City Wanderers bow out of the Munster Junior Cup on penalties
City Wanderers FC who bowed out of the Munster Junior Cup after going down 0-3 on penalties following a 4-4 draw against Moneygall FC at the MTU.
But, it has to be said that some atrocious defending led to Wanderers’ own downfall as Moneygall took complete advantage of some of the goals that were more or less gifted to them.
The first proof of this happened after just four minutes in when a bread-and-butter low cross found its way into the box where the unmarked Jack Lee failed to make contact, but when it arrived for Sean Moroney who was also unattended inside the box, he just rifled it home without too much bother.
Following a nice passage of play - Fintan O’Leary helped on to Arseni Lamonov who picked out Shahzad Jehan to force Bentancourt into making a solid save from his angled effort.
And when David Reardan found Jehan inside, the winger failed to get his shot away with conviction.
When Moneygall’s Jack Lee saw his inswinger from a corner narrowly swerve past the far post, what a chance fell for Wanderers at the other end.
James O’Sullivan won good possession around the centre before embarking on a strong run.
He then looked up and picked out the unmarked Arseni Lamonov who somehow missed a gilt-edge chance when he fired straight at Bentancourt from just yards out.
A lovely through ball for Eric Marah looked measured for Jehan, but Bentancourt was swiftly off his line to make the 50-50 work in his favour.
Wanderers were enjoying good possession now and when Jehan’s cross had just too much on it for the in-rushing Reardan, Eric Marah’s effort to curl one into the far corner, came off a defender before going out for a corner.
But, the host’s perseverance paid off when a lovely ball from Eric Marah found Arseni Lamonov and when his effort was pushed away by the Moneygall keeper, David Reardan was on hand to slam the equaliser home on 32 minutes.
Three minutes later, Moneygall nosed in front once again when the Wanderers defence failed to deal with Sean Moroney’s cross and when Jack Lee’s header came back off Wanderers’ Eoin Walsh, Kevin Fitzgerald had time to pounce on to the broken ball before picking his spot to make it 2-1 to Moneygall.
Wanderers almost restored parity straight away, but when a lovely ball from Marah found Jehan, he rifled agonisingly wide of the far post.
The second half commenced with some hustle and bustle that lasted for around ten minutes until Nial Maher got away from his marker down the right flank before seeing his intended cross for Jack Lee cut out by the quick reaction of Eoin Walsh.
A half chance then fell for David Reardan, but he fired over from the edge of the box.
After taking a steadying touch as well as noticing Bentancourt off his line, Eric Marah’s audacious effort to dink over the Moneygall keeper just failed to come off.
But, Moneygall nosed further in front when slack defending handed Jack O’Brien the opportunity to pick his spot and make it 3-1 on 77.
Wanderers’ keeper was brought into action soon after when he had to produce a big block from Lee.
But, from a corner, Wanderers’ Lamonov was on hand to force the ball over the line to reduce the arrears on 71.
A great run from Lamonov saw him cut inside before firing low past a helpless Moneygall keeper to make it honours even on 77.
Wanderers had the bit between their teeth now and actually went in front when Shahzad Jehan slammed home to hand the hosts the lead for the first time in the match.
But, just as you thought the tie was wrapped up, further slack defending in the Wanderers defence allowed Nial Maher leap unattended to power his free header home and force the tie into extra time.
And when extra time failed to produce a winner, Moneygall came out on top 3-0 in the penalty shoot-out.
City Wanderers: Eoin Walsh, Filip Rzymek, Colm Pearson, Jake Robbinson, James O’Sullivan, Fintan O’Leary, David Reardan, Charley Grainger, Arseni Lamonov, Eric Marah and Shahzad Jehan.
Subs: Kevin Sheehan for Charley Grainger (58).
Moneygall FC: Camico Bentancourt, Dylan Maher, Michael Ryan, Cameron Fleming, Cian McLoughlin, Gearoid Larkin, Jack O’Brien, Kevin Fitzgerald, Jack Lee, Nial Maher and Sean Moroney.
Subs: Thomas Sheedy for Jack Lee (75), Dara Lee for Sean Moroney (96), William Jones for Nial Maher (105).
Referee: Paul O’Sullivan.
Assistants: Robert Brosnan and Vlastimir Albert.
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