Report: Anthony Horgan
Youghal United 0 – 2 Tramore Athletic
The lads came into this game on the back of a 5-0 defeat away to premier division side Avondale United at the weekend so they were looking for a good performance over the result. Tonight the lads face first division side Tramore Athletic who play in a division above them. Apart from one or two hiccups Youghal can take a lot of positives from this game.
12 mins in Robert Cronin was fouled at the edge of the box after making a good run down the left wing, Michael John Hennessy steeped up and hit a superb free kick off the far post with everyone beaten. Brendan O’ Sullivan was dangerous in every attack with his energy and enthusiasm. However Youghal found themselves one down after 25mins when Tramore broke down the right wing and put in what looked like a tame cross but the defenders never dealt with it and the forward scored unchallenged. This was a blow for the boys but they stuck to the task in hand and battled on.
P. O’Connor won possession in midfield and passed to M.J. Hennessy who in turn found P. Moylan on the edge of the box. Paul was just about to pull the trigger only to be closed down by the defender. Moments later Darren Hennessy had a long range effort go over the bar. Just before half time Youghal were going forward in droves gaining a lot of corner kicks but the resulting corners came to nothing as we never got on the end of any of them. Out of one of Youghal’s corners Tramore broke and with two passes the forward got behind the Youghal defence and only for some brave defending by the keeper D. Curren and the left back A. Kelly the home side would have been two down at the break.
Half time 0-1.
The second half was only minutes old when Tramore got their second, a ball wasn’t dealt with by the keeper spilling it to M. O’Connell who slotted home. Youghal could have thrown in the towel but didn’t, they worked even harder and had plenty of ball only for the final pass to go astray.
The introduction of M. Clohesy at centre back and moving Sean Kenneally to midfield with P. O’Connor giving way regigged the Youghal team. Also a straight swap when G. Kelly came in for R. Cronin on the left wing seemed to give Youghal a freshness. 63 mins in Youghal had their best chance after Brendan O’Sullivan put across a great ball and Paul Moylan out jumped the defence only to see his header go narrowly over the cross bar.
Soon after Mike Sczepankewiez had a long range shot go over when he tried his luck. Shane Ryan came on for Paul Hennessy on the right wing after 70 mins. Youghal pressed for the remainder of the game and another half chance fell to Paul Moylan when he broke the offside trap only to see the defender get back on terms and close him down.
Although the lads lost 2-0 this was a spirited performance and this is the end of the road in the league cup, all attention will now be focused on the upcoming league campaign. Best of luck to all involved here and here’s hoping we can go one step further in trying to gain promotion to the 1st division this year!
Team: D. Curren, D. Hennessy, S. Kenneally, M. Sczepankewiez, A. Kelly, R. Cronin, P. O’Connor, M.J. Hennessy, P. Hennessy, P. Moylan, B. O’Sullivan.
Subs: M. Clohesy, G. Kelly, S. Ryan
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