TALLAGHT COMMUNITY SCHOOL 2 CBS NAAS 1
FOURTEEN/YEAR/old substitute striker Craig Palmer was the hero for Tallaght Community School at the Oscar Traynor Centre on Tuesday, as his late strike saw off CBS Naas in the Umbro FAI Schools Senior Boys Leinster final:
It is the third time Tallaght have captured the Leinster Under/18 title in recent years, after victories in 1994 and 2005, and it was the skill of the Irish Under/15 international that made the difference in a close game:
There was only six minutes on the clock when Naas shocked the huge travelling support for the West Dublin school, with a fine finish from striker Eoin Messit:
The Kildare side were well in control of the opening period and Paul McGloughlin was just off target with a long/range free kick, before his opposite number, David Campbell, found his own range:
Campbell almost found himself on the end of a dangerous corner, as Tallaght began to apply the pressure with just over half of the first period remaining, and they were rewarded with a penalty in the 26th minute:
Alex Molloy was the player brought down just inside the box, as he ran on to a pull back from the left and he picked himself up, dusted himself down and slotted the penalty into the bottom corner to level the scores:
Tallaght could have been in the lead minutes later, as Campbell combined with Ross Humphries down the right to set up the shooting chance for Dwayne McGinn, but his effort was crucially blocked:
Molloy's pace and skill were troubling Naas every time he was able to turn and run at his marker, and Naoise Drewitt did well to halt one of his many runs just before half time:
Surprisingly it was Naas who came out with more urgency in the second half and they could have taken the lead back on two occasions, first through McGloughlin and then Messitt:
Midfielder McGloughlin was still cursing the block from Darryn Bermingham that denied his goal/bound effort, as the resulting corner found Messitt unmarked and he drew an incredibly acrobatic save from Owen Doherty in goal:
Ronan Doyle went close with a flicked effort from an in/swinging free kick before Molloy registered Tallaght's first real effort on goal mid/way through the half with a tame shot:
Despite the fact that the second half was much tighter than the flowing, end/to/end first, you got the impression Tallaght would get a chance or two and be that bit more clinical than Naas, and so it proved:
Molloy brought a great save out of Craig Hyland in the Naas goal as the game headed towards the possibility of extra time, but he could do little about Tallaght's next effort:
Substitute striker Palmer was on the pitch for less than 15 minutes when he latched on to a defence/splitting pass and, despite his young age, kept his head like a veteran and picked his spot in the bottom corner to give his side a decisive lead:
A body blow for Naas, it really should have been 3/1 when Hyland's close/range save from Molloy rebounded to Andrew O'Brien, but his lobbed effort came back off the underside of the crossbar:
However, the one/goal advantage was enough on the day and celebrations from the team, management and huge travelling support could almost be heard back down the M50 in Tallaght at the final whistle:
TALLAGHT: Duen Doherty, Stephen Monaghan, Chris McCarthy, Darryn Bermingham, Darren Mahon, David Campbell, Ross Humphries, Dwayne McGinn, Patrick Redmond, Andrew O'Brien, Alex Molloy: Subs: Robbie Hughes for Redmond 80, Craig Palmer for Humphries 50, Craig Burgess for McGinn 88
CBS NAAS: Craig Hyland, Brian Kane, Conor O'Hagan, Naoise Drewitt, Dan Kelleher, Paul McGloughlin, Ronan Doyle, Kevin Hanlon, David Gahan, Eoin Messitt, David McGrath:
Referee: J Keating
