who then unfortunately saw the ball slip from his hands over the line.
Clane however went not demoralised but came out fighting in the second half and the supporters had a lot to appreciate from the display from both sides. With seconds to go Killian Patchell sent a perfect cross from the wing floating the ball across goal and Luke Allen took flight to side foot it, on the volley, past the Naas Keeper.
There was no hesitation in offers for penalty takers here, everyone wanted to be involved and Clane were determined, with one hand on the Cup they were not letting it go to Naas. The spectators were more nervous than the kickers. Not one missed penalty from the two games saw Clane the worthy winners of the Peter Kelly Cup 2009, which just goes to prove you don’t have to play in Dublin to be a winner!
A special word of thanks must go to Ralph O’Flaherty, who is the Coach of this Clane Team. Last season this team had 6 players on the Kildare Representative Panel and will have 3 players on the FAI Emerging Talent programme for this season.
Thanks also must go to Eric and Alex McCann, who were our official Referees and they both had super games.
The late Peter’s widow, Mary and her family were on hand to present the Cup to Clane United. The Kelly family sponsor the trophies for this Competition every year and it’s a pleasure and an honour for the Club to be able to keep Peter’s memory alive.
Finally, The Team, Ralph and I would like to say a special goodbye and good luck to Dean Callan, who has been a great member of our team since under 8. Dean is off to St. Francis this season and we all wish him the best of luck. However, if he does not like it there the door is always open for him in Clane!
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