Super Skibbereen wrap up U12 league crown in style

SKIBBEREEN Dynamos became 2019 SuperValu West Cork Schoolboys U12 Division 1B League champions last Saturday.

The Baltimore Road club took on Borussia Bay Rovers in their final league outing at Kealkill and got the result they required to capture the division’s trophy. Three-nil up at the break, Skibbereen cemented their title triumph with a fourth and decisive goal in the second period.

Matthew Murphy, Ronan Collins, Shane Hallihane and Joe McCarthy found the net for the newly crowned champions on an afternoon Collins, Eoin Hickey, Edwin Kreicbergs and JJ O’Brien also stood out. Despite their defeat, Finian Lawton, Ryan O’Boy, Jack O’Donovan and Darragh Dullea were the pick of Borussia’s top performers.

A talented Dynamos squad didn’t have it all their own way during 2019 and was closely chased by Beara United, Dunmanway Town Youths and Togher Celtic before securing the title. The Baltimore Road side tasted defeat only once following a 2-1 reversal away to Beara United back in early May. Skibbereen embarked on a marvelous run immediately after that surprise loss and lost one more game (to club-mates Skibbereen Celtic in the U12 Cup) during an otherwise undefeated five-month spell.

There were some close calls during that period however, including a 7-7 draw away to a resurgent Sullane, 1-0 victory at Togher and 3-2 win at home to Dunmanway Town Youths. In the end, the Skibbereen club proved deserving champions thanks, in part, to Joe McCarthy’s goal-scoring exploits. The young forward topped his team’s goal-scoring charts with Rory Allen and Shane Hallihan also weighing in with some important strikes.

Ronan Collins, Matthew Murphy, Jason Collins and Ryan Hourihane were regularly amongst the goals but it took an entire squad effort to earn the Baltimore Road club their trophy.

There is still plenty to play for within a competitive U12 Division 1B League as Beara United, Dunmanway Town Youths and Togher Celtic remain in the hunt for the runners-up berth. Beara will look to top scorers Rory O’Neill and Ciaran O’Leary for goals in an effort to secure second place. Dunmanway Town Youths’ hopes of overtaking the Castletownbere outfit depends on Rowan Moran and Adam Barry’s ability to find the net as the aforementioned pair have already combined for 31 goals this term.

Togher Celtic have games in hand but will require Conor McCarthy, Levi Bosma, Brian O’Sullivan and Shane O’Sullivan to find the net in an attempt to overtake Beara and Dunmanway over the coming weeks.

The Skibbereen Dynamos U12 squad includes Oran O’Donovan, Micheal Hurley, Jamie Byrne, Shane Hallihan, Ronan Collins (captain), Ryan Hourihane, Jason Collins, Matthew Murphy, Joe McCarthy, Conor O’Brien, Neill McCarthy, JJ O’Brien, Evan Daly, Danny O’Sullivan, Aaron O’Driscoll, Rory Allen, Edwin Kreicbergs, Eoin Hickey and Cian Galvin.