Oatlands Qualify for Final

Oatlands College qualified for the final of this years 1^st year Gaelic Football Championship with a comfortable victory over Moyle Park. The large  winning margin didn’t flatter an Oatlands team which played very well.

Oatlands looked to be in trouble at the beginning of the game with Moyle Park taking the lead 0-2 to no score. However, Oatlands set about their task, the industrious Thomas Linehan scored an excellent goal which was followed up soon afterwards by another goal from Gio Boccarrossa. Although the forwards were producing the scores, the Oatlands defence was rock solid. Goalkeeper Oisin Geoghegan was a having a good game between the posts, but the back line of Kevin Maher, Ian Goulding and Alan Kavanagh was leaving the Keeper with very little to do.

As the half progressed, James Kavanagh began to command the mid-field and managed to surge up field time and time again. Larkin replied with a point from a free, but they couldn’t break the mid-field dominance created by Mark Murnaghan, Kavanagh and Andrew O’Malley. Dean Clarke, Ken Kelly and Conor O’Byrne were causing all sorts of problems for the Moyle Park defence when Giovanni and Dean finished the game off before half time with 2 more excellent goals.

The second half provided no relief for Moyle Park, with Oatlands piling on the pressure.

Overall this was an excellent team performance. Mark Ingram and Craig Dalton both gave excellent displays in a back line that gave the opposition little opportunity for scores. Further out the field  James Kavanagh, Gio Boccarrossa  controlled the game and turned possession into scores.

Oatlands can now look forward with optimism to a Dublin final, although another good team performance, is needed to ensure the victory.