Soccer

Leinster Schools soccer final: Wexford CBS beat Coláiste na hInse in extra-time

Holy Rosary College of Galway reached the national cup U19 final, beating Douglas Community School

Sam Norval struck a brace of goals at Wayside Celtic in Kilternan yesterday afternoon as Wexford CBS secured the Dr Tony O’Neill Leinster Senior Cup title
Sam Norval struck a brace of goals at Wayside Celtic in Kilternan yesterday afternoon as Wexford CBS secured the Dr Tony O’Neill Leinster Senior Cup title
Daire Walsh
Tom Clancy
Tue Feb 28 2023 - 16:18

Dr Tony O’Neill Leinster Schools Senior Cup Final

Wexford CBS 2 Colaiste na hInse, Bettystown 1

Sam Norval struck a brace of goals at Wayside Celtic in Kilternan yesterday afternoon as Wexford CBS secured the Dr Tony O’Neill Leinster Senior Cup title with an extra-time victory over Coláiste na hInse, Bettystown.

The deadlock had remained unbroken at the end of a tight and tense opening period of play, but Norval (who is currently on the books at Waterford FC) eventually created daylight between the teams when he fired home at an awkward left-hand angle eight minutes after the resumption.

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Following this setback, the Coláiste na hInse management looked towards their bench for some inspiration. The subsequent introduction of Alex Wade paid rich dividends as he turned sharply inside the box before unleashing an unstoppable strike to the bottom left-hand corner of the Wexford net.

This left the tie delicately poised once again and while Kaylem Harnett headed home at the opposite end with 85 minutes gone on the clock, his effort was ruled out for offside. Coláiste na hInse had an opportunity to snatch a win at the very end of normal time, but Wexford effectively dealt with a goalmouth scramble to ensure the game was headed for an additional 20 minutes of action.

While Norval dispatched a clinical strike to the net seven minutes into extra-time, referee Aaron Pisarnik had already blown for a Wexford free-kick moments earlier. Norval quickly dusted himself off, however, and superbly curled home the resulting set-piece off his lethal left boot for what proved to be a match-winning goal.

WEXFORD CBS: O’Leary; Farrell (Purcell, 58 mins), English, Brohan, Dempsey; Mackey, Byrne Moloney; Harnett, Norval, F Wasilewski (J Wasilewski, 100 mins); Stafford (Harpur, 91 mins).

COLÁISTE NA HINSE, BETTYSTOWN: Myles; Carroll, Ndebumadu, Tunstead, Featherson; Graham, O’Donoghue; McGinn (Wade, 63 mins), O’Connor, O’Keeffe; O’Reilly (Moore, 101 mins).

Referee: Aaron Pisarnik.

Dr Tony O’Neill Senior National Cup U19 semi-final

Holy Rosary College Mountbellew 2-1 Douglas Community School

Holy Rosary College of Galway reached the Dr Tony O’Neill Senior National Cup U19 final, thanks to a narrow win over Douglas Community School.

The Galway side are truly enjoying their first year at this grade and added to last week’s Connacht title with a deserved win. Played under dry, cold conditions in Limerick, the better football was played by the winners, who had goals from Ryan Nolan and Cormac Proulx. Sandwiched in between, was a Josh Fitzpatrick penalty for the Cork school.

Both sides would finish with 10 men, as Proulx and Douglas attacker Devon Gibson, both dismissed for their involvement in an unsavoury brawl on the touchline, inside the final 20 minutes.

The opener arrived on 26 minutes, as Nolan climbed at the back post to head home an inviting Aironas Kantauskas corner kick. It was deserved, after early going close through captain Ronan Murphy.

The Cork school were short of attacking threat, but found their feet and won a penalty on 38 minutes. A clumsy tackle allowed Fitzpatrick the chance to dispatch to the net for 1-1.

The Nolan brothers, Ciaran and Ryan had fine outings, as did the Proulx brothers, with Cormac netting the winner. This arrived just four minutes after they’d been pegged back.

Another corner caused issues and after Ciaran had a go, it was Ryan who curled low to the far corner in the crowded penalty area.

Despite the red cards in the second half, Holy Rosary College were somewhat comfortable in holding on, with goalkeeper Rory Walsh commanding his penalty area expertly late in the contest.

Douglas Community School: B Bosjack; D O’Sullivan, L Curtain, C Nestor, L O’Herlihy; J Fitzpatrick, L O’Sullivan, C O’Sulleabhain; H Skieters (capt), D Gibson

Subs: K Leahy for C O’Sulleabhain (h-t). Subs not used: R O’Herlihy, A Ramos, R Kiss, K Crowe.

Holy Rosary College Mountbellew: R Walsh; C Byron, T Miskell, C French, I Fahy; A Kantauskas, C Nolan, T Proulx, R Murphy (capt); C Proulx, R Nolan.

Subs: C Mulhern for Kantauskas (h-t). Subs not Used: C Mulhern, T Shields, C Lennon, S Duffy, J Connolly

Referee: Shane O’Donoghue (Limerick)