BENNY’S CLAIM MINOR TITLE IN FINE STYLE
St. Benildus College 1 Larkin Community College 0
Tolka Park was the perfect setting for the Umbro U14 Leinster Cup Final last Tuesday (8th April). A pristine pitch and big crowd of supporters from both schools contributed to making this final a special occasion for both schools. St. Benildus College, under the guidance of Oisin Mac Eoin were contesting their second final on the bounce having lost out in last year’s final to Athlone CC. Gerry McGills Larkin College were also contesting their second successive final having lost out narrowly to Oatlands College in last year’s U13 decider. Expectations were high for this eagerly awaited contest.
Larkin CC started the game the brighter and led by the inventive Abdishakur Sheik and the impressive Sean Ray in midfield created most of the early problems. Brandon Miele saw his header go narrowly over the crossbar after 18 minutes from a dangerous corner but despite their early dominance this was the only clear cut chance that they had. St Benildus back four had begun the game very sharply with centre half Tadhg Healy and right back Stephen McAuliffe turning in fine early performances. Donal Butler provided excellent cover for his back four at times from his midfield position when the pressure was on.
St Benildus began to assert themselves a little better towards the end of the first half with Conor Day and the excellent Tim O’Connor pulling the Larkin defence in all directions. O’Connor found himself with a few half chances as they began to mount their own pressure and Craig ONeill was happy to see a Tony Reid free kick go narrowly over his crossbar after some fine work involving Tim O’Connor, Brian Reilly and Conor Day down the right. However the sides remained deadlocked at the break.
At the start of the second half St Benildus seemed to come out a little fresher and after only 7 minutes they got the all important goal of the game. Tim O’Connor latched on to a tremendous through ball from midfielder Shane Cunningham. O’Connor took the ball in his stride 35 yards from goal and advanced inside the penalty area where he drilled his shot past Craig O’Neill sparking wild celebrations among the St Benildus faithful. Only 4 minutes later O’Connor again found himself with the ball at his feet with just the keeper to beat and with the opportunity to possibly put this final to bed. However his scuffed shot found its way into Craig O’Neills hands and the game was still alive.
Larkin CC heard the alarm bells and began to take control of the game again. After some nervy defending at the back from the St Benildus defence they were left wondering how the game wasn’t level. Abdishakur Sheik had a shot roll across the goal line after a couple of bounces and it was eventually cleared to safety by the increasingly commanding Keith Finn in the St Benildus goal. Finn had to deal with 3 successive Larkin corners and Larkin CC even had the ball in the St Benildus net through Dylan Kearney but for his goal to be correctly ruled offside.
During the final period of the second half Oisin Mac Eoin made two inspirational substitutions in Sam Meagan and particularly Ayman Ben Mohammed whose constant running down the Larkin right hand side helped to take the pressure off his defence. In the end St Benildus took their narrowest of leads to the final whistle where there were frantic celebrations. Up stepped Alex Oates to collect the famous old tophy on behalf of his team mates, his manager, his fans and his school. A cracking afternoon’s entertainment and a cracking cup final and it went to the Benny’s boys, just!!!
St Benildus: K Finn, S McAulliffe, David Byrne, A Oates, T Healy, D Butler, B Reilly, S Cunningham, T O’Connor, C Day, T Reid, S Meagan, E Ben Mohammed, I Cvetic.
Larkin CC: C O’Neill, A Rafferty, D Hughes, S Hamilton, M Keeley, S Capper, S Ray, A Sheik, B Miele, D Kearney, D Cullen.