Cork Youth League off to a winning start against Limerick
Diarmuid Kelly, Eli Murphy-McKeon and Darragh O'Flaherty, the Cork Youth League goalscorer in their Munster Inter-League game against Limerick Desmond League.
The Cork Youth League side made a winning defence of their Munster Inter-League title with a deserved 3-2 victory against Limerick Desmond League at Knockgriffin Park last Saturday evening.
Their next outing will now be in Limerick on November 14 when they lock horns with Limerick District League, who were beaten 2-1 by Clare District League also on Saturday.
Cork led at the break after College Corinthians' Eli Murphy-McEoin scored in the 29th minute after good work by Douglas Hall player Elvis Alade.
The Cork side increased their lead in the 54th minute when another Corinthians player Diarmuid Kelly’s super strike flew into the roof of the net. They went three up three minutes later when their captain Darragh O’Flaherty scored a superb free but two late goals from the Limerick side made it a nervy finish for the Cork supporters.
The game started with the Limerick side pressing Cork very high up, preventing them from controlling possession. As the half went on, Cork began to dominate the middle of the park and started to cause Limerick trouble out wide with the pace of Ryan Whelan, Elvis Alade and Shane Barrett.
They eventually broke the deadlock in the 29th when Alade’s low cross fell to Murphy-McKeon at the edge of the box, he then found a pocket of space for himself to curl a beautiful effort high into the net.
Cork came very close to increasing their lead four minutes later, Murphy-McKeon picked up the ball on the edge of the box, but this time his powerful effort rattled the post. The Rebels finished the half strongly with Alade, Diarmuid Kelly and Ryan Whelan all coming close to getting on the scoresheet.
Cork started the second half on the front foot and, in the 54th minute, a superb cross from Leeds player Barrett was met by centre forward Diarmuid Kelly and he powered his effort home to make it 2-0. They increased their lead 3-0 three minutes later, their captain and Douglas Hall player Darragh O’Flaherty curled a fantastic 25-yard free kick into the top corner.
Cork had a number of other opportunities to increase their lead but got caught on the break in the 80th minute when Limerick’s captain Dylan Buckley scored for his side to trail 3-1.
Limerick did score again deep into injury time when substitute Zach Bennis scored from a corner but Cork had done enough to win 3-2.
Cork manager Conor Murray was overall happy with his side’s performance, however, he knows that they still have plenty to work on.
“I'm very happy with our first outing, as the lads played excellent football at times against a very impressive Limerick Desmond side,” Conor said.
“We controlled most of the game and was very pleasing to go three up thanks to three fantastic goals.
“We did concede two goals late on which was disappointing but credit to Limerick for never giving up.
“We now have four weeks to prepare for our next game which will allow us time to improve in different areas,” Murray added.
Noel Cantwell, Mark Keeshan, Darragh O’Flaherty, Michael McCarthy, Domnic Sadowski, Charlie McCarthy, Shane Barrett, Eli Murphy-McKeon, Diarmuid Kelly, Ryan Whelan, Elvis Alade.
Liam Waters for Barrett (68), Ryan Cremin for Alade (68), Clayton Tait for Sadowski (70), Tom Collins for Whelan (70), Oscar Verdonschot for Charlie McCarthy (77).
Edward Lynch, Ben Hough, Cory Byrne, Cian Barry, John Ross-O’Reilly, Sean O’Flynn, Dylan Buckley, Luke Costello, Brooklyn Delahunty, Tiarman Kelly, Yuri-Vasyl Stashchak.
Gavin Rushe for Hough (55), Kacper Marek for Delahunty (65), Jer Mulvihill for Costello (68), Zach Bennis for Marek (78), Jack White for Byrne (78).
Dave Finnegan.
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