FAI Junior Cup 3rd Round
Killarney Celtic-4
Fenit Samphires-2
Ger McCarthy, Rob Prendeville
Our run in the FAI Junior Cup was brought to an early end when we were beaten by a disciplined, well organised Killarney Celtic team on Sunday morning. It took us a few minutes to settle into the game but we were getting more possession as the game settled in. Our central midfield of Pa McCarthy, Daniel Clinton and Darragh O’Brien were involved in most of our play from the off but the hosts started to deny us space as the half wore on. Our back four of Klaudio Dema, Ruairi Kelly, Peter McCarthy and Rob Prendeville were working hard to protect Barry Galvin in goals to good effect, restricting the home side’s chances in the half. We created a number of chances during the half with Ger McCarthy causing problems for their back three, but we couldn’t convert. Celtic took the lead midway through the half when we failed to clear a corner and they found the net. We struggled to break down the hosts for the rest of the half as we probed for an equaliser.
We started the second half very well and put the pressure on straight from the off. Much of our good play came when we got the ball wide to Sean Allen and Ryan Dolan although we probably didn’t play with this width often enough. We grabbed the equaliser when Rob finished after a corner bounced around the box a few times. Unfortunately the hosts grabbed their second soon after when they were awarded a penalty which they converted. Bill Mullins was brought on as we tried to find another equaliser but the hosts grabbed a third when the ball rebounded off one of our own and hit the net. Ger pulled another one back as he headed to the net after a decent cross into the box. Oisin O’Brien was introduced as we pushed for another equaliser but we were leaving ourselves open to being caught on the break which allowed the hosts to grab a fourth.
Good luck to Killarney Celtic in the rest of the competition.