Joy for Rosslare and Campile
Rangers lift the Shield, while United take Cup honours
BALLYCULLANE Complex was the venue on Saturday last, where a very large crowd gathered to watch the last of this year’s Over35 soccer action, as the season came to a close with the Shield and Cup finals.
The St. Leonards club had the pitch in immaculate condition and the crowd was not left disappointed as there were plenty of goals on offer.
Shield final
First up was the Shield final where Forth Celtic took on Rosslare Rangers.
The first few minutes saw chances for both teams with some good saves made from both goal keepers.
The deadlock was broken ten minutes in when a terrific 25yard strike from Rosslare’s Paul Culleton rattled the underside of the crossbar and crossed the line giving the Forth keeper little chance.
Rosslare pushed hard for a second and had the ball in the net on two more occasions but they were both correctly ruled out for offside.
Anthony Hayes came closest for Forth but saw his shot cleared off the line by Paul Culleton.
At the stroke of half-time Forth were dealt another blow when they conceded a penalty which was finished well by Derek O’Connor to make it 2-0 to Rangers at half-time.
Forth started the brighter in the second half and pushed hard for a goal with Anthony Hayes hitting the crossbar.
The game really opened up as Forth applied the pressure in search of that crucial goal to bring them back into the game.
This left a lot of space in the Forth Celtic defence, and Rosslare always looked dangerous on the counter-attack.
The game was put beyond Forth Celtic when another counter-attack from Rosslare saw Oscar Pitt finish well to make it 3-0.
Rangers now looked comfortable and with ten minutes to go they made it 4-0 with Derek O’Connor dispatching his second from the penalty spot.
As the game approached the final few minutes Rosslare got in again with Gavin Morris making it 5-0.
The final whistle soon followed as Rosslare’s captain, and Man of the Match, Paul Culleton was presented with the Shield Cup (sponsored by Darren Walsh Carpentry) to the delight of the large Rosslare contingent who travelled to the game.
Cup final
The Cup final saw a repeat of last year’s final where Campile took on the current cup holders Taghmon.
Both teams brought a large following with them and the game turned out to be a real crowd pleaser with plenty of excitement to entertain both sets of supporters and indeed the neutrals in the crowd.
The early exchanges saw Campile come close to taking the lead with Owen Barron’s longrange effort sailing just wide.
Taghmon started to settle down as the game progressed and started to dominate possession in the midfield with Ciaran Kelly, Colin Bent and Shane Power causing problems for the Campile defence.
Taghmon’s spell of pressure soon paid off on the 20 minute mark when Colin Bent found himself on the edge of the box with time and space, which allowed him to blast a powerful shot past Campile’s netminder Brian Bowe.
In the keeper’s defence he could do little as he was wrong-footed when the ball took a slight deflection off a Campile defender.
Taghmon almost made it 2-0 when a snap-shot from the evergreen Jason McLoughlin went just over the bar.
Campile were in no mood to lie down however and levelled up affairs on 27 minutes when James Furlong capitalized on a loose ball at the back to fire home and make it 1-1.
With half-time approaching the deadlock was broken again, and it was Taghmon who went in front for the second time when a misplaced pass across the Campile back line was intercepted by Mick Murphy, who rifled a terrific shot from the edge of the box giving the Campile keeper no chance to make it 2-1 to Taghmon at half-time.
The second-half saw Campile start the stronger team with Taghmon sitting deep and looking to protect their one-goal lead.
This allowed Campile to create a lot more chances and bring the attacking trio of Tommy Quinn, Alan Meyler and Jim Wall much more into the game.
Taghmon’s defence was now getting tested regularly and their goalkeeper Ian Stafford was called upon to make some outstanding saves on more than one occasion.
It was beginning to look like it might not be Campile’s day as the relentless pressure being applied was defended gallantly by Taghmon’s defence led by their long time servant Ger Power.
With ten minutes remaining however the pressure paid off as Campile’s Jim Wall got on the end of a well floated cross to head home from close range and tie up the game for the second time.
The remaining few minutes saw Campile in the ascendancy but Taghmon held strong until the final whistle of the second-half sounded and both teams now faced extra-time.
Campile continued to dominate matters in extra-time and came closest when a thunder bolt from Derek O’Reilly rattled the Taghmon crossbar.
Taghmon almost took the lead when a dodgy back pass was pounced on but they saw their effort well saved by Brian Bowe.
As extra-time wore on both teams started to retreat in fear of conceding and with the full-time whistle coming, the inevitable penalty shootout was required to decide the 2018 Cup champions.
It looked ominous for Campile as they missed their second penalty but two misses in a row for Taghmon saw the advantage swing back to Campile.
Taghmon now needed to score their last penalty to stay in the contest but it was not to be as the shot sailed over the bar to the delight of the Campile following.
A very exciting finish to a great game of football saw Campile’s captain Anthony Lawlor lift the cup (sponsored by Anthony Rowe Windscreen) which was presented by the Dwyer family.