Blarney withstand a four-goal Passage comeback to win a terrific Sean Williams Cup final

Passage 4 

Blarney United 5

What a Sean Williams U18 Cup final we witnessed at Castletreasure last Friday night, nine goals, end-to-end action and a dramatic 5-4 victory for Blarney United over a very gallant Passage in what was real heart-stopping contest.

This cup is named after former College Corinthians player, coach and committee member the late Sean Williams, and it was a fitting tribute to him to see so many of his friends in the club at the final, however, more importantly his mother Joan and son Darragh were there to present the trophy and medals after the game.

It was Blarney who raced into a two goal lead through Darragh McGuire in the opening 20 minutes. 

Even though they were reduced to ten men Blarney added two more goals from Sean O’Keeffe and the man of the match Jayden Gahan to lead 4-0 at half time.

Gahan increased Blarney’s lead 5-0 in the 53rd minute and it looked like the contest was finished, however, Passage had other ideas. 

They pulled a goal back in the 67th minute through Rhys Looney and when Hugo Recio scored in the 79th minute to reduce the deficit 5-2 it was game on. 

Passage added a third five minutes later through Aidan O’Connor and when Recio added his second of the game in injury time, their comeback was nearly complete but just ran out of time to lose a extraordinary contest by five goals to four.

John O’Sullivan the Blarney manager was thrilled with his team’s performance and also praised Passage for making an incredible comeback.

“Any match between these two teams is a thriller, full of goals and incidents and this was no different,” John said.

“We seemed comfortable at 5-0, but a great fight back from Passage meant the game went right down to the wire.

“Great performances across the pitch but particularly from man of the match Jayden with two goals, Darragh with another brace and Sean with a clinical finish for our other goal.

“A great end to the season, us coaches and club are very proud of the lads and best wishes from Blarney United to Thomas O’Flaherty the player from Passage who was taken from the pitch by ambulance, hope he makes a speedy recovery,” O’Sullivan added.

The Passage manager Ivan Bevan although disappointed with the result took time to congratulate Blarney and praise his own player’s.

“A tough way to end our journey as a group, as some of us are together since they were seven years of age,” Ivan said.

“To be fair, Blarney were the better side on the night and congratulations to them.

“Also, a special thanks to the coaches Colin, Jack and Cian we are all proud of our group all season and it was personal pleasure to be part of,” Bevan added.

PASSAGE: Diarmuid Buckley, Ben Sullivan, Jack O Herlihy, Tom McCarthy, Alex Meagher , Farhan Faysal Alsteif, Thomas O Flaherty, Hugo Recio, Eoin Morrison, Rhys Looney, Dylan Bevan.

Subs: Adain O’Connor for O’Flaherty (28), Lee Maher-O’Donovan for O’Herlihy (ht), David Akar for Sullivan (54), Moussa Al Steif for Morrison (60), Jack McMahon for McCarthy (75).

BLARNEY UNITED: David McCabe, Emmet O'Callaghan, Alex Walsh, Henry O'Sullivan, Darragh Gilmartin, Josh Lynch, Sean O'Keeffe, Sean Kennedy, Jayden Gahan, Darragh Maguire, Darragh Cronin.

Subs: Adam O’Mahony for Maguire (46), Calum McSweeney for Walsh (62), Conor Daly for Cronin (72), Joel Abusomwan for Gahan (85).

Referee: John Cotter.

Assistant Referee’s: Timmy Kelleher, Rickey Parker.