We had a fantastic match last Saturday in Fenit when our U18s hosted St Brendan’s Park in the Kerry Youths League. We ended up losing 2-0 after a massive effort ended up just short. The game was played in windy conditions with the Park having the advantage in the first half. They did most of the pressing in this half with us playing on the counter. We didn’t give up any real chances near our goals and restricted to shots from far out which Eoghan O Brien dealt with. One or two crosses did cause us trouble but the back quartet of Jamie Hogan, Padraig O Connor, Paul Nolan and David Murphy were very strong for us all day. We had the better of the chances in this half with Sean Higgins and Oisin O Brien outstripping their defence on a number of occasions forcing goal line clearances on 2 occasions. 2nd Half – We had the benefit of the wind now and the game was a pretty even affair with a lot of quality football being played by both teams. Our midfield of Thomas Dwyer, Thomas Lenihan, Bobby O Regan and Max Benner gave as good as they got and all 4 put in the miles. It suited the Park to play now on the counter as the game got stretched and from one of these attacks on the hour mark, they got a rather soft free about 10 yards outside our box to our right. From the ensuing free their big centre half got a run on our defence for the only time in the game but he stuck it and it was 1 nil. The game continued at a high tempo and we made 3 subs bringing on Luke Dalton, John Dillane and Gordon Burrowes. For the last 15 minutes we pushed on leaving 3 and 4 players up front hoping to pinch an equaliser. We did create 2 very good chances but failed to capitalise and with 3 minutes a defensive error allowed the Park to put the game beyond our reach. Well done to all the lads who played on both teams who served up a top match.