Under 11 East Cork Final
Aghada played an under 11 East Cork football final on Saturday last, the 13th of November, and it turned out to be an unlucky 13th , weather wise, as inclement conditions faced the 22 players who togged for Aghada. A fine Midleton team were the opponents and the Magpies won out on the day, in spite of a battling performance from our lads. The lads gave 110% up until the final whistle and also showed great skill throughout, in spite of the aforementioned wind and torrential rain.
David O Sullivan was keen to get on the ball at every opportunity and put in a stirling performance in midfield where he was often the outlet for backs coming out with the ball as well as provider for the forwards, with some very good passes into the full forward line.
Jason Hoban put in some very good tackles, playing at corner back, and saved us many times during the game.
Dara Murphy, Conor Moloney and Kyle O Shea in the half back line were very solid, and always keen to get forward on the break. Also very good in defence was Cal Bawden, who like Jason in the other corner was in very good form.
Marcus Leahy and Conor O Callaghan in midfield showed great energy, getting up and down the field, covering so much ground over the forty minutes.
We had some under 10s playing on the day also, with Donogh Rice at full back marking a man almost double his size but crucially he was on top most of the time. Up front Craig and Alan Hogan put over a few great points but in the end Midleton won out with their higher tally of goals making the difference. Cian Cotter, Oisin Counihan and Rory Slye made some very good passes contributing to several good moves throughout the game. Mark Stafford in goals had very accurate kick outs and was an assured presence between the sticks.
After we had played Midleton, in spite of now soaking up over 40 minutes of rain, and having played at a high pace on mucky energy-sapping ground, we asked the lads if they wanted to play another game against Glanmire who had come down for a second game of football, against Carrigtohill only to find that the Carraig lads had not turned up. To a man the Aghada lads agreed that they wanted to play another game.
In this one, a physically stronger Glanmire team stamped their authority on the game, and a lot of the time it was backs to the wall stuff. Ben Stafford in goals pulled off a string of very good saves in the first half to keep the goal count low. Jack Morrison and Vincent Hogan also showed some great touches up front and at the back.
Ciaran Galligan was tenacious throughout dispossessing the Glanmire forwards on numerous occasions. Mark McCarthy in midfield was instrumental in an Aghada comeback in the first half as we rallied after a difficult start. Sean Morrissey too showed great vision and a cultured left foot.
Again, Aghada gave it their all until the long whistle and with every member of the panel leaving Aghada drenched and beaten, they could leave with their heads held high as the Aghada supporters were very proud of the effort the put in.