Blarney Utd 0 Sporting Fingal 2:TWO FIRST-HALF goals from Eamon Zayed and Conan Byrne secured a place in the draw for the fourth round for Sporting Fingal as they overcame a competitive Blarney side in Cork last night.
The Munster Senior League outfit struggled to get up to the pace of the game as Zayed tormented their defence and eventually got off the mark on five minutes when he side-footed Byrne’s ball home from six yards.
Byrne then had an effort ruled out for offside eight minutes later as Fingal continued to dominate possession.
Byrne was again involved just after the 30 minute mark when his cross found Zayed, who had goalkeeper James McCarthy beaten with a looping header, but teenage centre half Aiden Leahy got back to head clear off the line.
Fingal doubled their lead just before the break when Byrne sidefooted home from close range after McCarthy failed to collect Lorcan Fitzgerald’s cross.
The home side were unlucky not to score early in the second half when a Ray Clifford effort was denied by a Darren Quigley save, while John Hogan saw his 20-yard attempt clip the crossbar in a period of Blarney dominance.
BLARNEY: McCarthy, Jennings (Gaffney, 54 mins), J Meade, Coleman, Leahy, Ahern (83 mins), O’Leary, Clifford (67 mins), C Meade, O’Riordan, Hogan.
SPORTING FINGAL: Quigley, Gannon, Frost, Williams, Fitzgerald, Whelan, Byrne (McArdle, 85 mins), McFaul (Bayly, 77 mins), Zayed, Kirby, Gaynor
Referee: A Buttimer (Cork).
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