Our 18s had a hard fought victory away to AC Athletic last Saturday. We started the game poorly and were 1 down after 3 minutes when a harmless looking effort somehow got through our defence and found it’s way into the net. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise as we upped our game immediately and we dominated possession for the remainder of the half. Bobby O Regan in midfield in particular drove us on ably helped by Thomas Lenihan and Max Benner. Up front Luke Dalton was winning possession and set up a lot of play against a strong, athletic AC defence. We started to force them back and had a few shots on their goal but their keeper was equal to them. After 25 minutes AC had a man sent off and we pushed on even more. Oisin O Brien by now had gotten into his stride and was brought down in the box with Bobby scoring the ensuing penalty. We continued to press and were rewarded on 43 mins when Oisin scored with a shot going in off the post from 25 yards. The second half was a bit different with AC coming out and having a go at us but the back 5 of Jack McCarthy, Jamie Hogan, Padraig O Connor, Antoin Stanton and Thomas Dwyer stood firm with Jack in particular alive to any danger when the defence in front of him was breached. AC pushed up and left space behind their back 4 but our quality of long passing wasn’t up to scratch to cause them any real difficulty. This took from the game we had been playing in the first half and possession was pretty even for 25 minutes. We then introduced David Murphy at the back, Darren Chester as a defensive and John Dillane on the wing. The 3 lads gave us impetus and we started to get in behind them again with Sean Higgins and Oisin repeatedly going close after some improved approach play. With 15 to go Sean got in and rounded the keeper but his shot was cleared off the line to Oisin who scored. The game was limping to a conclusion when AC scored from a corner after some poor defending by us but Oisin restored our 2 goal lead when he scored from a rebound from a free. Final Score AC Ath 2 Samphires 4. Well done to all the lads for their effort on the day.