College Corinthians had to go to penalties to beat Watergrasshill in Munster Junior Cup
The Watergrasshil United side that went down 1-4 on penalties against College Corrinthians after it was 2-2 to bow out of the Munster Junior Cup at home over the weekend.
But, what a superb performance it was from the AUL side.
They really put it up to an opponent that operates out of the Premier league in the MSL and over the full duration, did not look out of place at all.
With just minutes in, Sean Desmond got away on the left and after turning inside, he drilled goalwards off David Fox to win a corner.
Then, the impressive Ian O’Callaghan produced a mighty block to deny Richard Cronin an opportunity near goal.
The AUL side were doing very well against a strong wind and when a headed clearance arrived for Ben Nodwell, he drilled wide.
This was followed by a fine effort from Aaron Ricken when he too slammed wide of the target after a neat pass from Dylan McCarthy.
A long ball out of defence seemed to have troubled Corinthians’ keeper while challenging for possession with Nodwell and when it broke nicely for Desmond, he headed past White, but wide of the target.
A chance did fall for Corinthians though and when David O’Shaughnessy’s effort was blocked, Ian Tobin was in a good place when the loose ball arrived for him, but he scooped over from a favourable position.
Corinthians’ David Fox had to be sharp to deny Desmond an opportunity to pounce onto a through ball from Nodwell.
Stephen Fox almost found a way through minutes later, but a big block from Aaron Ricken saved the day for the AUL side.
With a strong breeze to their backs now, the Hill seemed to be imposing their game more on Corinthians and following a few early threats, Dylan McCarthy came close when his stinging effort cleared the Corinthians bar by just inches.
As the Hill looked in command, Corinthians’ Jack O’Brien found a way through, but some terrific goalkeeping from Spriggs ensured the tie would remain at parity.
A half chance came Corinthians way next when Daniel Meade fired straight at Spriggs before Meade was involved again minutes later when he headed into the arms of the Hill’s keeper.
But, on 75 minutes a lovely through ball from O’Callaghan fed Sean Desmond and after showing dogged determination, the striker found room enough to rifle an unstoppable effort into the roof of the Corinthians net to send the large Hill following into an ecstatic state.
Four minutes later, it was all square again when Padraig O’Brien picked Jack O’Brien out to dink over the head of Spriggs which in the end of the 90 minutes – forced the tie into extra time.
The first period was just four minutes in when Corinthians nosed in front and it arrived when failure by the Hill’s defence to clear their lines allowed Ian Nolan to help home his side’s second.
The Hill were trying their best now to claim an equaliser and Paddy O’Regan did come close when his fizzed effort whistled just inches over.
And Dylan Field had a great chance, but fired straight at Max White.
But, with seconds remaining, Corinthians failed to clear from a corner and it was Dylan Roche who pounced to send his effort crashing into the net to ensure the tie would now be decided by the penalty shoot-out.
But, from the spot, Corinthians got the better of the Hill and won out 4-1 in the end to reach the quarter-final stage.
Watergrasshill United: Aaron Spriggs, Dylan Roche, Chris Healy, Ian O’Callaghan, Aaron Ricken, Sean Horgan, Dylan McCarthy, Paddy O’Regan, Sean Desmond, Brendan Moloney and Ben Nodwell.
Subs: Sam Dennehy for Brendan Moloney (63), Dylan Field for Ben Nodwell (73), Andrew Desmond for Chris Healy (91), James Gowen for Dylan McCarthy (109).
College Corinthians: Max White, Sean Cantillon, Leo Barron, Ian Nolan, David Fox, Daniel Meade, David O’Shaughnessy, Stephen Fox, Jack O’Brien, Richard Cronin and Ian Tobin.
Subs: Padraig O’Brien for Ian Tobin (60), Fionn Molloy for David O’Shaughnessy (80), Richard O’Sullivan for David Fox (109), Joe Harte for Stephen Fox (108).
Referee: Richard O’Gorman.
Assistants: Tony Thompson and Steven Madine.
