Limerick District League soccer roundup - FAI Junior Cup action dominates

MUNSTER JUNIOR SHIELD

Shannon Town B 0

Murroe 2

Murroe made club history on Saturday evening when they qualified for the final of a Munster Junior competition for the first time since their foundation in 1968.

Second half scores from Kalum O'Shea and Evan Walsh secured their place in the Munster Junior Shield where they will battle it out with Carrigaline for the title.

Murroe were out of the blocks quickest and dominated possession although the Shannon Town defence proved strong enough to see the game scoreless at half time when Liam Quinn whipped a cross to the back post where the impressive Kallum O’Shea arrived ion cue to guide a header to the net.

Shannon battled hard but found Murroe a stubborn proposition.

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In the final minute veteran Evan Walsh made certain of the victory when he forced in a second goal.

Murroe: Jack O'Sullivan; Kalum O'Shea; Brian Quinn; Dylan Ryan; Liam Quaid; Brian Mackey; Darren Dunlea; Nathan O'Shea; Jamie Long; Liam Quinn; Cillian O'Shea, Subs: Evan Walsh 

Carrigaline Utd B 0

Ballynanty Rovers B  0

(Carrigaline won 5-4 on pens aet)

Ballynanty Rovers just missed out on making it to an all-Limerick final in the Munster Junior Shield when they lost on a penalty shoot-out to Carrigaline in Cork on Sunday afternoon.

The first half was understandably tentative with chances few and far between.

After the break, Balla took control of the game but struggled to get in behind a solid backline.

Jamie O’Sullivan had a great chance to break the deadlock midway through the second half after a superb pass by Derek Daly, but keeper Ryan Doyle made a superb save.

Minutes later Daly’s free kick found Dermot Fitzgerald but his downward header bounced up and struck the crossbar on its way to safety.

Extra time followed and the home side were awarded a penalty kick for handball but after Eoghan Sherlock saved Robbie O’Mahoney’s initial effort he was adjudged to have moved off his line. Carrigaline wasted their chance when the same player fired the retake over the top.

With neither side able to find a breakthrough, penalties followed and the Cork side held their nerve to score all five to win 5-4.

Ballynanty Rovers B: Eoghan Sherlock, Darragh Hughes, Craig McMarlow, Calum Waters, Ryan Earls, Dermot Fitzgerald, Jamie O'Sullivan, Greg Daly, Aaron Nunan, Derek Daly, David Donnan, Subs: Dara McNamara, Eddie Radcliffe, Ger Meehan, Ronan Ryan, Lee Ryan, Neil Wallace, Lee Boyle

FAI Junior Cup

Ballynanty Rovers 2

Shelbourne 0

A much improved second half performance secured Ballynanty Rover’s place in round three of the FAI Junior Cup following a 3-0 win over neighbours Shelbourne at a wet and windy Ballynanty Park on Sunday morning.

It was mission accomplished for Derek Braddish and Co but they will be unhappy with their first half outing.

Despite bossing 80% of possession, only twice in 45 minutes did they succeed in delivering a ball into the Shelbourne box from play.  

Strikers Vinny Ryan and Kane Connolly time and again were making runs only to see their potential suppliers turn backward or infield.

The visitors put up a solid defensive wall and Balla looked devoid of ideas. In fact, but for a super save by Tommy Holland just before the break, the hosts could well have gone in behind.

However, Balla switched things around at the break and it had the desired effect.

Leon Kirrane’s attacking inclination saw the Blues creating more chances.

Shel’s keeper was well protected in the opening half only having to deal with the basics. At the other end after 40 minutes Tommy Holland made a superb point blank save to deny Shels striker George Barry.

After the restart Shels were forced deeper into retreat and Kieran Simmonds was forced to make an excellent save to prevent an own goal from opening the scoring.

The deadlock was broken on seventy minutes. Kirrane’s attempted through ball for Adam Costello was blocked by a defender but Kane Connolly pounced on the loose ball to fire in from the edge of the box.

The same player doubled the lead nine minutes later when he gathered from Cian Lynch and fired a low shot in from an acute angle to complete the scoring.

Ballynanty Rovers: Tommy Holland; Cian Lynch; Adam Costello; Josh Adams; Alex Kiely; Shane Walsh; Gavin Hehir; Kevin Laffan; Vinny Ryan; Kane Connolly; Eddie Byrnes, Subs: Leon Kirrane; Jamie Greaves; Thomas Byrnes; James Fitzgerald.

Nenagh AFC 1

Geraldines  4

The only all-Premier tie in Sunday’s list saw Geraldines record a superb 4-1 win at Nenagh.

Hero of the hour for Geraldines was Tony Mambuana who scored a superb hat trick in a 4-1 victory.

Geraldines took the lead on the half hour mark following good work by Cian Fitzgerald and Aaron Grant, the latter supplied the ball for Mambuana to round the keeper and score.

The home side were back on terms ten minutes later when Pa Steed passed for Adam Brennan to race through to score.

Six minutes after the restart Jake Leamy played Mambuana through for his second and the striker completed his hat trick after he was upended in the area. He dusted himself down to tuck away the spot kick. Dines wrapped up a good day five minutes later when Gareth Ronan scored again from a Jake Leamy delivery.

Nenagh AFC: Oisin Conacur; Colm Hayden; Saeed Ryan; Kieran Barr; Bryan McGee; Pa Steed; Daniel Connolly; Dylan Morrison; Dan O'Meara; Adam Ryan; Adam Brennan, Subs: B Tracey; Eoin Coffey; Aaron Cusack

Geraldines: Jose Zaquieu; Jonathan Moran; Scott McEvoy; Aaron Grant; Eoin Hanrahan; Jack O'Doherty; Tony Mambuana; Cian Fitzgerald; Jake Leamy; Alan Keane; Gareth Ronan, Subs: Ousman Darboe; Jack Cross

Pike Rovers 4

Moyross 0

Leon Daly was the Pike hero as they defeated Moyross 4-0 in the Pike Field with a well-taken hat trick.

The lively winger had Pike ahead at the break and top scorer Dylan Murphy eventually broke a resolute Moyross with a second after the hour mark. Daly tacked on another two to complete the scoring.

Pike Rovers: Gary Neville; Ethan Joyce; Jack Croke; Robbie Williams; Eddie O'Donovan; Joe Murphy; Dylan Murphy; Steven McGann; Leon Daly; Jack Meaney; Kyle Duhig, Subs: Aaron Hough; Brendan O'Dwyer; Daniel Cullen; Jamie Mitchell

Patrickswell 1

Aisling Annacotty 10

Patrickswell had no answer for a rampant Aisling side who ran out easy winners.

Sean Oyibo was the tormentor in chief with four goals. Adam Costello bagged a double while Donnacha O'Leary, Raid Mouras, Jack Aherne and Adam Foley completed the rout. Dara Phillips scored a consolation goal for Patrickswell.

Aisling Annacotty: Stephen McNamara; Jamie Halpin; David Moloney; Raid Mouras; Jack Aherne; Donnacha O'Leary; D Brennan; Oscar Omorodian; Adam Costello; Sean Oyibo; Conor Carew, Subs: Joel Coustrain; Adam Foley; Sean Ezekannagha; Isaac O'Sullivan

Kilmallock 4

Summerville Rovers 1

Kilmallock continued their good form with a 4-1 win over fellow Premier A side Summerville Rovers.

Killian Hayes put the home side ahead early on before Barry Sheedy doubled the advantage.

Shane Power pulled one back for Rovers but further scores from Kyle Tierney and Jason Heffernan saw the county side ease to victory.

Kilmallock; Lorcan Casey, Jack Barry, Aaron Costello, Sean Kiely, Aaron O'Hanlon, Jason Heffernan, Kyle Tierney, Mark Hayes, Barry Sheedy, Aidan Walker, Killian Hayes, Subs; Bjorn Downes, Cian Barrett, Jack McGuire, D Bagnell

Mungret Regional A 4

Caherdavin Celtic 2

Mungret Regional and Caherdavin Celtic played out an exciting cup tie before the Premier side eventually came out tops.

C O'Hanlon put Celtic ahead after ten minutes but Conor Madden levelled five minutes later. 

Just after the break Cian McNicholas gave Mungret the lead but the game was again tied up five minutes later when Liam Morris scored for the visitors.

Danny McCarthy restored Mungret’s lead on 66 minutes which they held until the final minute when another last-minute goal from McNicholas made sure of the result.

Mungret Regional: Daniel Doyle; Mark Patterson; Mark Barrett; Conor Myers; Colm Barrett; Darragh Killian; Danny McCarthy; Conor Madden; Kieran Long; Kian Barry; Cian McNicholas, Subs: A Hamarneh; Hamza Selman Celik; Evan Barrett; Craig Prendergast; Sean O'Sullivan

Corbally United 3

Hyde Rangers 1

(After extra-time)

Premier side Corbally United needed extra time to see off a dogged challenge from Division 2A leaders Hyde Rgs in Athlunkard.

The visitors took the lead through Scott Quaide after five minutes but on the half hour mark Robert Clancy restored parity.

Neither side could find a breakthrough in normal time so extra time followed where the Premier side tacked on two goals through Sean Kiely and Eoghan O'Connell to progress to round three.

Corbally United: Harry Bennis; Tom O'Brien; Dave Thompson; Eoghan Carr; Liam O'Flynn; Michael White; Eoghan O'Connell; Rhys Barry; Sean Kiely; Sean Connolly; Robert Clancy, Subs: Nathaniel Zabatakus; Alan Doherty; Ryan McLaughlin; Fionn O'Regan; Shane Cox

Premier League

Regional United 0

Fairview Rangers 3

Fairview Rangers regained their spot at the top of the Premier League table following a 3-0 win over Regional United at Dooradoyle on Saturday evening.

It was a good performance by the champions. A goal inside two minutes took the wind out of the home side and thereafter the Blues never really looked like losing.

The Blues welcomed Lee J Lynch to the fold and he made an impactful introduction with twenty minutes to play.

On the negative side, International Jake Dillon hobbled out of the tie in the first half with a hamstring injury.

With spectators still arriving the visitors took the lead. Brian Aherne’s ball across the face of goal was parried away by keeper but Josh McCarthy pounced on the rebound to fire home.  

Fairview were dominant in possession but Regional were defending stoutly when the ball arrived in the danger zone.

There was no further score in the first half but three minutes after the restart Fairview doubled their advantage.

Darragh Rainsford was fouled just outside the box and from the resultant free kick Brian Aherne fired through the wall and found the net with the help of a slight deflection.  

Lee J Lynch marked his introduction by setting up the final goal for Yoyo Mahdy to convert.

Regional United: J Curtin; Sean Madigan; Joe Lavin; David O'Mahoney; Jack O'Donovan; Paul Carmody; Ewan O'Brien; Andy Quaide; Shane Donegan; Kieran O'Connell; Muhsin Jelle, Subs: Brian O'Connor; Jack Flanagan; Alex Keating; Ryan Gilmartin

Fairview Rangers: Josh McCarthy GK; Jake Dillon; Blake Curran; Thomas O'Connor; Conor Kavanagh; Jeffery Judge; Shane Duggan; Josh McCarthy; Yoyo Mahdy; Darragh Rainsford; Brian Aherne, Subs: Danny O'Neill; Adam Dore; Oleg Vysochan; Lee J Lynch

League Games

Athlunkard Villa 0

Janesboro 4

Janesboro’s firepower proved too much for Athlunkard Villa on Sunday when the visitors ran in four goals without reply.

All the goals came in a 25 minute first half blitz. Josh O'Rahilly and top scorer Shane Clarke scored two apiece to secure the points.

Athlunkard Villa: Robert Power; Darragh Peters; Donie Curtin; Diarmuid Grimes; Ben Dillon; Cormac Noonan; Dave Frawley; Lorcan Feeney; TJ McDonnell; Danny Taylor; Cillian Scully, Subs: Aidan Mair; John Keogh; Famara Kassama; James Frahill; Omar Darboe

Janesboro: Aaron O'Sullivan; Josh O'Rahilly; Ryan Mawdsley; M Lynch; Eoghan Burke; Shane Clarke; Josh Toomey; Adam Finn; Dion Lynch; Tony Burns; E Brady, Subs: Kai Joyce; Graham Bourke; Aodh O'Hanluain; Fionn O'Leary; S Young

Round-up

In the FAI U17 John Sheahan put Aisling ahead in their game at St Kevin’s Boys but the home side ran in five goals without reply in the second half.

In the Premier A League two goals from Ed Ward gave Carew Park three welcome points at Regional Utd B.

In the Healy-Webb Cup J O'Toole and Aaron O'Connor scored for Charleville in a 2-1 win over Aisling Annacotty B for whom Alex Carragher replied.

Star Rovers progressed following a 4-0 win over Prospect Priory. Brian Thompson, Emmet Hehir, Cathal Howard and J Adedeji were the winning scorers.

In the O’Halloran Cup Herbertstown overran Corbally United B hitting eight without reply.

Tyrique Leamy claimed five goals while Bradley McNamara, Kevin Meade and Keith O'Connor completed the rout.

Cappamore and Pallas Utd ended 2-2 before Cappamore progressed on penalties.

Paddy Quinlan scored twice for the home side. David Curtin and Kevin Barry netted for Pallas.

Caherconlish and Ballylanders shared the spoils in a league game. Diarmuid Murnane and Bradon Devitt for Caherconlish and Kieran O'Callaghan and Shane Hennessy for Bally were scorers.

Pike Rovers B closed the gap on the leaders in Division 1B with a 6-2 win over Nenagh B. 

Logan O’Byrne added four more goals to his seasons tally while Dylan O’Neill and Evan Lynch also netted. Alan Kelly and Dan Furey replied for Nenagh.

Kilfrush picked up three vital points in a 3-2 win over Kilmallock. 

Mike O’Keeffe (2) and Ronan Magee were the winning scorers. 

Luke Earls and Joe Hay replied.