Arsenal are 2010 Tournament Champions

Photo of happy team following the final whistle

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On Friday May 15th as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations 50 members of St Kevins Boys were received in Aras an Uachtaran by President Mary McAleese, it was a memorable occassion for all who attended.  The President spoke highly of the dedication and commitment of all involved in Clubs such as St Kevins Boys who do so much to instill sporting and social values in the young people of today. Above are some photgraphs taken on the day by Gerry Murtagh:

Sean Heaney rises highest to head the winner in the SFAI Norton Cup Final

Our 12 Premier dominated from start to finish against Crumlin United in the final of the SFAI Norton Cup and indeed a 1 – 0 scoreline does not reflect their dominance throughout. Sean Heaney headed in a Jack Byrne free kick midway through the first half and that turned out to be the winner although Eoin Stokes seemed sure to have added a second soon after but the post intervened. In one of Crumlin’s rare excursions into Kevin’s half in the first half Aaron Myles was forced into a magnificent save with Jordan O’Reilly cleaning up the rebound off the line. From then on it was one way traffic with Kevin’s running out worthy winners adding the All Ireland title to their DDSL Premier League win.

Well done to all.

Join us for 3 weeks of fun filled football this June. The St Kevins Boys 50th Anniversary Road Leagues promises to be the Best Road Leagues ever. Read about the history of the Road Leagues here.

• YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A CLUB MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE
• AGE GROUPS UNDER 7 – UNDER 12 INCLUSIVE
• ALL GAMES WILL TAKE PLACE IN ELLENFIELD PARK (BEHIND WHITEHALL CHURCH)
• ENTRY FEE €15

Book On-Line or Download Entry Form

Participants Name Address Date of Birth dd-mm-yyyy Phone Number School Previous Playing Experience (if any)

Our first team added another three points to their league tally with a 3-1 away win at Howth Celtic on Sunday and they are also away in their next league game on Thursday night against Kilbarrack United in Roseglen Road.

Congratulations to Peter O’Reilly Chris Sheridan and David Kane – three ex SKB players who helped Ballymun United to victory (2-0) in the FAI Junior Cup final against St Peters Athlone.

Following the defeat of our Under 13 Premier 1 – 3 by Cherry Orchard F C in the semi final of the DDSL Liam Brady Cup our sole representatives on DDSL Cup Finals day will be our 16 Major team who will play St Patricks Athletic in the final of the Neville Cup

UNDER 10s ARE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!

Goals from Jamie Gray, Sean Bragazzi and Liam Brady gave our 10A Sunday a 3-0 win last night against Cherry Orchard and so ensured that the DDSL Under 10 League title is heading to Whitehall. The win caps a great season for the squad and their managers Ciaran Kavanagh and Willy Rafter. They head off to the Almere Tournament in Holland at the end of May as part of their preparation for Under 11 Premier football next season. Congratulations and well done to all.

David Graydon gets called up for Ireland

John Morling Irish International Under 15 Manager this week included David Graydon of our Under 14 Premier team in his squad for their forthcoming International games against Wales and Northern Ireland, it caps a fine season for David who played a big part in ensuring that our Under 14 Premier team finished in the top five of the league  following their promotion.

Our full list of League & Cup Champions so far this season are;

9.1Sunday – Managers Billy McCormac & Willy Burke

9.3 Sunday – Managers Tony Gleeson & John Cassidy

9.4 Sunday – Managers Stephen Geraghty & Anthony Smith 

10.1 Sunday – Managers Ciaran Kavanagh & Willy Rafter

12Premier – Managers Joe Quinn & Brendan Keeley

Hopefully  others will be added to this list shortly.

Our 14 Premier finished off their season with a 1 – 3 home defeat to St Josephs Boys the score line does scant justice to the team’s performance as they dominated most of the game striking the woodwork on three occasions, having a goal disallowed and two justifiable penalty claims ruled out, they can however be satisfied with their first season back in Premier football following their promotion from the 13 Major this time last year.

LEINSTER JUNIOR CUP

SEMI – FINAL

ST KEVINS BOYS 5 KILLESTER UNITED 2

At half time in this game very few of those in attendance would have forecast the final scoreline such was Killesters superiority in the last half hour of the first half, and indeed they began the second half in a similar vein but goals change games and when Killesters’ Nelson was penalised for hand ball inside the area eight minutes into the second half Stephen Higgins’ well struck penalty was the start of a purple patch that saw further goals come from Stephen Cooling (2) and Jordan Lancaster.

Dougie Dolan had given the home side the start they wanted when he nodded in Tony Mc Donnell’s header back across goal following a corner in the third minute and indeed they could have added to that soon after when Stephen Cooling’s drive cannoned back of the crossbar with the goalkeeper well beaten, but Killester came into the game after that and dominated the remainder of the first half and deservedly equalised on the stroke of half time when Sanchez fired home from twelve yards. 

The goal spree in the second half killed off any hopes that Killester had of making a game of it and their only reward was a goal from the penalty spot by Sanchez when Aaron Cameron was penalised for bringing down Darren Kavanagh in the area with six minutes remaining.

The final against old rivals Ballymun United May17th at 2-30pm promises to be a memorable one, and thankfully a more appropriate venue than the AUL Bowl has been found with the announcement that Tolka Park will now host the final of such a prestigious tournament.

 There were other good midweek wins for our 11.2 (3 – 1) winners away to Drogheda and our 13.2 (3 – 1) winners at home to Portmarnock, while our 1st team drew 3-3 with Baldoyle United. 

Stephen Geraghty’s 9.4 became League champions last week by virtue of a 2 – 1 win over main title rivals Carriglea Boys.  This win means that three of our 5 under 9 teams are League champions. Our 9A Sunday managed by Billy McCormack and Willie Burke, our 9B Sunday managed by Tony Gleeson and John Cassidy were the others.  Congratulations to all!!!

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SKB: Stephen Hannon, Dylan McKeown, Josh McLoughlin, Andrew Boylan, Ciaran Flood, Dylan McLoughlin, Shane Downey, Sean Kelly, Saned Ali Busniana, Dean O’Keeffe, James Gilchrist, Alan Sherwin, Paul Darcy, Stuart Fitzpatrick, Dylan McMahon, Stepen Mooney, Jordan Thuillier

St Kevin’s under 14.3 made the trip to Barcelona at Easter to compete in the Costa Brava Cup. An early start on Holy Thursday saw the squad of 17 plus 20 supporters assemble at 4.45am in Dublin Airport. The Manager was in a flap straight away, as all of the tickets were left behind. After an hour of queuing to get through security the flight to Spain got underway. Day 1 involved settling into the very nice town of Lloret de Mar, players headed straight for the pool, supporters worked on their tans. A great atmosphere in the town, teams in their colours strolling about everywhere. This is a huge tournament, with about 160 teams competing.

Friday Morning everyone was up at 7am to prepare for the first game at 9.00. The Saints were on the pitch at 8.30 warming up. The Italian opposition, Lacchiarella, turned up promptly at ten minutes after kick off time. Eventually we get underway and the Italians don’t do tackles, don’t head the ball, roll around when touched, but can play. The Saints are one down after five minutes, but the lads did not come all this way to lie down. Dean O’Keeffe scrambles an equaliser and then early in the 2^nd half Paul Darcy scored the goal of the tournament, smacking the ball home from 20 yards after superb midfield work from Stuart Fitzpatrick. The Italians equalised but then Saned Ali set up Paul Darcy for his 2^nd and Stephen Mooney lobed the keeper to see the Saints run out 4-2 winners.

Second game of the day was against VV Quick from Holland. The Saints were on fire and won 3 – 0, with goals from man of the match James Gilchrist, Alan Sherwin and Jordan Thuillier.

Day 2 and the weather was much cooler. This suited the Saints and poor Gumfens from Switzerland were beaten 9 – 0. Jordan Thuillier and Dylan McMahon both scored hat tricks, Josh McLoughlin scored from a 30 yard free kick, and Alan Sherwin and Dylan McLoughlin both headed home corners.

The late game on Saturday brought us down to earth, as we were beaten by Fluierry from Switzerland, 2-0. Lads were very disappointed until we realised that if we can beat Meadow Sports the next day still win the group and would be into the semi’s.

Sunday morning and the rain was tipping down. We were playing a strong Meadow Sports team from Woking. Nothing between the teams but in Spain the ref’s give free kicks for the slightest touch. Meadow got a free at the edge of the box and an excellent strike hit our net just under the bar. Early in the 2^nd half they score again and the game is up. The Saints battled to the end but could not break them down.

The lads were very disappointed but recovered very quickly. Their good humour lifts all of the party as we head back to Lloret. All of the players did St Kevins Boys proud with some excellent football and superb behaviour off the pitch. Most importantly the players looked out for one another and managed to bring their parents safely home. One last drama as this time the Managers lost 7 passports at the Airport. They are recovered just in time to get home.

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SKB: Alan Cosgrove, Johnny Carroll, Eric Kenny, Dougie Dolan, Conor Dillon, Tony McDonnell, Aaron Cameron, Stephen Cooling, Garteh Murphy, Decky O’Hara, Robert Coombes, Jordan Lancaster, Conor Reid, Keith McDermott, Stephen Higgins, Keith O’Hanlon

An outstanding display from the Saints Senior team (pictured) saw them reach the final of the Leinster Junior Cup following a comprehensive victory over Killester United.

The Saints started brightly and were a goal ahead after just 4 minutes. A short corner was played to the far post where Tony McDonnell headed it back into the 6 yard box for Dougie Dolan to head home. They were unlucky not to be two up following a wonderful strike by Stephen Cooling whose 25 yard shot hit the crossbar after great work by Eric Kenny down the left had set him up. The Saints suffered their first injury problem after just 20 minutes when the excellent Conor Dillon had to be replaced by Stephen Higgins. Killester upped their game and the Saints defence was under pressure. After 40 minutes Eric Kenny went off injured to be replaced by Jordan Lancaster.

With the first half in injury time Killester got the equalizer as a deflected shot found their centre forward who gave Alan Cosgrove in goal no chance from 10 yards out.

The second half was only a few minutes old when the Saints were forced into another substitution as Decky O’Hara limped off to be replaced by Conor Reid. On 10 minutes the Saints were awarded a hotly disputed penalty for hand ball. Up stepped Stephen Higgins and buried the ball to make it 2-1 to the Saints. This spurred on the Saints and shortly afterwards they were 3-1 ahead. A superb ball played over the top saw the hard working Gareth Murphy race out right before cutting inside and firing off a shot. His shot took a deflection and fell kindly to Stephen Cooling to score from 8 yards out.

With the Killester defence run ragged by Murphy it was turning into a great day for the Saints. Jordan Lancaster saw his shot cleared off the line before the Saints went 4-1 ahead. A free kick by Lancaster was floated into the area and Cooling’s header slipped through the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net.

Within a few minutes it was 5-1 as again a corner headed down by McDonnell saw Lancaster score from inside the 6 yard area.

Killester just couldn’t get back into the game and but for some last ditch defending in their 6 yard box could have seen the day turn embarrassing. Murphy, who deserved a goal for all his effort, was very unlucky after he caught the centre half in possession and bore down on goal with two defenders on his heels – a fine save from the keeper denying him of glory. With just minutes remaining Killester were awarded a penalty and scored to leave the game at 5-2.

The Club hosted its first major football tournament over the Easter weekend. Taking part in the football action were our own Under 12 Premier, the DDSL Under 12 squad (minus our lads on the side), Hull City, Aberdeen, Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion.

Our Under 12 Premier Team sporting a replica of the 1^st SKB kit

Our Under 12s opened the competition with a game against a very strong Aberdeen side. The Saints suffered an early goal (something that happened to them throughout the tournament) and were 2-0 down within 10 minutes. They changed all that by half time as they pulled two goals back with excellent goals from Eoghan Stokes and Aaron Byrne.

The second half saw both sides try and win the game as play flowed from end to end but it was Aberdeen who recorded the first win of the tournament as they managed to score another two goals to finish 4-2.

As a game it was the perfect start to the Tournament and set the level for the games that were to follow.

Thankfully we weren’t disappointed as the DDSL overcame West Brom 3-1 in the next match and later on in the day they went down 5-2 to Coventry City.

West Bromwich Albion

The Saints second game saw them play Hull City and again they were behind within the first few minutes. Despite this setback they went on to win the game 4-1 with Jack Byrne equalizing from the penalty spot, Niall Doyle getting two and Pierce Hughes getting a fourth.

The next morning saw West Brom and Coventry record the first draw of the Tournament at 1-1 while Hull City overcame Aberdeen 2-0 (the only team to beat Aberdeen all weekend!).

This left the Tournament wide open with no team pulling away in the groups.

The semi finals pitted the Saints against the DDSL and Aberdeen against Coventry City. The Saints lost out 4-1 to the DDSL while Aberdeen won 2-0 in the other semi.

It was on the Super Soccer Sunday (as Sky TV would have billed it). The 5^th and 6^th place play off saw a hugely entertaining game between West Brom and Hull City finish 3-2 to West Brom.

Next up saw the Saints take on Coventry City in the 3^rd and 4^th place play off. The Saints looked the livelier team throughout and created a number of chances but Coventry defended well throughout the first half to see the teams level at 0-0.

The second half saw the Saints gain the upper hand but it took them until the 20^th minute to get the breakthrough that they deserved. A shot was deflected into the path of Pierce Hughes in the 6 yard box and he made no mistake from there to make it 1-0. Pierce added a second 3 minutes later. Niall Doyle did great work down the left but failed to get the shot in as the ball just ran away from him in the box. The Coventry centre half was caught in possession as he brought the ball out by Pierce Hughes who slotted the ball past the advancing keeper from 10 yards to make it 2-0.

The Saints had Aaron Moyles to thank for the clean sheet as he pulled off a superb save in the dying minutes low to his left to deny Coventry a consolation goal.

The teams wish each other luck before the final

On to the final and what a game it was. The Dublin & District Schoolboys League versus Aberdeen FC. Despite the fact that there were no goals scored during the 60 minute game the large crowd in attendance were entertained by a very skillfull game of football. Both sides created great chances but the defences were the real winners on the day.

The game was decided by penalties and Aberdeen ran out 4-2 winners with their goalkeeper saving one and seeing another hit the upright.

Aberdeen celebrate their victory

The Hard Work pays Off

Thanks to all the hard work by a huge number of volunteers the 50^th Football Tournament was a great success and plans are already afoot to repeat the event next year.

Long days were spent by all the volunteers ensuring that the events went smoothly. The Catering staff of Angela Daly, Martina Gavin, Carole Daly and our own “Gordon Ramsey” Pat Daly served up hot and cold food and drinks to the teams and officials over the three days. While in our coffee shop, Claire & Margaret were kept busy ensuring the crowds were well attended to throughout.

Decky O’Hara, Head of Security, makes a surprise choice as he appoints Cian Losty (aged 6) Deputy Head of Security

The Security for the Tournament was headed up by Decky O’Hara who took no nonsense during the events. Everyone was kept on their toes as Decky produced his finest display ever with a walkie talkie. On Sunday while Decky was off playing with the Senior Premier Team the task was passed over to Mick McCracken but it was Paul Smyth who shone with the walkie talkie as he kept us all up to date on his eating habits – yes we can confirm that tomato ketchup contains no meat! Was Paul the Catering area’s biggest customer over the weekend?

On Friday afternoon there was a serious security scare as Decky –Head of Security – misplaced (lost!!) his walkie talkie. There was some suggestion that he had actually worn it out. Thankfully it turned up eventually and the Security High Alert status was stood down!

Dave Furey took charge of the Shanowen Road gate as he used his usual charm to sell programmes and our 50^th book. Dave was also busy taking calls from Decky throughout who alleged that Dave was trying to hide two people in his jacket to save them buying a programme.

Dave Furey takes a light lunch back to his post

Our match officials for the weekend were Robert Harvey, James Connell and Paddy Dempsey who managed to referee the games with the minimum of fuss and ensured that the games were kept flowing throughout. Well done lads!!!

Our referees Paddy Dempsey, Robert Harvey and James Connell

Fourth officials were Paul Doody and Steph Walsh – who suffered the indignity of the misplacing of his glasses being announced over the walkie talkies to everyone amusement.

The UK teams were appointed Liasion Officers while they were here and Neil Fox, Dave Molly, John Ryan (who had a go at the linesman on WBAs behalf) and Jan Quinn carried out their duties admirably and ensured that our visitors were made welcome.

Running any kind of event takes months of planning and great credit must go to Ken Donohoe, Sharon Mitchell, Pat Daly, Alan Caffrey, Paddy Brady and the FAS team to name but a few for the endless hours of work put in to ensure that St Kevins Boys hosted a Tournament that will live in the memories of all those in attendance for a long time to come.

Presentation of Trophies

The presentation of trophies for the Tournament took place on the Sunday afternoon in the Clubhouse.

Club Chairman, Michael O’Callaghan, gave a brief history lesson of the Club to all in attendance to put some perspective on the importance of the Tournament. He went on to praise the teams for their exemplary displays both on and off the field of play and also the managers and coaches foe encouraging the teams to play football in the proper spirit.

Finally he thanked everyone, too numerous to mention, for all the work they had done to get the Tournament up and running and our sponsors, Fiat, Umbro, Proteam Sports, Powerade, AIB and Life Pharmacy for their generous support.

Each team player was called up individually to collect their commerative medal. Jake Mulraney of the DDSL collected the Leading Goalscorer Award while our own Jack Byrne deservedly collected the Player of the Tournament Award. Finally, winners Aberdeen collected their winners medals and trophy to a resounding applause before they went on to break into song while their cameras snapped into action.

Aberdeen unfurl the flag at the presentation