O’REILLY ON FIRE!
Oscar stars as Enniskerry beat brave St Anthony’s
ENNISKERRY 9 ST ANTHONY’S 2
THERE was no stopping Oscar O’Reilly on Saturday afternoon as he fired Enniskerry into an extremely commanding lead in the first leg of their U-12 A1 Interim Cup.
The attacker helped himself to an incredible four-goal haul against a spirited St. Anthony’s side who, despite finding themselves 5-0 down in the opening seconds of the second half, never gave up.
Ned Bolger also chipped in with a hat-trick for the home side, with James Brandon and Morrissey landing the others.
An own goal and a clever finish from Jake Mitchell account for the Saints’ efforts.
The visiting side started with hunger and applied pressure but the Enniskerry defence - lead by the fantastic talent that is Elliot Reidy - soaked it up and Enniskerry soon began to dominate.
O’Reilly tried to set up the opener with a cross to Sebastian Bairead but he swept his finish over the crossbar.
Brandon turned provider for O’Reilly then when he threaded a pass through but the trickster’s rising shot was clawed behind by Anto’s goalkeeper Ben Synnott.
Another cross from O’Reilly found Bairead again but his volley into the ground bounced behind and out of harm’s way.
Enniskerry continued to hunt for the opening goal and Ned Bolger almost got it when he was first to a kick-out but his strong, early shot zipped wide of the far post.
Having knocked at the door for some time, Enniskerry prised it open in the 18th minute. Reidy’s long-range pass found the run of Bolger brilliantly and he controlled the ball before calmly slotting it past the out-rushing Synnott.
Within three minutes, the lead was doubled as O’Reilly’s drive from the edge of the area took a heavy deflection and trickled past the wrong-footed Synnott.
A minute later it was 3-0; Enniskerry truly did pounce while the iron was hot. O’Reilly got to the byline and centred the ball to Brandon and he finished smartly despite appeals from the Anto’s defence that O’Reilly was out of play before crossing.
Enniskerry captain Reidy almost bagged a stunner when his long-ranger had to be tipped around the post by Synnott. Bolger did beat Synnott from distance but his stunning strike rattled the underside of the crossbar and the onside O’Reilly reacted quickest to tap home a fourth.
Bolger went for the spectacular again four minutes later but his floated effort was brilliantly tipped over by Synnott.
The second half was only 30 seconds old when O’Reilly dispatched a cross from the left for his side’s fifth and his third.
The Kilcoole side’s spirit couldn’t be questioned and they pulled a goal back when they forced an Enniskerry defender to pass it back to his goalkeeper and wicked bobble took it past the shot-stopper and into the net.
Any hopes of a fightback were stamped out as three minutes later, Morrissey showed great vision and generousity to slip a pass to O’Reilly for an easy finish when he was entitled to go for goal himself.
Poor E12 must have been won- dering what he had to do to get on the scoresheet as he struck the woodwork twice in an eight-minute spell - the second of which saw Synnott turn his shot onto the post.
Kilcoole’s finest grabbed a second goal with eight minutes remaining. Credit must go to Sean McLeavy for creating it - he chased a lost cause and won the ball back before crossing it for Jake Mitchell and his shot looped over the Enniskerry goalkeeper and into the net.
Enniskerry still managed to add two more goals in the dying minutes. Reidy’s cross from the left was drilled home by Morrissey and Greg Healy then set-up Bolger for the last goal of the contest.