Tallaght Community School 0/3 Sexton Street CBS, Limerick
This fixture was tipped to be a top class billing as two legendary teams of Schools football faced off against each other: Leinster kingpins, Tallaght Community School were up against the experienced Munster mighty men, Limerick CBS in the UMBRO FAI Schools Senior Boys National Semi Final at Leah Victoria Park, Tullamore this afternoon:
Limerick CBS came into the game with five Munster titles under their belt and more importantly two consecutive All Ireland Senior titles to their credit, as they went in search of the three in a row this season: A difficult mission for Mick Molyneaux’s men but one that could prove fruitful:
Tallaght had a gruelling passage to the Leinster Final and performed superbly with a convincing 2/1 win over Naas CBS to secure the silverware: This was the third time that Tallaght had captured the Leinster Senior title in recent years, after victories in 1994 and 2005:
The game exceeded all expectations in this three goal thriller much to the delight of Limerick’s Mick Molyneaux: His men gave an exhibition of first class football which saw the Munster stars dominant much of the 90 minutes:
Pat Hanratty’s selection were slow to start but they were given little or no time on the ball: Great credit must go to the Dubs' defence as they successfully defended the onslaught of the Limerick attack:
There was plenty of International talent on display as Limerick had two FAI Schools International players lined out namely CBS Captain Eoin Hanrahan and Irish School’s Captain Jason Hughes: Not to be outdone, U15 International player, Craig Palmer was on the bench for Tallaght:
Hanrahan played a captain’s role in the afternoon’s proceedings which saw him win a brace of free kicks early on: Unfortunately Jason Hughes couldn’t capitalise with a strong wind proving the decisive factor:
Hanrahan was again the play maker in attack which produced a lightning strike on goal five minutes in: The effort was saved bravely by the versatile Owen Doherty in Tallaght’s goal: The resulting corner kick was again saved by a right handed effort by Doherty much to the delight of the huge travelling West Dublin supporters:
The early exchanges favoured Sexton Street with Tallaght frustrated at the possession football played in the Limerick midfield:
A long ball in by Limerick’s David Crowe found Hanrahan evade the off side trap: The tall youngster had time to chase the forward pass but Keeper Doherty was well aware of the dangers and was first to intercept and cleared the pending threat on goal with 17 minutes registered:
Three minutes later Hanrahan delivered a good ball across the face of goal but the out stretched Hughes was only inches away from connecting with the pass:
Sexton Street applied more pressure with Derek O’Hanlon awarded a free with 28 minutes on the clock: The player took the resulting set piece with saw the Dublin Keeper make another fine save when he tipped the ball over his crossbar:
Eoin Hanrahan was gifted a goal on 37 minutes but his effort skimmed off the side of his boot and wide:
Tallaght hunted in pairs to win back possession but their efforts were in vain:
With 43 minutes on the clock, Tallaght’s Dwayne McGinn blocked a thunderous shot from Cian Byrnes to deny Limerick’s advances:
This was short lived as a minute later, a corner from Jason Hughes lead Cian Byrnes to climb highest and head into the back of the Tallaght net:
1/0 to Limerick at half time:
Pat Hanratty introduced International star Craig Palmer for Ross Humphries on 47 minutes:
A minute later, Derek O’Hanlon missed in front of goal after good footwork to deceive Stephen Monaghan but his last touch was disappointing:
David Crowe whipped in a good ball from a corner kick on 50 minutes but Doherty was again on hand to gather overhead under severe pressure from Hanrahan and O’Donovan:
Moments later a hand ball from one of Tallaght’s defenders went unnoticed but Limerick were to claim an advantage as Jason Hughes was let in on goal: The FAI Schools Captain could only manage to hit the side netting on this occasion:
With one way traffic on show, Tallaght were forced to make another substitution, this time Darren Mahon made way for Robert Hughes just over the hour mark:
The tactical changes didn’t seem to make a difference as Limerick extended their lead with a well worked goal courtesy of Captain Fantastic, Eoin Hanrahan on 67 minutes: The striker was one on one with the keeper, executing his shot low and hard in the left hand corner leaving the keeper in despair: 2/0 to the Munster Champions:
Molyneaux could breathe a sigh of relief with good controlled football from the Limerick lads, a two goal cushion and only 20 minutes to play: He took the opportunity to introduce Lee O’Mara for David Crowe:
O’Mara made an immediate impact on proceedings as he linked well with Edward O’Donovan and Derek O’Hanlon to build yet another Limerick attack: O’Donovan pressed keeper Owen Doherty into an excellent save:
Tallaght were concerned with the lack of ball in attack and pushed three strikers upfront to break the deadlock: They also introduced Craig Burgess with 75 minutes played:
The Leinster Champions withheld a barrage of Limerick attacks and praise must be awarded to the last line of defence who worked tirelessly to clear any impending threat on goal: Keeper Doherty saved Tallaght’s blushes on a number of occasions and wasn’t at fault for the goals conceded: Chris McCarthy was solid in defence with David Campbell linking well in midfield:
The Munster men managed to notch up another goal with six minutes remaining in normal time: Derek O’Hanlon’s crafty play saw him round Bermingham to slot the ball home from close range:
A hat trick of goals was enough for Limerick to make a double substitution which saw Gary O’Connor replace Eoin Hanrahan and Dean McNamara replace Cian Byrnes: The goal scorers retreated as a place in the National Final was secured:
Alex Molloy went close for Tallaght in the dying minutes of the game, his effort produced a fine save from Stephen McNamara:
With only two minutes remaining, Limerick worked their magic yet again with some fine link play from CBS: Jason Hughes picked up the ball in midfield: His outfield pass saw Lee O’Mara manoeuvre up the park to connect well with Gary O’Connor in space: O’Connor dispensed a high looping cross to the on/coming Hughes to head close to goal, the rebounding shot was tapped into the goal mouth by O’Mara but only into the hands of Tallaght’s Owen Doherty who got down well to save:
Limerick outplayed the West Dublin School but great credit must go to their resilience over the 90 minutes:
Limerick progress to the final stage; an historic three in a row up for grabs for the Sexton Street School:
Molyneaux’s side will have plenty of time to prepare for their next outing as the UMBRO FAI Schools Senior Boys National Final will be scheduled for late April:
Their opposition has yet to be identified as St: Joseph’s College, Galway play Carndonagh Community School in the other semi final fixture which is scheduled for next Friday, 3 April in Sligo:
TALLAGHT COMMUNITY SCHOOL: Owen Doherty, Stephen Monaghan, Chris McCarthy, Darryn Bermingham, Darren Mahon, David Campbell, Ross Humphries, Dwayne McGinn, Patrick Redmond, Andrew O'Brien, Alex Molloy:
Subs: Craig Palmer for Ross Humphries (47), Robert Hughes for Darren Mahon (65), Craig Burgess for Patrick Redmond (75), Kosta Mednikov:
Management Team: Pat Hanratty, Rory Kearney & Jimmy Wynne:
LIMERICK CBS: Stephen McNamara, Gary Griffin, Craig McMarlow, Brendan Mullins, Jack Molyneaux, Jason Hughes, David Crowe, Cian Byrnes, Eoin Hanrahan, Derek O’Hanlon, Edward O’Donovan:
Subs: Lee O’Mara for David Crowe (69), Gary O’Connor for Eoin Hanrahan (85), Dean McNamara for Cian Byrnes (85), Jonathan McNamara, David Quinn:
Teacher: Mick Molyneaux:
Referee: Adrian Martin (Offaly)
Please see gallery section for images of the game