Kenny’s the king!
Netminder is Moyne’s spot kick hero
MOYNE WON 3-1 ON PENS. LIAM KENNY was the penalty shoot-out king, saving three before scoring the winner as his Moyne Rangers side won the Wexford and District Schoolboys Soccer Under-13 Cup at Bogside on Saturday.
The Rangers ‘keeper had a fairly quiet afternoon between the posts as two strong defensive sides sparred but never really got into top gear.
However, he knew it was time to shine when it came to penalties, and Kenny didn’t disappoint.
After Moyne missed their first penalty, the stopper dived high to his right to save the first one, low to his left to repel the second, and stopped the third in the middle of his goal.
After Jamie Pepper and Dylan Browne had put Rangers 2-0 up, he almost kept Jake Gilshinan’s successful attempt out too.
Having just missed out on the chance to stop all four and have his winning moment between the sticks, Kenny stepped up and thumped the clincher to the right corner, Nathan Roche’s left, to give the Celtic ‘keeper no chance.
To say the first-half lacked goalmouth action would be an understatement as defences played supremely well.
There was one moment of drama, when Kian Murphy headed Browne’s corner onto the crossbar midway though the half, but it was cleared to safety and Forth survived.
Things came to life a little in the second period as Moyne started to push on.
A clip on Jamie Pepper produced an air shot in the 38th minute with the goal gaping, and moments later James Lawless robbed a short ball in the Celtic defence and forced Roche into a sharp stop.
Rangers continued to press and hit the crossbar again in the 43rd minute when Jack Kavanagh found Browne on the left and he planted an effort from the edge of the area onto the frame of the goal.
Celtic were always likely to have one big chance and it fell to Jack McNamara with ten minutes left to play but Liam Kenny made a solid stop.
The pattern of the game continued in extra-time as Moyne bossed things. Brennan O’Neill clipped a tester from 25 yards that Roche stopped, and another Browne free-kick was eventually scrambled behind.
The momentum did change right at the end, with Celtic twice missing half decent chances through Jake Gilshinan and Conor Mullan as they looked to complete the ultimate smash-and-grab.
In the end it was Moyne, driven on by the superb Kenny, who took the cup in the shoot-out. While he must have been a candidate, as well as excellent Celtic defender Paul Coggins, Kian Murphy was ultimately awarded the man of the match trophy after a stellar display in the Rangers defence.
Moyne Rangers: Liam Kenny; Ryan Whelan, Kian Murphy (joint capt.), Kyle Delaney, Ryan McCarthy; Brennan O’Neill, James Lawless, Dylan Browne (joint capt.), Jack Kavanagh; Jamie Pepper; Stephen Fortune. Subs. (rolling) - Leo Morris, Jack Whitley, Seán Nicholson, Fionn O’Reilly, Calum Murphy, Robert Mitchell, Airidas Balku.
Forth Celtic: Nathan Roche (capt.); Lee Kennedy, Ciarán Doyle, Paul Coggins; Alfie Jeffers; Jake Gilshinan, Jack McNamara, Conor Maher, Callum McClean; Conor Mullan, Chris Frawley. Subs. (rolling) - Dan McGrath, Josh Cooney, Haig Conroy, Mark Hennessy, James Hegarty.
Referee: Eric Molloy.