Munster Shield: Thurles CBS 2 - 3 ERSS
Our 1st year squad made the journey to Holycross, Co. Tipperary to play Thurles CBS in the last 16 of the Munster Shield. Frost over night meant we had to kick off late and in very cold conditions.
Thurles started strong and from an excellent Free-Kick from just outside the box, our keeper Aiden Sweetman had to make a brilliant diving save to tip the ball just over the bar. 6 minutes in we got our first goal through Fionn Power. At the half way line, Fionn did brilliantly to fight to keep the ball in play, dribbled the length of the field and struck the ball perfectly to put us ahead.
(0-1)
Thurles almost drew level soon after, but Aiden again made a finger tip save. For the next 10 minutes the game ebbed and flowed, Jake Norris coming close with a few shots on target and Darragh Revutsky hitting the post. We were forced into an early sub with Oran Norris going off injured, replaced by Alex Stuart. We went in happy at half time after a very strong first half performance from all players, particularly our midfield players Joe Barry and Bobby Walsh keeping us in control, and our backs Ryan Prenderville, Jack Farrell, Ronan Connolly and Alex Stuart preventing any clear cut chances from Thurles other than Free-kicks.
Second half we didn't start well, 1 minute in and we conceded an equaliser. Again a dangerous Free-kick was placed brilliantly into a busy box, and a mix up at the back meant Thurles had an easy tap in.
(1-1)
The equaliser spurred on our forward players, Fionn Power again involved hitting the bar and Darragh Revutsky following in for a tap in.
(1-2)
We were playing very well at this stage 7 minutes into the second half, Tom Gahan who was back from a long term injury, had a number of good chances, forcing the Thurles keeper into some very good saves. At this point we were very unlucky to have a player sent off for a second yellow and were down to 10 men with nearly 25min left to play. Only 5 minutes later, we lost Darragh to an injury and Michael Keyes came on in his place.
We conceded an equaliser from a corner - Thurles had been very dangerous from set-pieces all game but playing with 10 men meant we struggled to pick up players in the box.
(2-2)
The players worked extremely hard for the rest of the game and were brave pushing on for a winner. With only 4 minutes left, Aiden Sweetman launched a ball from our own box to Joe Barry, who quickly played into Tom Gahan and Tom calmly put the ball in the net.
(2-3)
In the last few minutes we had to defend 5 corners but the whole team battled to hold onto the lead and make sure we came out on top. A fantastic show of spirit and determination from the lads. We look forward to the next game which will be a Quarter Final.
Squad:
1 Aiden Sweetman
2 Alex Stuart
3 Billy Murphy
4 Bobby Walsh
5 Charlie Power
6 Charlie Skehan
7 Cillian Long
8 Darragh Revutsky
9 Ethan Derby
10 Fionn Power
11 Jack Farrell
12 Jack Meany
13 Jake Norris
14 Joe Barry
15 Michael Keyes
16 Oran Norris
17 Ronan Connolly
18 Ryan Prenderville
19 Zac Clery
20 Aidan Barry
21 Ryan Crowley
22 Ian Hennessy
23 Liam Walsh
24 Scott O'Shea
25 Callum Power
26 Tom Gahan
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