Waterloo rally to lift St Michael’s Cup against Los Zarcos
DELIGHT: Waterloo FC celebrate after winning the St. Michael's Cup, following their 3-1 victory over Los Zarcos. Picture: Barry Peelo.
Waterloo FC came from behind before running out convincing 3-1 winners to lift the St Michael’s Cup after a 3-1 victory over Los Zarcos at St Colman’s Park.
Trailing by a goal at the break, the Loo bossed the second 45 and in the end, were deserving winners in the overall scheme of things.
Getting the nod for the man-of-the-match accolade was the Loo’s Jack Homan, who worked like a Trojan in the engine room as well as get a superb second goal with a thumping header.
Both sides looked well up for the big occasion and after winning a corner in the early stage, Ronan O’Brien guided his effort narrowly over.
O’Brien then saw his cracking effort from a free kick, well held by Niall O’Connor before Hugh Linehan failed to get his foot through the ball with enough conviction to trouble O’Regan.
A ball into space from Alan O’Leary then set Muzi Vundhla up for a 50-50 race with the Loo keeper to win possession, Vundhla won that contest before crossing low for Hugh Linehan to tap home on 11 minutes.
For awhile then, the tie lost its earlier fluidity as both sides struggled to gain the upper hand until Alan O’Leary latched on to a ball over the top, but from an acute angle, he rifled his effort over.
A lovely move by Waterloo developed when Ronan O’Brien played it short for Liam O’Leary, who moved it on to David Cremin, but his flick into the path of the supporting O’Leary broke down as the Waterloo winger could not adjust his body enough to get a shot away in what was a favourable position.
Then, from Hugh Linehan’s delivery, Vundhla was unlucky to see his header go narrowly over at the other end.
Los Zarcos were awarded a free kick soon after and from the delivery, Alan O’Leary headed it on for Michael Murphy, who failed to get force with his strike on goal.
The final action in the first 45 then saw Vundhla drill over from Alan O’Leary’s assist.
The Loo came out in the second half with a noticeable spring to their step and when Ronan O’Brien collected from Liam O’Leary, following a quickly taken corner, he drilled narrowly wide.
A magnificent delivery then from O’Brien reached the in-rushing Scott Shine, but he glanced his header wide.
Waterloo were starting to gain more control of the contest now and were certainly enjoying more possession and it was no surprise to see it all square again when Ronan O’Brien’s delivery into the box from a free kick was headed down by Fionn Hall for Scott Shine to send an unstoppable strike, crashing into the net and restore parity in the 61st minute.
At the other end, Muzi Vundhla used his strength to shield the ball, but when he swivelled, his effort flew narrowly wide.
But, play shifted quickly again as the Loo gathered momentum and when Jack O’Keeffe played it inside to Scott Shine, his goal-bound effort was blocked by Simon Murphy.
Hugh Linehan did win cheap possession after that before setting off to force Conor O’Regan make a solid save.
Then, noticing Conor O’Regan out of position, Anthony Dennehy decided to go for the audacious option of trying to reach an unprotected target from distance, but his attempt went slightly off course in the end.
What a chance fell for Waterloo then – Liam O’Leary played in Scott Shine, but after slipping past Niall O’Connor, his effort from a narrow angle went agonisingly past the far post.
But, from Ronan O’Brien’s corner the Loo got their noses in front when Jack Homan rose to power his header deep into the far corner and make it 2-1 on 88.
Three minutes later, the contest was certainly over when a brilliant individual run from Liam O’Leary saw him slalom past a number of opponents before tapping home to make it 3-1 in the end.
Conor O’Regan, Shane O’Shea, Alan Shine, Fionn Hall, Sean Hannafin, Jack Homan, Liam O’Leary, Jack O’Keeffe, Scott Shine, Ronan O’Brien, David Cremin.
Dylan Murphy for David Cremin (61), Aaron Buckley for Jack O’Keeffe (75).
O’Connor, Conor Corkery, Steven Lyons, Pa Dineen, Joe Horan, Diarmuid Buckley, Muzi Vundhla, Neil Flahive, Anthony Dennehy, Hugh Linehan, Alan O’Leary.
Michael Murphy for Pa Dineen (39), Simon Murphy for Steven Lyons (56), Evan O’Sullivan for Conor Corkery (90), Adrian Sheehan for Joe Horgan (90), Patrick Kelleher for Diarmuid Buckley (90).
Jim Hennessy.
Ken O'Driscoll, Tony Thompson and Paul Bowdren.
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