Referee forced to call early halt to proceedings
RATHNEW U-16S AVONMORE U-16S
RATHNEW hosted Avonmore last Saturday afternoon in very tough windy conditions at Shamrock Park.
Both sides had to adjust to the terrible conditions of the wind and both keepers, Danny Morley and Nojus Sumauskas, had to be careful of the wind dipping the ball in mid-flight when there was shots on goal.
It was a very even first 15 minutes as both sides were playing the ball on the ground and gave little possession away.
Avonmore were looking lively early on and Cody Reid almost got an assist in the 16th minute when he made a great run down the left flank before chipping the ball to the back post looking for Tomas Hernandez who couldn’t get up high enough to get a head on the ball.
The first free-kick was awarded to Avonmore in the 20th minute just outside the left edge of the penalty area and it was clear that the wind would be benefitting the kick taker Kegan Busher.
Busher curled the ball towards the back post but at the last second the wind took the ball back across goal to the keeper’s right, but Sumauskas was in the right position to tipp the ball over the bar.
Rathnew took the lead in the 25th minute against the run of play when Dylan Moorehouse went past two Avonmore defenders before squaring the ball across goal to Ross Quinn who slotted the ball into the bottom corner giving Avonmore keeper Danny Morley no chance.
Going a goal down was surprisingly the best thing that could have happened to the travelling side as they went up a gear after going behind and it wasn’t long before they pulled a goal back to make the game level in the 27th minute.
Alex Olohan’s header at the far post looped over the Rathnew keeper to make it 1-1, but Avonmore did not stop there and they grabbed another three goals before the end of the half.
Avonmore were awarded two penalties minutes after each other on the 32nd minute, one for a hand ball and the other for a late challenge.
Kegan Busher stepped up both times and stroked the ball to the keepers right to put his side 3-1 up. Great confidence from the midfielder to take both penalties in quick succession and score both.
Avonmore were flying and scored their fourth of the game just on the stroke of half time with some great footwork from Alex Olohan who grabbed a brace for his team.
The striker won back possession on the edge of the box before running past two Rathnew defenders and sliding the ball under the keeper.
Things went from bad to worse for Rathnew just before half time as a Rathnew player was shown a red card for dissent against the referee and was sent for an early shower.
The home side found themselves down by three goals and would have to play the remainder of the game with ten men.
It was only ten minutes into the second half when referee Liam O’Brien abandoned the game as the Rathnew side became frustrated at being down to ten men and being three goals behind.
Rough challenges were flying in and the referee made the difficult decision to blow the game up early as he said the game had become unsafe to continue.