Mallow United U13s Premier Division team travelled to a recently promoted Blarney for their first game of the
2017-2018 season. From the start it was a tight game with neither team getting much time on the ball. The Mallow midfield of Collins and Barrett worked hard but found themselves pushed back more often than not. A back four of Burke, O’Connell, O’ Keeffe and Buckley coped well with the Blarney attack.
Jamie O’Neill and Louis Hanover were constantly looking for openings on the wings. Cormac Dilworth worked hard to find an opening for Daniel Smith up front but chances were few. Denis Mulcahy did his bit in goal and coped well with the high ball.
At half time Mallow introduced Shane Cronin and Cormac Sullivan and started to push forward more. From a Jamie O’Neill free on the left Barrett flicked the ball on and Shane Cronin was on hand to finish. Mallow had to work hard to defend their 1-0 lead and Billy O’Keeffe and Alan O’Connell stood firm at the heart of the Mallow defence.
But with 5 mins remaining the Blarney winger drifted in from the left to equalize. Mallow’s heads did not drop and they passed the ball at pace trying to find an opening. With time running out Jerry Collins found Donnachadh Barrett and great vision allowed him to produce a defence splitting pass for Jamie O’Neill to volley home. A great result and hard earned 3 points.
Mallow Squad: Denis Mulcahy, Niall Burke, Alan O’Connell, Billy O’Keeffe, Corie Buckley, Jamie O’Neil, Donnchadh Barrett, Jerry Collins, Louis Hanover, Cormac Dilworth, Daniel Smith, Cormac O’Sullivan, Shane Cronin, Dominic Serafin and Kevin Kilmartin.
Location
O'Shea Park, Blarney
Comments --