Penalty heartbreak for Douglas Hall as they lose out to St Kevin's in FAI Youth Cup semi final

Douglas Hall 0 

St Kevin's 0

(St Kevin's won 11-10 after ET and Pens) 

Douglas Hall suffered penalty heartbreak when they bowed out of the FAI Youth Cup at the semi final stage to Dublin side St Kevin's at a windy and wet Moneygourney last Sunday afternoon.

With nothing separating these two sides after 110 minutes of football and 22 penalties, the Hall lost out in the most cruelty fashion when their keeper Lucas Kennedy sent his spot kick over the bar and Idris Olafimihan made no mistake smashing his into the far corner of the net and sent St Kevin's in the final.

The home side will be bitterly disappointed as they shaded the game in both normal and extra time periods and had the better chances in front of goal. 

However, St Kevin's captain Logan O’Connell and his back line were compact and very organised and also their keeper Calvin Fennelly put in a man of a match display making some very impressive saves throughout the game.

Both sides started the game a little nervous and they were no real chances in the opening fifteen minutes as they were trying to adapt to the terrible weather conditions. 

However, the Hall’s Cian Corkery had the first sight of goal in the 21st minute when he pounced on a loose ball inside the box, but Calvin Fennelly came to the visitors rescue with a stunning save. 

They came close to breaking the deadlock three minutes later, again Corkery worked his way into the box, but Logan O’Connell recovered to make a superb tackle to divert the danger for the Dublin outfit. 

St Kevin's came more into the game and when IIya Bednakovs found space outside the box in the 37th minute he forced a good save from the Hall’s keeper Lucas Kennedy. 

Three minutes later the Hall’s Brian Linehan latched onto a loose ball inside the box, however, Fennelly rushed off his line to spread his body to make another great save.

It was the visitors who made a better start to the second half and when Thalaga Adetunji burst into the Hall box in the 50th minute, it took some brave goalkeeping by Kennedy to keep the game level. 

The Hall then started to be more dominant putting the Kevins back line under all sorts of pressure and when Corkery raced through on goal in the 81st minute, it took another superb stop by Fennelly to save his side.

With the tie finishing scoreless the game went into ten minutes of extra time to try decide a winner and see who goes through to the final. Again it was Douglas who started on the front foot and when Linehan released substitute Charlie O’Shea in the 96th minute, he made a strong run towards goal with only Fennelly to beat, however, the Kevins keeper stood tall to make another important save for his team.

To be fair, the home side, they threw the kitchen sink at Kevins in the second half of extra time to try break the deadlock and Corkery thought he scored in the 107th minute when he found space outside the box, but Fennelly somehow pushed his effort onto the post and away to safety.

With the contest finishing deadlocked it took 24 penalties to separate the sides with the Hall unfortunately missing their 11th spot kick and Kevin's converting their 12th to reach the final in the coming weeks.

DOUGLAS HALL: Lucas Kennedy, Oisin Twohig, Scott Moynihan, Eoin Kelly, Dara O’Brien, George Howard, Ben Heas, Brian Linehan, Louka Mohan, Cian Crokery, Harry Walsh.

Subs: Charlie O’Shea for Mohan (53), Robert O’Leary for Walsh (64), Finn Hagermark for Twohig (69).

ST KEVIN'S: Calvin Fennelly, Sean Curran, Luke Bolton, Logan O’Connell, Adetunji Olusanya, Luke O’Connor, Evan McGee, IIya Bednakovs, Thalaga Segoapa, Karl Hearns.

Sub; Callum Doolan for Hearns (73).

Referee: Mark Griffins (Kerry) Assistant Referees: Darren O’Rourke, Daniel McCannon (Kerry).