U18 DIV1A – YOUGHAL UNITED 2-2 CORKBEG
Corkbeg made the journey down to Youghal on Saturday afternoon, in what was to be a close encounter between the two sides.
Youghal started the better of the two sides and could’ve been 4 or 5 goals up, but for John Manning (pictured) in the Corkbeg goal, who was like a concrete wall in net for the Beg, making great saves on numerous of occasions. However, Youghal did open the scoring on twenty minutes. Youghal worked the ball brilliantly down the left hand side before Youghal’s number 7 beat Cian Maguire, Christophe Riff and David Hickman before striking the ball to produce a great stop from John, but unfortunately the Youghal striker was on hand to blast home the rebound. On twenty eight minutes, Youghal doubled their lead with a well worked move, which ended up with Youghal’s winger finishing the move with a left foot strike which beat John Manning.
Although it was a dominant display from Youghal up until the interval, Corkbeg did threaten at times with Cian Keohane & Killian O Driscoll finding space, for Gift, Cob, Josh Leahy & Sam Murphy all get efforts away at goal.
The half time whistle blew and honestly the Beg were happy to hear it after a poor first half performance. However the Corkbeg team that took to the pitch for the second half, were a completely different team.
On the forty-seventh minute Sean Caroll was introduced for Cob, who in fairness didn’t stop working all game. Sean came into the game with full effect as he was making the Youghal defense work hard each time he attacked. Corkbeg started the second half very well and were unlucky not to have scored on the fifty-seventh minute, after great determination play by Cian Keohane saw himself win the ball back, who set up a Josh Leahy header, but unfortunately for the Corkbeg striker his effort was somehow kept out by the Youghal keeper, to keep Youghal’s two goal advantage intact. A Killian O Driscoll corner was cleared to the edge of the 18 yard box on sixty three minutes , where David Hickman’s effort hit the top corner to make it 2-1. This goal came at a great time and Corkbeg drove on from here.
Corkbeg were the team on top however the back four of Jay Wilson, Christophe Riff, David Hickman & Cian Maguire were all superb in the second half when called upon. Finally on seventy minutes Corkbeg’s hard work was rewarded, as a great delivery from Cian Keohane, was met by well and was put into the back of the net by actually we aren’t quite sure who met the ball – however, it was either one of the two red heads, Josh Leahy or Sam Murphy. I’m sure they won’t argue over who scored. With twenty minutes left, Corkbeg pushed on in search of a winner, however there wasn’t a winner to be found for Corkbeg and in fact there wasn’t a winner for either team, so the game ended in a draw.
A brilliant second half performance from the lads, seen them deservedly pick up a hard fought point away from home. Corkbeg travel to Castlelyons next Saturday where they’ll take on Castlebridge at 2pm.
Corkbeg Team: John Manning (C), Cian Maguire, Christophe Riff, David Hickman, Jay Wilson, Killian O Driscoll, Cian Keohane, Gift O Biwuru, Conor O Brien, Josh Leahy & Sam Murphy.
Corkbeg substitutions: Sean Caroll replacing Conor O Brien
Corkbeg Unused Subs: Daniel Murray & Sean Deasy