Carnew v St Peter’s cup clash abandoned
Referee abandons cup tie following ugly incident
THE Jim McLaughlin Premier Trophy quarter-final between Carnew AFC and St Peter’s was abandoned with two minutes to go in extra-time by referee Dominic Lauchesse at the Back Alley last Sunday afternoon.
This dramatic game which saw Carnew leading 3-2 in the dying moments turned somewhat ugly when an incident occurred between a St Peter’s player and referee Lauchesse when the player disagreed with a decision by the ref and was heard to use abusive language before appearing to shove the referee in the back after he was sent off.
It was a disappointing end to a very good and competitive game. The decision of who will progress to the semi-final of the Jim McLaughlin Premier Cup will be decided this week with the board of the WDSL.
St. Peters made the trip to Carnew at the Back Alley for their quarter-final tie against Carnew who convincingly beat Arklow Celtic 5-1 in the last round and were looking to progress to the semi-final stages and continue their impressive run in the competition.
Carnew were lucky to be hosting the game as their home pitch at the Back Alley looked to be unplayable before kick-off, but referee Dominic Lauchesse went forward with the game much to the relief of the travelling team who had made the long journey down for the game.
For the first ten minutes of the game the supporters got an insight into how physical the clash was going to be throughout the tie.
In the eighth minute, St. Peter’s midfielder Killian O’Carroll was shown a yellow card for a dangerous challenge on winger James Behan; O’Carroll would have to keep his challenges to a minimum for the remainder of the game.
It was the visitors who struck first after a mistake at the back from Carnew defender Jonathan Smith.
Smith was put under pressure by Peter’s striker Chad Ryan, the defender quickly turned and gave a dodgy pass back to keeper Cormac Doyle.
Doyle went to clear the ball but only managed to get the ball as far as Ryan who blocked the clearance and tapped into an empty net. Great determination shown by the striker to put his side 1-0 up after 18 minutes played.
St. Peter’s were well on top throughout the first half but their defensive duties weakened late in the first half and Carnew grabbed an equaliser in the 39th minute as winger James O’Brien was in the right place at the right time to put the ball past keeper Eoin Fox before the break.
The sides were even as both teams looked for a winner during the second half. But with the challenges flying in on a wet and mucky pitch from both sides it was only a matter of time before the game went into disarray.
The tactical substitution from St Peter’s in the second half was like a stroke of genius from the management team as substitute Jake Kane provided an instant impact with an assist in the 52nd minute.
The winger made a great run down the left wing before squaring the ball to team mate Dion McGovern, who was also introduced at half-time as a substitute.
The game started to take a turn for the worst as both sides started to fly in with some dangerous late challenges.
Referee Dominic Lauchesse could have sent at least four players off during the second half but let some challenges go as the game was proving to be one of the best cup ties of the season.
Carnew saw the light at the end of the tunnel in the 86th minute when Brendan McCrea found the top corner from 35 yards with a curling free-kick.
This meant that the game would have to be decided in either extra-time or the dreaded penalty kicks.
Carnew quickly scored the first goal of extra-time with a well worked free-kick from Brendan McCrea.
McCrea chipped the ball over the St Peter’s defence to substitute Adam Doyle who knocked the ball into the net from close range to make it 3-2 in extra-time.
Moments later McCrea was shown a second yellow card for a rough challenge and was sent off as his side went down to ten men with 15 minutes of extra-time left.
St Peter’s pushed and pushed for an equaliser but the travelling side had just run out of steam and couldn’t find a way back into the game as Carnew put all their remaining players behind the ball.
With two minutes to go, the game was abandoned.