Unlucky 13s

Match report from Declan Gill

It was a proverbial game of 2 halves on Monday Night as a spirited Lisnagry team went down fighting to Newport U13s.

Playing into a stiff breeze that would make the scoring difficult at a British Open, the Shannonsiders were slow out of the blocks and conceded an early own goal .

Gradually growing in confidence, Lisnagry began to threaten with Allen close on a few occasions.

However Newport were the more clinical and the half ended with the home side 3 up - maximising all of their opportunities.

The second half was an entirely different story with a sideline rumour that Co Manager Dan “The Man” Hogan had made an interval phone call to Fairview seeking Dave “The Book” Walshes advice on how to take best advantage of the wind.

Whatever page of the manual Walsh read to Hogan worked with the maroon and blues pummelling a resolute Newport defense for almost the entire second period with exciting new Brazilian signing Gabri slotting home in the 51st minute.

Then an extraordinary period of Lisnagry pressure ensued with an incredible 49 corner kicks conceded by an increasingly desperate Newport defense - an U13 LSDL record. In fact at one stage the away substitutes were employed by Hogan to manually retrieve ball after ball from the bottom of the adjoining steep hill as Newport cannoned their clearances in the general direction of Rearcross. Despite multiple yellow cards for time wasting, the tactics worked and Newport eventually saw out a 4-1 victory.

Lots of positives for the Lisnagry boys however - they will certainly as keen observer Ivan Coughlan remarked “come on for the run” and gained valuable experience for the future - playing 11 a side on a full sized pitch on a windy day officiated by a referee whose Granny came from Killoscully.

Squad: Hourigan, Clifford, Butler, T Ryan, Flannery, C Ryan, Walsh, Gabri, Gill, Allen, B Ryan, Cullen-Cinneide, O’Neill, Hogan, Coughlan.

Management: D Hogan