Penalty drama as Douglas Hall beat Aisling Annacotty in Munster U17 quarter-final

Douglas Hall 1 

Aisling Annacotty 1 (Douglas win 5-4 on penalties) 

Douglas Hall are through to the Munster U17 semi-final after they beat Limerick side Aisling Annacotty in a penalty shootout at Moneygourney.

Douglas got a dream start to the game when they went in front in the second minute from the boot of Eoin McCarthy and they held on to their lead going into the break. However, in the second half Annacotty levelled the game in the 75th minute with a superb Ewan Colter finish.

Both sides cancelled each other for the remainder of the 90 minutes and extra time and the game was decided on penalties. The penalties were of a very high standard but the hosts' keeper Bosco Grau came up with the all-important save to send his side through.

The game was only two minutes old when the home side took the lead. Macdarragh Lynch whipped in an inch-perfect cross for McCarthy to rifle his effort high into the roof of the net.

Grau had to be alert in the 32nd minute when he had to get down well to push Luke O’Riordan’s powerful effort around the post. Lynch did well to get down the left wing in the 43rd minute and when his effort found Cillian Ross, it took another fine stop from the Annacotty netminder Jacob Carmody to deny him.

Hall started the second half on the front foot and Ross skipped his way down the right wing only to see his cross flash across the face of the box. They came very close to increasing their lead when Luke Murray found space on the edge of the box, but his powerful drive came crashing back off the bar. 

The game was level in the 75th minute. Annacotty’s Aaron Guerin played a delightful ball to the feet of Ewan Coulter and he opened his body to fire into the net. 

Both sides had half-chances to win the game in normal and extra time. 

However, it was Grau who became the hero with a big save in the penalty shootout to send Douglas into the semi-final.

DOUGLAS HALL: Bosco Grau, Jamie O’Halloran, Darragh O’Flaherty, Clayton Tait, Mark Keeshan, Finn Doyle, Cillian Ross, John Dollard-Young, Shane Barrett, Eoin McCarthy, Macdarragh Lynch.

Subs: Luke Murray for Dollard-Young (35), Vilson Sefolli for Ross (55).

AISLING ANNACOTTY: Jacob Carmody, Jack O’Donoghue, Kenneth Griffin, Louis Fitzgerald, Adi O’Meara, Patrick Angelo Edroso, Samuel Francis, Jack Cregan, Luke O’Riordan, Ewan Coulter, Aaron Guerin.

Subs: Daithi O’Carroll for Francis (76), Diego Lopez for Cregan (109).

Referee: Dave Finnegan.

Assistant Referees: Ricky Parker, Lucy O’Sullivan.