Penalty joy for saints
ST. LEONARDS captured the Neil O’Sullivan Cup for a third time when edging out Rosslare Rangers on penalties after a titanic tussle in Ferrycarrig Park on Sunday.
Sam Wall confidently converted the winning spot-kick to kick-start the celebrations, while goalkeeper Micheál Ryan also played his part, pulling off a fine save in the shoot-out.
It’s the second year in succession that Rangers have lost out in the same manner at the venue, having succumbed to Tombrack United on spot-kicks in the Premier Division promotion/ relegation play-off at the tail end of last season.
Rangers were hoping to make it a double on the day, after their second string had won the Billy Browne Cup earlier in the afternoon, but it wasn’t to be with St. Leonards making up for their failure to gain promotion to the top flight after promising so much.
The eventual winners were missing the services of their talisman Seán ‘Mini’ Ryan through injury, although the striker, who has hit 30 goals this season and was named Division 1 Player of the Year, did make a cameo appearance, coming on at the death and successfully converting from twelve yards in the shoot-out.
Any team would miss a player of that calibre but they still looked a threat going forward and Sam Wall was first to try his luck on five minutes, collecting a pass from Páraic Conway and seeing his long-range effort clawed around the post by goalkeeper Steven Cogley.
Rangers had their moments too in an extremely tight first-half, with Robert Cousins firing over the top in the 31st minute after Aaron Kehoe’s cross had been flicked into his path by Aaron Goff.
Gearóid Byrne was next to have a sight of goal for Rangers, but he dragged a shot wide of the left post after Niall Walsh had headed a Paul Culleton free-kick into his path, while at the other end Eoin Ryan skipped past a couple of challenges but his strike from the edge of the area fizzed wide of the post.
Both sides continued to battle as if their lives depended on it after the interval, with Rangers threatening in the 58th minute when Robert Cousins ran on to a Lee Donohue pass and whipped a delivery across the face of goal, which just needed a touch to divert it to the net.
The introduction of Adrian and Mathy Flynn added a bit of impetus to the St. Leonards attack and, shortly after entering the fray, the former gathered and turned well but his shot was well off target.
Rangers went agonisingly close to making the breakthrough with 62 minutes on the clock, when Mark Furlong cushioned a header into the path of Aaron Kehoe, and his powerful first-time strike came back off the post.
A few hearts skipped a beat in the Rangers defence as the game ticked into the final ten minutes when Kenneth Cahill got on the end of Adrian Redmond’s cross but saw his shot blocked and when the ball fell to the feet off Matty Flynn he skewed the chance wide.
Rosslare Rangers pressed forward incessantly in the first period of extra-time, but the St. Leonards defence, superbly marshalled by man of the man Jack Burford, held firm.
Neither side created anything of note in the second period of extra-time so it was left to penalties to decide the destination of the cup.
With the shoot-out tied at 2-2, Micheál Ryan got down well to his right to deny substitute Shane Pettit from twelve yards, and when the otherwise excellent Niall Walsh blazed his spot-kick over the bar, Sam Wall made no mistake to win it for the saints.
ST. LEONARDS: Micheál Ryan, Niall Molloy, James Redmond, Jack Burford (capt.), Adrian Redmond, Jack Culleton, Liam Dillon, Sam Wall, Eoin Ryan, Kenneth Cahill, Páraic Conway. Subs. - Adrian
Flynn for E. Ryan (55), Matty Flynn for Molloy (55), Seán Ryan for Dillon (109), also Aaron Murphy, Donal Kiely, Martin Fitzharris, Jamie Cooney.
ROSSLARE RANGERS: Steven Cogley, Barry Quirke, Niall Walsh, Conor O’Reilly, Paul Culleton, Aaron Kehoe, Gearóid Byrne (capt.), Lee Donohue, Aaron Goff, Mark Furlong, Robert Cousins. Subs. - Tiarnan Rossiter for Donohue (66), Ciarán Heffernan for Cousins (82), Daire Heffernan for Culleton (87), Shane Pettit for Kehoe (100), also David Wickham, Seán Stewart, Lee Devereux.
REFEREE: Nicholas Boland. Assistant referees: Anthony Tobin and Niall Whelan. Fourth official: Brendan O’Brien.