Merville U14s in Connaught final

ON Saturday Merville under 14s will make the trip to Lecarrow in Roscommon to play Westport in the SFAI cup regional Connaught Cup final in what promises to be a close encounter,

They now face top Mayo team in Westport and hopefully they can home with the cup. The match day squad for the final is; Corey O’Dowd, Ronan O’Hehir, Shea O’Neill, Eli Rooney, Oisín O’Neill, Herman Nguenko, Ambrose Bamber, Dylan Street, Ronan Niland, Zach Gilligan, Keelan Lynch, Ashraf Tumuheirwe, Lee Conway, Gavin Lynch, Sean Stenson.

The side go into this Connaught Cup final on a high following their success in Waterford at the weekend.

The under 14s made the long trip down to play top Waterford team Villa FC in the last 32 of the SFAI All-Ireland Cup and came home with the win.

The game kicked off with a strong wind and captain Ronan Niland made the decision to play against the wind in the first half. The decision soon proved correct as Lee Conway pounced a goal, as he was brought down for an penalty.

Gavin Lynch stepped up to put Merville into the lead.

With

at the wind their backs Villa start- ed to get back into the game and equalised soon after when their midfielder fired high into the net to level things up.

Villa piled on the pressure for the rest of the half but could not get past an outstanding Merville defence to end the half all square.

In the second half Merville took control and the midfield three of Ronan Niland, Dylan Street and Ambrose Bamber who himself must of covered every blade of grass on the pitch started to dominate and soon took the lead again.

Dylan Street played a lovely through ball to the impressive Lee Conway who powered down the wing and crossed to Keelan lynch at the back post to fire home.

Merville were now starting to create a lot of chances and hit the post twice and the home keeper made some good saves to keep the home team in it.

Merville deservedly got their third when Ronan Niland’s reserve pass put Gavin Lynch through on goal and he made no mistake to fire home to cue wild celebrations from the large travelling support.

Merville now play Dublin team Belvedere at home in the next round which promises to be another exciting day (February 16th).

SLIGO/LEITRIM YOUTH RESULTS AND FIXTURES

The Ursuline College Senior Soccer Team who beat Claregalway 2-1 AET in the Connacht final. They are playing Moville Community College in the FAI Schools Senior Girls National Cup Semi Final in Curragh AFC, Killygordan today at 1pm.

The Merville U14s who played in Waterford last weekend.