November 27th: Stacey Cup Semi-Final -

Clontarf 1-7, St. Oliver Plunketts 0-6

On a bitterly cold Sunday morning in Clonshaugh, the Junior A's avenged the league defeat by St. Oliver Plunketts in Oct., overcoming them on a scorline of 1-7, 0-6 to reach the Stacey Cup final. In a sometimes ill tempered game, both teams were determined not to give an inch. The vital score of the first half came from Niall Synnott, who finshed well to the net after a Paddy Delaney shot rebounded off the crossbar. Chris Fanning an Damien Mullins both contributed 2 fine scores from play to leave Clontarf 1-2,0-2 ahead at the interval.

Playing with the wind in the 2nd half, Clontarf's defence worked hard to deny Plunketts , while at the other end, Clontarf forwards hit some great scores from distance, the pick of these coming from Niall Synnott wide on the right. Chris Fanning contributed a long range effort from play, while Brian Keenan converted a monster free kick to edge Clontarf further in front. The insurance score came from John Traenor, after good work from Mickey McGlinchey and Feargal Lynch.

This was a great team performance, with particularly fine displays at the back from Keith Morre and Redmond O'Leary. The return of Feargal Lynch made a difference in the centre, while up front Brian Keenan, Damien Mullins and Niall Synnott dominated.

And so a final date with Ballyboden and a chance for the juniors to grab some long overdue silverware. 

  December 18th: Stacey Cup Final -

Clontarf 0-8, Ballyboden St. Endas 1-13

The week before Christmas and the Junior A team travelled the short distance to Scoil Ui Chonail on Clontarf Road to take on Ballyboden in the Stacy Cup Final. The squad had prepared well and had high expectations having performed well in both the cup semi-final and recent league games. Playing conditions were perfect for football with the morning dry, a little overcast and with very little by way of a breeze. Clontarf statred well but three early attacks were repulsed and Ballyboden scored first on a counter attack that stemmed from an intercepted Clontarf pass. The rest of the first half saw a number of uncharacteristic Clontarf errors being punished by a very accurate Ballyboden forward line which ultimately had only 6 wides during the course of the hour.

At the half-time break Clontarf realised that they had played badly but were only five points adrift 0-5 to 0-10. The second half saw Clontarf make early progress with scores from Redmond O'Leary and Ro Kenny reducing the gap to 3 points. Unfortunately this was as good as it got and an incident which saw a player red carded from both sides halted the Clontarf momentum. Ballyboden re-asserted their dominance and re-established their 5 point lead with two frees. The game remained in the balance with Clontarf substitutions adding renewed effort but little by way of progress on the scoreboard. A late Ballyboden goal finally sealed Clontarf's fate. This was the final game of the season for the Junior A side.

Clontarf Scorers: Chris Fanning0-1(F), Paddy Delaney 0-1, John Treanor 0-3 (3F), Ro Kenny 0-2, Redmond O'Leary 0-1.