Douglas Hall beat Riverstown to claim Youth League U19 League cup title

Douglas Hall 3

Riverstown 2

Douglas Hall were crowned the Cork Youth League U19 League cup champions when they beat a gallant Riverstown by three goals to two at the Munster FA Turner's Cross last Friday night.

The sides were level 1-1 at half time.

Hall's Larry Butler’s effort was saved by the Riverstown keeper, however, Peter Horgan reacted first to give the Hall a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. Riverstown levelled the game in the 32st minute with a fine strike from Darragh Barrett after good work by Sean O’Keeffe.

The Hall restored their one goal advantage to lead 2-1 in the 76th minute following a neat finish by Aaron Murphy. 

They increased their to 3-1 nine minutes later when Tom Hickey scored a fine individual effort. 

Riverstown weren’t finished as Kevin Muamba reduced the deficit 3-2 in the 93rd minute, however, the goal came too late and the Hall held out to win the first domestic cup of the season.

Justin Banks, the Douglas Hall U19 manager, was delighted with his team and praised all the parents, club officials and their young supporters who all came to cheer on the boys.

“We are very proud of the team and it was wonderful see all their hard work pay off,” Justin said.

“It was lovely to see support in the stands from family and players who couldn’t take part due to 18 squad size limit.

“They are a great bunch of lads who train so hard while also preparing for upcoming leaving certificate in June.

“As coaches we are so proud of these young men and are delighted for their achievements,” Banks added.

It also proved to be a superb day for Lakewood Athletic and Leeside United in the JAKO IRELAND Munster Youth Cup, as both sides won their respective semi finals and they will now play one another in an all-Cork final in the coming weeks.

Lakewood were pitted away to Newmarket Celtic at Frank Healy Park, but the sides couldn’t be separated after a scoreless 90 minutes and extra time, so the game decided by a penalty shootout. 

The hero of the day was Lakewood’s keeper Cian Davis, as not only did he come up with big saves in normal time, he also made two huge saves in the penalty shootout.

Aodh Quinlivan, Lakewood Lakewood Athletic manager was very happy with his team and now looking forward to the final.

“This was a titanic cup tie between two committed teams who could not be separated after 90 minutes and extra-time,” Aodh said.

A Newmarket player was shown a red card midway through the first half, but Lakewood were also reduced to 10 players in the second half.

“In the penalty shoot-out, our keeper, Cian Davis, was the hero with two sensational saves and Cathal Ryan calmly netted the winning penalty for all Lakewood to joyously celebrate a famous victory."

Leeside also reached the final when they beat Limerick side Fairview Rangers by 2-1 victory at St Colman’s Park.

The Cork side were 2-0 up after 30 minutes with their goals coming from JJ Foley and James Grayem. 

Both sides had chances in the second half ,however, the visitors pulled a goal back deep into injury time when Chad Molloy scored from the penalty spot, but Leeside managed the game out to reach the final.

Leeside manager Conor Murray was full of praise for his side and they are all looking forward to an all Cork final.

“We are very happy with tonight's performance and were good value for our two goal lead at half time,” Conor said.

“We missed another few chances in the second half that kept them in the game and when they scored a penalty in injury time it led to a nervous last couple of minutes. 

"But, we held out and deserved to win the game and it's great to have an all-Cork final to look forward to in the coming weeks.

“I'm delighted to see Lakewood win also, they are a great team and should make for a great final,” Murray added.