Charleville U18 3 Newport Town U18 0
Our Youth team advanced to the open draw and last 16 of the Munster Youth Cup with a 3-0 win over Newport Town last Saturday night. After a scrappy opening where stray passes were the norm we took the lead on 20 minutes when a good bit of passing from Sean Carroll to Patrick Mooney to Aaron Moffatt who sent Darragh McDonagh away down the right and he crossed for Dion Curtin to score at the near post to put the boys 1-0 up. Newport threatened on the break and from set pieces but the defense of Luis Paolo, Shane O Riordan, Sean Carroll, Jack Fitzgibbon & Ewan Dillon well on top on the night. The half time whistle came with the score still at 1-0.
We had most of the ball for the second half, with the midfield of Patrick Mooney, Eoin O Connor, Colin Quaid, Aaron Moffatt & Darragh McDonagh covering acres, and it was no surprise when we went 2-0 up. Dion Curtin held the ball up well and laid off to Aaron Moffatt who played a sublime ball around the back for Darragh to run onto, he rounded keeper and as a defender lunged to block his shot into an open goal he dragged back, drifted pass another and tapped the ball to an empty net with the keeper still on the ground. Goals with character are rarely seen anymore but this was a beauty and well deserved the oohs, the aaahs and applause that followed. A few minutes later the game was all but over when Darragh crossed for Dion who had a superb outing to control and finished to the bottom corner. Try as they might Newport could not get back into the game, with a well marshalled defense and a solid midfield performance from all.
We now go into the hat for the last 16 draw and something to look forward to in the new year. We had 21 players togged out which was great to have, only 5 can be used and as always a few can be disappointed but this is a long season and all will play their part through the course of the season.
Team: Luis Paolo, Shane O Riordan, Sean Carroll, Jack Fitzgibbon, Ewan Dillon, Patrick Mooney Eoin O’Connor, Colin Quaid, Aaron Moffatt, Darragh McDonagh & Dion Curtin.
Subs: Matt McCormack, Blake Doherty, Adam O’Connor, Garrett Gleeson, Shay Moloney, Cillian Quinn, Stephen Minihane, Shane McNamara, Ciaran O Brien.
