Super sub Steven Holmes makes the difference as Lakewood beat Rockmount in vital U17 League one game

Lakewood Athletic 4 

Rockmount 1

LAKEWOOD dented Rockmount’s Daly Industrial Supplies U17 League 1 title chances when they defeated them by four goals to one at the Lakewood Sports Complex last Wednesday night.

Both sides went in at the half time break level 0-0 with the goalkeepers from both sides in top form in the first half.

Rockmount took the lead 1-0 ten minutes after the restart through Kilian Tabb, however, Lakewood’s substitute Steven Holmes put in a man of the match display when he came on for the second half by grabbing a brace of goals and an assist for Daniel Nolan to score. 

Karim Fonseca sealed all three points for the home team in the closing few minutes of the game with a smart finish to seal the deal.

Although they lost on the night, the title is still in Rockmount’s own hands, as they lie four points behind leaders Passage.

They will play Blarney United at home tonight and then play Passage at Rockmount Park next week and two wins in those two games will give them the title, however, if they drop any points from these two big games it will be Passage that will win the title.

Steven Holmes

Both sides started this game a little nervous as there was a lot at stake and playing on the grass surface certainly didn’t help matters as the players found it to control the ball on the rock hard surface. 

Lakewood’s captain Daniel Kirstein had the first sight of goal in the 14th minute when a Cillian Fitzgerald free kick found him free at the far post, but Rockmount’s keeper Dean Morgan made a smart save. 

They came close again two minutes later, this time Adam O’Mahony squared a ball for Cillian Fitzgerald, but again Morgan somehow got down to his left to push his effort around the post. 

The visitors started to come more into the game and had a very decent chance to make the breakthrough, Conor O’Mullane whipped in a wonderful delivery for Niall Feaheny to get head to, however, Kuba Craston got a strong hand to his effort to make a fine save. 

Both sides didn’t create much goalmouth action in the remainder of the half for the game to remain scoreless at halftime.

It was Rockmount who took the lead 1-0 ten minutes from the restart, Jamie McAuliffe found Killian Tabb on the edge of the box and his powerful effort struck the back of the net. 

The game was level 1-1 two minutes later, Steven Homes raced down the right wing, he then sent in a pinpoint cross for the unmarked Daniel Nolan to head into the roof of the net. 

Fifteen year old Homes was causing Rockmount all sorts of problems with his electric pace and he showed he also had good ball control when he got on the end of a Nolan cross to volley home to give Lakewood a 2-1 lead in the 71st minute. 

He scored his second goal and Lakewood’s third eight minutes later, when he raced onto a Karim Fonseca through ball to give Morgan no chance in the Rockmount goal to lead 3-1. 

To be fair, Rockmount kept pressing to try get back in the game and came close a couple of times but was denied by Craston in the Lakewood goal. 

However, they got caught on the break with two minutes remaining in the game, Fonseca raced onto a ball over the top by Eathan Donovan and he coolly slotted home to seal all three points and win out 4-1.

LAKEWOOD ATHLETIC: Kuba Craston , Luke Guerin , James Kelleher, Elliot Fitzgerald, Thomas Strafren, Daniel Kirstein, Karim Fonseca, Cillian Fitzgerald, Daniel Nolan, Eathan Donovan, Adam O’Mahony.

Subs: Steven Homes for Guerin (ht), Ben Doyle for Strafren (60).

ROCKMOUNT: Dean Morgan, Adam O’Brien, Oisin McCarthy, Ronan Power, Shane O’Callaghan, Niall Feaheny, Conor O’Mallane, Conor Harrington, Jamie McAuliffe, Ben O’Connell, Sean McCarthy.

Subs: Killian Tabb for Sean McCarthy (49), Donagh O’Brien for Oisin McCarthy (62), Alex Harrington for Power (70).

Referee: Dave Finnegan.