Carrigaline still in the hunt for the U18 league title
Carrigaline United's Callum O'Leary is congratulated by Jack Mangan and Scott Connolly after scoring against Douglas Hall, in their U18 Premier League clash at Moneygourney. Picture: David Keane.
CARRIGALINE United traveled to Moneygourney and came away with all three points in the Daly Industrial Supplies U18 Premier League on St Patrick's morning.
Carrigaline remained in the hunt for the title as they have closed the gap on leaders College Corinthians to two points. However, Cors have two games in hand so it’s still all to play for in the coming weeks.
Carrig took an early lead when Callum O’Leary headed home after a good spell of pressure. The Hall had the game level in the 16th minute after Scott Scrimeour scored from close range.
Carrig restored their advantage in the 54th minute through Tommy Spooner and had to withstand some late Douglas pressure to insure they grabbed all three points.
Carrig started the game on the front foot and came close to scoring in the fourth minute, Daragh Mulshinock found space in Hall’s box, however, his free header sailed over the bar.
They had another glorious chance two minutes later when Aaron McCarthy made a great run down the right wing, he cut inside and unleashed a powerful effort, but was denied by a brilliant stop by goalkeeper Stephen O’Neill.
The visitors were rewarded for their early pressure, when they took the lead 1-0 in the 12th minute, Callum O’Leary got on the end of the man of the match Ben Crowley’s corner to power home his header from close range.
Carrig’s McCarthy was causing the home side’s back four all sorts of problems with his pace and he had a great chance to restore their lead in the 29th minute, he raced on to a slimline pass by Tommy Spooner, however, he was denied again by some excellent goalkeeping by O’Neill.
The home side came more into the game and could have taken the lead just before halftime when Aadarsh Simmathambi turned his man on the edge of the box, but it took a piece of brilliant defending by Carrig’s centre-back Crowley to get in a very timely tackle and clear the danger for his side.
The visitors regained the lead 2-1 nine minutes from the restart, Spooner raced on to a superb pass from O’Leary and he coolly stroked home past O’Neill. Carrig now hid their backs up and could have increased their lead five minutes later.
However, O’Neill had to make a brave save at the feet of Carrig’s Conor Varian when he was just about to strike the ball. The visitors kept looking for another goal that would have calm the nerves of their manager and Samuel Horgan came close but was denied by two good saves from O’Neill.
To give Hall credit they threw the kitchen sink at Carrig in the final ten minutes, but they held on for an important victory.
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