Park U-14As had a great win against Castleisland in the Cup on Saturday. Played in Castleisland on a fine first morning of Spring, it was the first game the lads had played in 5 or 6 weeks and their only game on grass in months. The Castleisland pitch held up well after all the recent bad weather and both sides served up a good competitive cup game.
The early part of the game was dominated by Castleisland who controlled the middle of the field and their efforts were rewarded in the 24th minute when Sean Hogan latched onto a ball over the top to open the scoring. Park had very little to show for their toil in this half but lead by the tenacious John Ward they were slowly but surely creeping into the game.
Kevin Browne and Adam Ward joined the fray at half time and both men played a big part in a storming second half display. Park started after the break like they meant business. Michael O’Gara was causing problems down the right while a super shot from Niall Sertuxta was just deflected wide. The Park defence was magnificent all through the game and with Dylan Casey, John Ward, Sean Carmody and Matt Lukco setting an impenetrable wall it was inevitable the equaliser would come. Twelve minutes into the half, Michael Slattery, who had a fine game and a hand in all three goals, took a shot which was parried by the Castleisland keeper to the inrushing Robin McCarthy who slammed in the rebound. Park had really lifted their game and driven forward by O’Gara, Browne, Sertuxta and Adam Ward they were playing stylish football. McCarthy was just over with a header from a corner in the twenty second minute but netted his second goal two minutes later to give Park a deserved lead. It followed some great work by Dylan Casey and Michael Slattery and Robin’s shot was a scorcher to the top right hand corner of the net. Four minutes later the game was effectively over when following neat passing between Dylan Casey and Adam Ward, Michael Slattery’s shot was once again deflected by the keeper to the feet of a grateful Robin McCarthy who bagged his hat trick with a cool finish.
Try as they might and with corner after corner being cleared by the heads of the Park boys, Castleisland could not get a goal back. Conor Higgins and Ruairi O’Kelly replaced the tired legs of Niall Sertuxta and Michael O’Gara towards the end and both lads helped clinch a memorable win.
The game was well refereed by Adrian Grimes who complimented both teams afterwards on their sporting behaviour.
A fine result, especially coming from a goal down away from home against a fine Castleisland team, the Park lads can now face the rest of the season with plenty of confidence.
Thanks especially to the parents who gave lifts to the game and to all the others who help out. Your help is much appreciated by the mentors and players.
Good to see Shane Jordan at the match and hopefully he will be back in action soon along with our other injured stars Donagh McMahon and Gearoid Fitzgerald.
Panel was : Aaron Ward, John Ward, Dylan Casey, Sean Carmody, Matt Lukco, Niall Sertuxta, Michael O’Gara, James Rusk, Robin McCarthy, Michael Slattery, Josh Wadding, Adam Ward, Conor Higgins, Ruairi O’Kelly and Kevin Browne.
Missing were Gearoid Fitzgerald, Shane Jordan, Donagh McMahon and Thomas Burke
Training on Mondays at 7.30pm and Fridays at 6pm .