Brave Ashford bow out in LFA Cup first round

Freebooters too strong

ASHFORD ROVERS FREEBOOTERS AFC 2 5

ASHFORD ROVERS fell short on Saturday afternoon in first round of LFA Cup as Killkenny side Freebooters AFC dominated in a 5-2 victory.

Both sides had to deal with the wet conditions at Ballinalea Park on Saturday but despite the heavy rain on the Rovers home pitch the game went ahead. Ashford made a great start to the game right from kick off, the home side dominated possession for the first ten minutes with some quick and accurate passes.

The hosts had a great opportunity on the fifth minute when Ryan Beale made a darting run down the right wing and whipped in a cross to Oisin Hill who was on the edge of the penalty box, Hill took the volley on first time but didn’t seem to connect properly and blasted his shot well over the bar.

Freebooters opened the scoring on the 16th minute against the run of play, Ashford had been doing well to keep out their opponents but a mistake at the back led to the Kilkenny side taking the lead.

Freebooters striker Success Edogan had made a great run down the right wing beating two Ashford players before sliding the ball across the penalty area looking for Fred Odano, but the pass was defended by Daniel Rooney who got a toe to the ball but unfortunately his clearance deflected in off Tommy Quinn and ended up in the back of the net. It was an unfortunate way to concede the first goal for the home side.

The away side gained huge confidence from the goal and started to dominate possession, at times when they were on the attack but could not find the right option they would take the ball back to their own keeper Jamie Reid and starting again. As Freebooters began playing out from the back it meant that the home side had to press which left holes throughout the pitch for Freebooters players to run into.

Two quick gaols from Freebooters striker Success Edogan before half-time meant Rovers went in at the break 3-0 down with a lot to do in the second half if they wanted to bring the game to extra time.

Ashford started the second half much like they did in the first as they again dominated possession, the players looked like they didn’t want to give up without a fight. Rovers put the away sides defence under constant pressure and after a while a crack started to appear in their central defence as the players began to panic under all the pressure.

Rovers grabbed a goal back on the 61st minute after a terrible mistake by the Freebooters defence. The away sides defence failed to pick up Tommy Quinn who went unmarked in the centre of the penalty area which allowed him to slot the ball into the bottom corner to give his side some hope of a comeback.

The hope of Rovers making an incredible comeback was ended in the 72nd minute when Freebooters striker Success Edogan wrapped up his hat-trick with a tidy finish from inside the penalty area, the away side then made it 5-1 after Leon Hayes tucked away a penalty on the 82nd minute.

Rovers did manage to grab another goal before the final whistle when Kian Marah headed in a well delivered corner from Ryan Beale, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Freebooters were just to clinical in-front of goal. An impressive display from the Kilkenny side who were given a tough task of finding a way past Ashford Rovers as they fought right up until the final whistle but it’s Freebooters AFC who march on into the second round of the LFA Cup.

1. Pat Sammon,

2. Nathan Wynne, 3. Jonah Sweeney,

4. Daniel Rooney, 5. Eoghan Doyle, 6. Conor Diamond, 7. Tommy Quinn, 8. Nicky Diamond, 9. Oisin Hill, 10. Ryan Beale, 11. Kian Marah. Subs: Jaafar Ali for Daniel Rooney (73min), Luke Doran for Nicky Diamond (80min).

1. Jamie Reid,

2. Niall McEvoy, 3. Matt Zych, 4. Leon Hayes, 5. Jackson Oyd, 6. Jamie Holden,

7. Chris O Connor, 8. Jack Cornally, 9. Success Edogan, 10. Amedeo Pancott,

11. Fred Odano. Subs: Mario Moses for Amedeo Pancott (83min)

Dominic Lauchesse