Our Under 17 team played away to Castlemaine last weekend and came away with a fortuitous 1-0 victory after an average display in the first hot day of the year. In fairness to our opponents they could validly claim that a draw would have been the fair result having the same amount of the play and chances as we did. Probably the 2 most important players on view were the 2 keepers both of whom had fine games and each produced 2 top class saves. The game was played on a less than perfect surface which was quite bobbly and affected both teams’ ability to keep possession and also the ability of the forwards to get the ball to sit properly for a shot. Castlemaine won their previous 2 games and had started to climb the table so it looked from the start it would be a battle. The first half was not a good spectacle as both teams nullified each other. Pretty much the only thing of note from this half was a good save by Eoghan O’Brien in our goals in the 44th minute. Our best player in this half was Gary Nolan who kept our midfield in shape and mopped up a lot of loose ball. Both teams upped their game in the second half and our back four of Jamie Hogan, Padraig O Connor, Paul Nolan, Frosty Ronan all more aggressive and more in control though Castlemaine troubled us at times. Thomas Dwyer, Thomas Lenihan and Bobby O Regan in midfield were all busy and we had more of the ball without often providing a good final ball. Up front David Murphy and Sean Higgins tried their best against bigger defenders but were unable to finish the few half chances that came their way. It had all the look of a nil all game until the arrival of our subs Luke Dalton up front, Louis Ryle in midfield and Antoin Stanton at the back who all gave us some much needed impetus. With 10 minutes to go a ball fell to Luke at the edge of the box, he swivelled on it and in the same movement unleashed a piledriver which their keeper somehow pushed onto the bar but quick as a wink Frosty was on to the rebound to score the only goal of the game. We withstood some late pressure to just about get the victory. Well done to all the players who dug it out in the end.