DSBL | Shamrocks sink the Seasiders again to bring U15 Martin McGee Cup back to Fatima
Shamrocks 3–2 Rock Celtic
Dundalk Schoolboys League U15 Martin McGee Cup final
Shamrocks took the U15 Martin McGee Cup back to Fatima after beating Rock Celtic in an entertaining final under the Bellew Park floodlights on Wednesday.
Barry Casey’s side became the first team to beat the Seasiders in a league game three weeks ago and they backed it up here with a well-deserved win that saw them come from behind on two occasions.
James O’Connor scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot, stroking his effort past Conor Maddy after Jessie Cumiskey clipped John Hodgers in the 18-yard box with five minutes of the second half played.
At that stage, it was 2–2 with the big crowd who braved the rain treated to an entertaining first half which saw Cronan McCabe’s Rock side hit the front twice, the opener coming after just five minutes.
Kaylem Casey’s rash tackle on Mark Leavy left referee Niall Minto with no option but to point to the penalty spot and the Seasiders midfielder dusted himself down to beat Sean Brown with a retaken penalty after the Shamrocks goalkeeper was harshly penalised for moving off his line to save the original effort.
Shamrocks responded with an equaliser eight minutes later when midfielder Lamar Okonkwo found space on the right of the Rock penalty area and his cross to the near post was tucked away by O’Connor.
Rock hit the front again less than two minutes later when the unfortunate Vincent Adejobi lost his footing on the greasy surface. That allowed Eddie Finnegan to take control and he picked out Brennan who made no mistake with a close-range header.
A tit-for-tat first half swung back Shamrocks’ way in the 24th minute when midfielder Aleksru Tugulea buried a low free-kick into the right-hand corner of Maddy’s net to leave it all square at the break.
Buoyed on by that, Shamrocks came out with a bounce in their step in the second half and winger Dean Peters had the Rock back-four on high alert every time he got the ball.
O’Connor’s spot-kick edged the Fatima side ahead for the first time in the game and they looked to ram home their advantage with Peters firing just off target with a drive which skipped off the wet turf.
Rock struggled to get going but midfielder Nathan Todd did test Brown with a long-range drive and substitute Benji Dada, who made a difference on the left flank, had a couple of half-hearted penalty appeals waved away by the officials.
O’Connor almost sealed it with five minutes to play when he collected a throw-in from Gareth O’Hare to cut in from the left and let fly but Maddy made a brilliant save to bat the ball to safety.
Time continued to tick away for the Rock but they thought they had forced extra-time in the dying seconds when centre-back Jai Akhal fired the ball past Brown but a raised flag saw the effort ruled out and Shamrocks held on to win the first of this season’s cup finals.
SHAMROCKS: Sean Brown, Vincent Adejobi, Gareth O’Hare, Kayla Casey, Jake Mackin, Aleksru Tugulea, Dean Peters, Lamar Okonkwo, James O’Connor, Sean Connolly, Sean Hodgers. Subs: Ben Gorman, Tiab Agumbiabe, Conor Callan, Jamie Joyce.
ROCK CELTIC: Conor Maddy, Joey O’Brien, Jai Akhal, Barra Duffy, Jessie Cumiskey, Cian Sheridan, Nathan Todd, Mark Leavy, Eddie Finnegan, Sean Gartland, Niall Brennan. Subs: Dillon Simpson, Evan Durnin, Benji Dada, Niall Leer, Dillon Cronin, Seb McGeough.
REFEREE: Niall Minto.
ASSISTANTS: Barry Cumiskey and Colm McConville.
DUNDALK SPORT MAN OF THE MATCH: Dean Peters (Shamrocks).
