FAI Under 17 Cup result
Aisling Annacotty A 1 Charleville AFC 2 AET
Scorers Cody Kok & Paddy Mooney
Last Sunday afternoon our U17 boys knocked out Aisling Annacotty in the FAI National Cup in dramatic fashion with a late goal in extra time to come out on top in a tight affair. The game began with Aisling having comfortable possession with passing at the back but this did not phase the boys who were compact in defence with Sean Carroll and Patrick Mooney marking tightly and dealing with the long through balls from the opposing centre backs. With a team pressing effort our midfield consisting of Fionn O Connor, Kristian O Gorman and Aaron Moffatt began to continuously win the ball back for the away side which in turn led to our wingers Gareth Gleeson and Cillian O Riordan getting joy down the wings with help from Blake O’Doherty and Jack Hogan in the full back positions due to switches of play and wide passing from our midfield. 20 minutes in saw the first goal scored by Cody Kok with a lovely first time finish into the bottom right corner following a perfectly weighted through ball from Gareth Gleeson. Just before half time the home side equalised from a set piece which was swung in from 40 yards out and finished brilliantly on the volley by Aisling’s centre back. The second half had begun with Aisling dominating possession once again but the boys were comfortable with this because of the lack of threat the opposition posed. With 15 minutes played in the second half, the introduction of Stephen Minihane and Gaston Risson saw them each bring fresh legs and energy to the play of the away side with hopes for the boys to push on for a winner. However, both defences proved difficult to breach with few chances falling the way for both sides. After great play down the left hand side from Gareth Gleeson on a number of occasions led to half chances and snapshots for Aaron Moffatt and Stephen Minihane but were not enough to find a winning goal. At the other end there was a counter attack led by an Aisling substitute who cut inside and took a smart shot towards the near post but was denied by an unbelievable save from our goalkeeper Luiz Paulo who tipped it onto the bar and rebounded into his hands which brought relief to the whole team and the travelling supporters. Soon after the full time whistle was blown and the game was forced to extra time which saw Sean Bresnan replace Kristian O Gorman who left everything he had out on the field. The boys started extra time brighter and the pressure began to mount on the home defence. A long range free kick from Aaron Moffatt saw the ball awkwardly bounce in front of the keeper who pushed it a side for a corner. From this resulting corner, Sean Carroll rose highest first as he flicked it on towards Patrick Mooney who headed into the far corner for the winning goal. But the job was not done just yet, the impact of fresh legs from Sean Bresnan proved crucial as he won the ball back numerous times with minutes left on the clock and his late ball over the top sent Cody Kok through 1 on 1 with the keeper but failed to convert with an attempted lob but did not matter in the end as the boys held on to the end leading them to victory and left everyone involved thrilled with the result. Big congratulations to all the team for a mighty effort and a great win.
Team: Luiz Paulo, Jack Hogan, Sean Carroll, Patrick Mooney, Blake O Doherty, Fionn O Connor, Kristian O Gorman, Aaron Moffatt, Cillian O Riordan, Cody Kok, Gareth Gleeson. Substitutes: Stephen Minihane, Sean Bresnan, Gaston Risson.
