Tom was captain for this Cup quarter final between Mooncoin and Ballinroad who finished the league season in fifth and sixth place respectively. The home team won five early corners in the opening ten minutes. Indeed it looked as if Aaron scored direct with a fantastic whipped ball from a corner that Ballinroad couldn’t deal with. If it was a goal no one in Suir Crescent could say for sure as the ball somehow appeared on the outside of the net.

At the other end a free kick was awarded on the edge of the box to Ballinroad which was dealt with well by James.
Soon after Tom played Kevin in who hit just wide of the far post.

James made a fantastic block on the line at the other end again as the game went from end to end. Ballinroad pressed on down their right side and their man on the wing cut inside and played a square ball to the edged of the box for their forward to bury it into the top of the net.

Mooncoin restarted the match and won a throw in in the right which Tom played into Kevin. His volley was saved after he controlled the ball well on his chest.

Ballinroad finished the half the stronger team with James clearing the ball out of our box. They hit a volley wide almost straight after and Fionn was forced to tip the ball over the bar after good work down the left side from the away team. Padraig didn’t miss a challenge all game defending in the centre in Tadhg’s absence.
Second half started much the same with an early shot in goal from Ballinroad.

Aaron, Cian and Tom worked tirelessly in midfield and all showed good skill, awareness and passing ability to drive us forward.

Kevin won a free kick on the left which Tom played onto Sean’s head but it went just wide of the post.
A brilliant solo run past two players down the right saw Killian make his way into the box before cracking a dipping shot off the crossbar. It rebounded to Sean on the edge of the box who shot over the bar under pressure from the defenders.

Cian crossed in from the right to Kevin who shot just wide. Viktor had his shot saved after another through ball from Tom. A volley was saved from Kevin a minute later as Mooncoin attacked in wave after wave.
Another whipped, dipping free from Tom was parried away by their goalie before being cleared. The ball was played up the pitch for Ballinroad to catch us on the break but the versatile Eoin mopped up having moved to right back from right midfield

A save from Fionn was required to keep us in the game late on as Ballinroad hit on the break again with all of the Mooncoin lads throwing everything forward. It wasn’t to be though and the tears from our lads showed what it meant to them at the end after giving it their all. A disappointing result but they can be proud of their performance. Many thanks to the boys for their commitment throughout the season.

Results haven’t always gone their way but they’ve grown resilient and developed a camaraderie as the year went on. Thanks also to Tadhg for turning up to support his teammates while missing the game through injury. Looking forward to next season already under floodlights and with VAR perhaps!

Thanks once again to our jersey sponsors at Dragonz Den for their support.