Maymount Celtic 17s v Corbally 31.01.04

Maymountx Celtic 17s v Corballyx 31.01.04
Match details below
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 FAI U17 CUP quarter-final

Maymount Celtic 4 Corbally 3

(after extra time)

An extra time own goal sent Maymount Celtic into the semi-finals of the FAI Under 17 Cup. But that’s not the only reason their Killowen quarter-final against Limerick visitors Corbally will be remembered.

And remembered for a long time by the northside club whose juniors have a big date in the FAI Junior Cup next Sunday. Maymount were 3-1 down with six minutes to go and it looked all over. Besides, they were playing with nine against ten, after referee Damien O'Mahony had red carded three players following a late flare up.

Then a sensational free kick strike by midfield ace Alan King sparked a revival. Defender Simon Hedderman equalised in the final minute of normal time and extra time belonged to Maymount but that winner didn't come until nine minutes into the second period.

Before the comeback, the wind had been the big talking point. It was very strong indeed and made it almost impossible to play decent football and was a factor when the Limerick lads struck the front in the 9^th minute.

Corbally full back Paul Conway stepped up to take a free from the half-way line and there didn't seem much danger. But his booming kick gathered momentum in the wind and soared past keeper Jamie Clerkin and into the top of the net.

Conway had a few more similar attempts but never got close again. Indeed, the Limerick team didn't push home their early advantage and Maymount, even against the wind, gradually got back into it.

They came close enough midway through but Jamie Meehan's shot on the turn, after a good move, was too high. King’s free kicks would prove troublesome for the visitors and that potential was first shown on the half hour when the Limerick keeper did well to punch one away from striker Howard Coakley.

The first half really wasn't all that great but Corbally came close to a second goal, after a defensive slip-up near halfway. Colm Carroll got clean away but up the right and his low cross came to Niall Butterfield but his effort was deflected out for a corner, which hit a post before being cleared.

Maymount were looking for an early second half goal to put the pressure on their visitors and they got it within seconds. In the opening minute, half-time sub Anthony Fenton rose in the box to head home a King corner for the equaliser.

But Fenton wasn't as happy ten minutes later. He fouled Carroll in the box and Butterfield converted the spotter to put the Corbally lads back in front.

The goal was a big setback to the Cork side and they almost lost another on the hour. Then striker Butterfield got in a close range head from a corner but keeper Clerkin made a fine save and fortunately the loose ball fell to a colleague who cleared.

Maymount, of course, weren’t giving up the ghost and came close themselves in the 72^nd minute. Then Duggan found King on the left and his powerful drive was deflected out for a corner.

But it did look all up for the Cork team when Corbally scored their best goal in the 76^th minute. Defender Adrian Hyland was forward for a free kick. The ball broke to him and his top class 24 yard drive fairly flew past keeper Clerkin.

Referee Damien O'Mahony and his linesmen had their hands full with an 83^rd minute incident in the Corbally goalmouth. Quite a few players were involved and the referee first sent off a Maymount player and soon afterwards one from each side followed.

The excitement wasn't finished. Neither were Maymount. In the 84^th minute, King’s free kick from the left flew past motionless keeper McCormack and was still flying as it hit the net.

Hope was restored but receded a little in the 85^th minute when defender Hedderman got his head to a King free but there was little enough power in it and McCormack saved.

Hedderman though was keen to make up for the miss, if such it was. With two minutes to go, he raced across the defence to reach a cross by sub Lenny Baker but his shot on the turn, a powerful effort, was deflected out for a corner.

But there was no deflecting his next effort, that last minute equaliser. Then his powerful low shot from the left crashed past the Corbally keeper and into the far corner to make it 3-3.

Maymount were against the wind, no longer quite as strong, in the first period of extra time and played cautiously enough, allowing their visitors no chances.

It was a different story in the second period, the nine man Cork side in a hurry to finish it off. They almost did it in the opening second when Gettings volleyed wide after King had tried to beat the keeper from the kick off. Seconds later, still in the first minute, King himself got through but lifted his effort well over.

In the 3^rd minute, Cullinane threaded the ball through to Meehan. He slipped past his marker and his angled shot beat the keeper but rolled inches wide of the far post.

In the 8^th minute, sub Gettings raced up the right and let fly. Keeper McCormack scurried to his near post and pushed the ball behind for a corner.

The keeper also raced to his near post in the next minute to deal with another well placed King free. But the ball broke in the six yard box and in, the confusion, an under pressure defender hooked it into his own net to bring the curtain down on this thriller.

A satisfactory afternoon's work for the Cork side but the sendings off and the suspensions that will undoubtedly follow could yet hinder their bid for national glory.

Maymount Celtic: Jamie Clerkin, Darren O’Regan, Simon Hedderman, John O'Sullivan (captain), Kelvin O'Leary, Jamie Meehan, Alan King, Ian Cullinane, Gary Kerrigan, Howard Coakley and Daniel Duggan. Subs: Anthony Fenton, Richard Gettings and Lenny Baker.

Corbally: Patrick McCormack, Adrian Hyland, Paul Conway, David Owens, Cian Hunt (captain), Dean Earls, Fergal O’Connell, Sean Cronin, Colm Carroll, Niall Butterfield, and Darren Hanley. Subs: Ian Dunworth, Mike O’Brien, Neil McDermott, Mark Sheehan and Jamie Tier. 

Referee: Damien O'Mahony

Maymount Celtic

Corbally