AUL: Cathedral Celtic go the extra yard against UCC to reach AOH Cup semi

Cathedral Celtic 2 UCC 1 (aet)

JOHN Corcoran’s terrific finish midways through the first period of extra time booked Cathedral Celtic’s ticket in the quarter-final of the AOH Cup after a victory over UCC at the Mayfield Community School over the weekend.

The action was full of exuberance from the off and from Jake Mallon’s free kick Eoghan Heaney just failed to get a touch.

And when Patrick Keyes’ corner was just too high for Dominick Bolster, John Corcoran gathered from Robbie Cunningham’s diagonal delivery before skewing wide of the target.

A Cathedral free kick followed and from Cunningham’s delivery, Rob Rourke headed wide, but when Liam Burke was fouled inside the box, Michael Connolly drilled home from the spot to hand the students the advantage on 13 minutes.

Derek Heaphy won good possession before laying it off to Cian Madden whose goal-bound effort came off a defender for a corner.

From the resultant corner, Garuba headed wide near the far post.

John Corcoran did well to get the better of his marker, but when he crossed low into the box, no support followed through.

A great chance fell for Cathedral after that when Cian Madden found Corcoran in a good position, but after turning to control, the Cathedral striker drilled narrowly wide.

Cathedral were certainly edging the contest at this point and it took a smart low save from Eoin O’Donnell to deal with Dale Dalton’s firmly struck effort.

Minutes later; Eoghan Heaney advanced for a free kick and from Jake Mallon’s corner, he headed over while unattended near the far post.

When play shifted to the other end, a terrific ball from Cian Madden reached the in-rushing John Corcoran whose effort had goal written all over it until Eoin O’Donnell produced a sensational save at the expense of a corner.

But it was all square once again when Derek Heaphy rifled home from the spot following a foul on Cian Madden inside the box in the 38th minute.

Then, with just minutes remaining to the half, Madden found Corcoran once again who guided wide with his low effort.

The opening minutes of the second half were full of vibrance with Conor Kavanagh failing to get force on his header from a free kick and after defending from another set-piece, Cathedral broke with pace as Dale Dalton made Eoin O’Donnell work to save from his angled effort.

And after a terrific free kick from John Corcoran soared narrowly over, Jake Mallon’s free-kick into the box broke for Stephen Bradfield who struck the side-netting with his effort.

The students struggled to clear their lines from a corner after that and were lucky to see Darren Heaphy’s low-effort scream narrowly past the butt of the upright.

What a chance though fell for the students then when from the break, Stephen Bradfield looked like a cert to get a second for the students, but Jordan O’Connor pulled off a superb block to deny the winger.

Following a corner then, Conor Kavanagh saw his first-time effort narrowly clear the bar from a narrow angle.

Then, a driving run from Bradfield saw him skip past two defenders before he fired straight at Jordan O’Connor.

Play soon switched to the other end and when Michael Peters forced Eoin O’Donnell to push out for a corner, Rob Rourke headed narrowly wide from the resultant set-piece.

Then, Dale Dalton looked like he had got the winner for Cathedral, but Danny Bullman was in the right place to clammer back and hook off the line in the nick of time.

But when the contest was forced into extra time, the decisive moment arrived when John Corcoran turned before rifling an unstoppable effort into the top corner for game, set and match to Cathedral Celtic on 96 minutes.

CELTIC: Jordon O’Connor, Robbie Cunningham, Colm McManaman, Amidu Garuba, Johnny Sullivan, Rob Rourke, Cian Madden, Derek Heaphy, Michael Peters, John Corcoran, Dale Dalton.

Sub: Darren Heaphy for Amidu Garuba (half-time).

UCC: Eoin O’Donnell, Jamie Keniry, Jake Mallon, Dominick Bolster, Eoghan Heaney, Brian Boyd, Liam Burke, Mark O’Leary, Michael Connolly, Conor Kavanagh, Patrick Keyes.

Subs: Stephen Bradfield for Michael Connolly (55), Danny Bullman for Mark O’Leary (60), Malachy Harte for Liam Burke (68), Seb O’Donovan for Michael Peters (105).

Referee: Richard O’Gorman.