Memories for a lifetime made at the Kennedy Cup

The Kildare and District Underage League’s enjoyed a brilliant week at the Kennedy Cup, with a tenth place finish. The week ended with defeat in the Bowl Final but performed superbly to get that far.

The team began the week with a bang when a hat-trick by Cathal McAuliffe helped them to a 4-2 win over Limerick County on Tuesday morning.

KDUL were handed the tough side of the draw when they had to play a Cork team who had 24 hours rest and a 5-0 defeat followed. 

On Wednesday, the KDUL turned in their performance of the week when Max Power, Riley Doran and Alfie Aspell scored in a 3-0 win over the NDSL.

They followed that up with another clean sheet in the sheet in the semi-final when Doran's deflected effort was the only goal of the game against Wexford. 

Unfortunately for the Kildare side they were defeated 2-1 in the final by the DDSL despite McAuliffe opening the scoring from the penalty spot.

Speaking about his side’s Kennedy Cup campaign, Killaly was proud of his side.

“It was a really enjoyable week. The lads made memories for a lifetime. I’m really proud of them. We were handed a really tough group, with three in the group there was no margin for error. We had a good win over Limerick County, but we had to play Cork a few hours later, while they had the morning off. That killed us, it was a serious advantage for Cork. The lads responded well though.”

“We had a great win against NDSL in the Bowl quarter final. We felt the lads were a bit flat on Wednesday morning, so we went for a walk, but when it came to the game the lads were brilliant. The semi-final win against Wexford on Thursday was the win of the week for me though in the semi-final. We know the pedigree Wexford have; they are always really strong. In the final then against DDSL I actually thought we should have won the game, we had the better chances, but we were proud of the lads.”

The experienced coach believes his young side have created memories for a lifetime following their week in Limerick.

“We had a pizza night there on Thursday and got all the lads together, it was just brilliant. Even there they were playing head tennis and ten minutes later they were all sat together chatting to me, it shows how comfortable they have become even just chatting to management. They were talking about their families, their clubs and that. I like the small things in life, and we wanted everything to be perfect for the players. We had chairs on the sideline for our subs and that. It was a brilliant week and experience for the lads. It’s been a great 8 or 9 months, winning the interleague and now to finish it off with the Kennedy Cup."