Victory for Tullamore Town U19s as club prepares for exciting weekend

 

Tullamore Town 3 Clongowes Wood 1

This top of the table clash in the CCFL U19 League was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests, with Tullamore relying on two late strikes to see off a battling Clongowes side in Leah Victoria Park last Saturday.
Tullamore was first to threaten when Daniel Crawley fired in a dangerous cross that was hooked clear by Raul Morar, and Crawley again went close when getting on the end of Mark Casey’s through ball, but his well-struck volley was held by Santiago Sanchez.
It was not all one way traffic, as Sam Messayeh fired over from distance while, at the other end, fine play by Gary Hutchinson and Shane Martino created an opening for Dillon Melia, but Morar got across to knock the ball behind.
Casey picked out Melia but his shot flew across the face of the goal and they again went close following a corner, with Ross Kinnarney heading narrowly over.
With Kinnarney and Diarmuid Carroll holding firm at the back, Tullamore continued to press, as Rory Condron found Niall Farrell, but his effort flashed wide, and then a break on the right by Martino saw him fire inches outside the far post.
As Clongowes hit back, John Byrne got on the end of a fine cross but his header was held by Patrick Donegan.
With 40 minutes on the clock, Crawley brought a good save from Sanchez and then Donegan did well to gather a dangerous Morar cross.
With minutes remaining in the first half, Martino was taken down on the edge of the area and Melia’s swerving free-kick just missed out the angle of bar and post, as the interval arrived with both teams tied.
On the resumption, a fine move involving Mark Casey, Gary Hutchinson and Shane Martino ended with Melia firing over, and then Niall Farrell got on the end of Crawley’s corner but his header was straight at the 'keeper.
Hutchinson and Martino again created danger down the right but Crawley failed to get enough purchase on his shot.
With 55 minutes gone, Tullamore should have hit the front when the visiting 'keeper dropped Matthew Hynds’ cross but Melia blasted the loose ball over, and then a surging run by Farrell saw Sanchez brilliantly turn his effort around the post. With 65 minutes gone, following a goalmouth melee, the referee pointed to the spot and Melia drove the penalty into the bottom right corner to put his side in front.
With Ted Conway and David Doyle introduced to the fray, Tullamore looked to finish the game off, but they were nearly rocked back on their heels when Hugh McMahon broke clear on the right, but Donegan got down superbly to keep his effort out.
Clongowes were not to be denied minutes later when the outstanding Raul Morar floated a free-kick into the top right corner to level the game.
With three minutes remaining, the home side regained the lead in spectacular fashion when Ted Conway crashed an unstoppable shot just inside the right post.
As the game moved deep into time added on, they put the game to bed when Gary Hutchinson pulled the ball back to Dillon Melia and he switched it to Matthew Hynds, who drove it high into the roof of the net.
For the home side, there was excellent contributions from Patrick Donegan, Gary Hutchinson, Niall Farrell and Dillon Melia, but the man of the match went to Tullamore’s outstanding central defender, Ross Kinnarney.

Tullamore Town: Patrick Donegan, Matthew Hynds, Diarmuid Carroll, Ross Kinnarney, Rory Condron, Shane Martino, Gary Hutchinson, Mark Casey, Niall Farrell, Daniel Crawley and Dillon Melia. Subs: Ted Conway, David Doyle and Eric Dolan.

Exciting Times
These art exciting times for Tullamore Town Football Club. This weekend they have three hugely important games to savour. First up are the U12s who travel to Limerick on Saturday to take on Ashling Annacotty in the quarter-final of the Danone Schoolboys FAI Cup.
On the same day, the U19s are in Kilkenny to play Freshford in the quarter-final of the Leinster Football Association Cup.

For the stay-at-home fans, there’s a mouth-watering fixture in prospect on Sunday, as the club’s senior team take on  Athlone side Willow Park in the sixth round of the Leinster Junior Cup (kick-off 2.30pm in Leah Victoria Park).