After last years heroics of our u14 team, the lads made the step up to Division 2 of the u15 Football league. Walterstown were the visitors to Grangegodden as The Gaeils lined out with 8 of the u14s who were victorious in the Shield Final on Tuesday night.
The step-up in class was clear to be seen early on when Walterstown got the first three scores of the game and Kells would have to wait until the 7th for Andrew Butler to register the home sides opening score.
Walterstown pushed five clear with three more scores in a row. The left boot of Butler kept the Gaeils in the game as he hit the next two scores to close the gap to three points. Although just as Gaeil Colmcille got some momentum Walterstown struck for a goal to see the lead increase to six points.
Walterstown dominated the final ten minutes of the game and outscored Gaeil Colmcille by eight points as they grabbed two more goals with Kells score coming from midfielder Ajay Tormey.
H/T Gaeil Colmcille 0-04 Walterstown 3-09
Manager Justin Carry-Lynch rallied his troops at the break and the Gaeils came out firing with Butler pointing over with the first attack and the Gaeils had the ball in the back of the net soon after with a well-worked team goal when Tormey caught from the kick out and played a high ball into Butler who laid the ball off to the onrushing Jack Hogg, Hogg drew the defender and laid off to corner-forward Paddy Harkin who finished neatly to the bottom corner.
Walterstown responded in true fashion and in a two-minute spell they rattled home two goals to stretch out the lead.
Credit to The Gaeils their heads never dropped and points from Kevin Carpenter, Tormey and three from Butler ensured Walterstown would have to work for their win.
A goal by Jack Hogg with five minutes to go meant it would be a nail-biting finish and as Kells searched for more goals the Walterstown keeper arose to the task keeping out efforts from Oisin O’Reilly, Hogg, Harry Flanagan and Andrew Butler who finished the day with an impressive 10 points.
In the end, Walterstown ran out 10 point winners but in a game where Kells had plenty of chances they can take a lot of positives from the loss.
Gaeil Colmcille: S Thornton, R Early, B Griffin, A Glynn, K Vithauskas, F Mullan, F Tegetmeier, A Tormey (0-03), K Carpenter (0-01), D Butler, J Hogg (1-00), O O’Reilly, S Dardis, A Butler (0-10), P Harkin (0-01)
Subs: H Flanagan, K Kelly, C McGovern
