Two games in Two weeks against Village Utd. One away from home in the cup last weekend and at home in the league this weekend. Here is how those games went:
AUL Premier Cup: Village United 2 – 1 Corkbeg
Corkbeg travelled to Silverheights Park to play Village United last Sunday morning in the Premier Cup.
It was Corkbeg who started the better of the two sides, and they nearly went one up after just two minutes. Corkbeg did go one up after 10 minutes, where the Beg worked the ball right up from their own box into their opponent’s in a matter of seconds. It started off with Ray Savage in the Beg goal, as his quick throw found the feet of Bobbi Donoghue, who in turn found Alan Horgan, who struck his effort into the roof of the net.
On the half hour mark, Village United had a free-kick excellently turned around the post by Savage. Chris Smith had a long-range effort hit the target, before Donoghue narrowly missed the target.
However, the home side equalised in the 37th minute. A long ball by Graham Cummins was taken down by Stephen O Donnell,who flicked the ball into the bottom corner. Just moments later, they got another. Another long ball broke the last line of defence, and the home side made it 2-1 following a tidy finish by Anthony Keniry.
Due to injuries and other reasons, the Beg’s second half team was different to the first half, with John Manning, David Hickman, Gavin Kelly, Dylan O Neill & Tariq Tynan all being introduced.
There was little to report on in the second half, with Village seeing out the game to a close.
AUL Premier Div –
Corkbeg 1-1 Village United
Having lost out to Village last week in the cup, Corkbeg were eager to get revenge and claim all 3 points on Saturday afternoon in Whitegate.
It was the home side who went closest, just 3 minutes in, as some initial great link up between Daragh O Mahony and Bobbi Donoghue, found the ball in the direction of Max Ahern, and he cleverly let the ball run through his legs to Jordan Ryan, who got an effort at goal, but a last-ditch tackle deflected the ball over for a corner. The resulting corner broke loose, with the ball at O Mahony’s feet, and he struck towards goal, as Dylan O Neill got a toe to it, but it went wide.
The Beg were well on top and should’ve been at least one up, with Keelan Kennedy having an effort on target from 25 yards. 15 minutes in, Corkbeg thought they had what looked like a certain penalty, but play was waved on and the resulting shot was put wide.
On the 18th minute, against the run of play, in what was Village’s only attempt on goal, they scored. A long ball was left bouncing in the middle of the park, and was picked up by Stephen O Donnell. He let loose and struck towards goal, when the ball took a wicked deflection and ended up in the top corner of the net – his second goal in 6 days against Corkbeg.
Unfortunately, for the rest of the half, neither team offered any real threat. This was until the last few moments of the first half, when O Mahony had an effort destined for the top corner deflected over at the last minute. It was one nil to the visitors at half time.
Corkbeg knew they had to be better in the second half, if they were to get anything out of the game. To be fair to the home side, it was a much improved second half display.
They got the ball moving and stretched the Village defence, with their keeper, Thomas Butler, having to be called into action on a couple of occasions to make some fine stops.
Village were looking to try see out the game, but eventually Corkbeg got the equaliser through substitute Jamie O Hanlon. A neat, tidy finish by O Hanlon into the bottom corner with about 20 minutes to go.
The Beg looked to push on for a winner, but unfortunately it did not come, which saw both sides take a point each. MOTM performance by Dylan O Neill, who worked tirelessly throughout the game.
Next week, Corkbeg will take on Los Zarcos in the Munster Junior Cup away from home, on Sunday, the 18th, at 10.45am.
Corkbeg XI: J Manning, K Murphy, C Cotter, K Kennedy, A Horgan, D O Neill, D O Mahony, J Ryan, M Ahern, B Donoghue & A Hogan
Subs: J O Hanlon for M Ahern (60).