O’Brien shines as Aughrim see off Greystones A
AN impressive performance from Aughrim’s Conaill O’Brien helped propel his side to victory over Greystones AFC A in the U-13 Premier Jako Cup final in Celtic Park last Saturday afternoon.
It was a fine team performance for Eugene Canna’s charges, but O’Brien’s pace, touch and awareness certainly gave them an edge over a brave and willing Greystones side in the warm sunshine at the beautiful Arklow venue.
Greystones AFC’s goalkeeper Sean Byrne was outstanding in this game and was by far the busier of the two netminders over the course of the exciting clash.
Aughrim laid siege to the Greystones goal in the opening minutes with Leo Byrne, Conaill O’Brien and Cian Keogh all bringing saves out of Byrne.
It took some time for Grey- stones to settle, and their first real effort came from the boot of Lukas Zdunek but his ripper of a shot failed to hit the target.
Aughrin had a penalty awarded after 21 minutes when Sean Byrne took O’Brien down.
The Aughrim striker buried the spot kick and then fired home a beautiful individual goal two minutes later to give Aughrim a 2-0 advantage at the break.
The talented Joe McGuickian made it 3-0 for Aughrim four minutes into the second half and Greystones were reqarded for an enterprising second half when James Hayden fired home past Mark Shannon and it was fully deserved.
Jack Byrne completed the Aughrim scoring after 25 of the second half and that’s how it would end with Eugene Canna’s side enjoying a 4-1 victory over a handy Greystones United outfit.
Aughrim Rangers: 1. Mark Shannon, 2. Steven O’Toole, 3. Adam Healy, 4. Eoghan Murphy, 5. Joe McGuickian, 7. Conaill O’Brien, 8. Leo Byrne, 9. Sammy Harpur, 10. Cian Keogh, 11. Dan Kirwan, 12. Craig Evans,
13. Jack Byrne, 14. Eoin O’Connor,
15. Mark Murphy, 16. Finn Byrne.
Greystones AFC: 1. Sean Byrne,
12. Mark Beausang, 3. Oliver Barr, 4. Jethro Mason, 5. Lukas Zdunek, 6. Adam Redmond, 7. Andrew Bartlett,
8. Jack Cullen, 9. Daniel Gammell,
10. Robbie Cunningham, 11. James Hayden, 13. Billy Harte, 14. Tadg Parker, 15. Hamish Murray.