Below par West sent packing in Cup tie

Date Published: 17-Nov-2009

IT WAS a weekend of shocks in the Umbro FAI Junior Cup as high flying West United and Athenry were sent packing by Colmanstown and Dynamo Blues.

Neither would have been fancied as winners as Colmanstown prop up the Premier League, while Blues haven’t exactly been setting the world alight since been relegated to the First Division.

However both came from behind in order to advance and for that they have been rewarded with a place in the Third Round draw.

FAI Junior Cup – Results

Colmanstown 3 – West United 2

Athenry 1 – Dynamo Blues 3

Mervue United 4 – East United 1

Renmore 2 – Oranbay 0 (AET)

After enduring over a 100 minutes of rather tedious action, the only highlight remaining seemed to be the penalty shootout as it looked like we would have some excitement finally.

However after an endurance test in which hitting the target seemed to be an unreasonable expectation, the closing stages produced a series of chances which sort of blocked out the memory of the poor affair that had passed for football earlier.

With the contest in extra time Brian McGuinness, who displayed a neat turn of foot on a number of occasions, cracked home a marvellous opener on 106 minutes and when he was upended in the box two minutes later by Dave Tully, another more than able performer Eoin Noone sent ‘keeper Ronan Heffernan the wrong way from the spot for a 2-0 advantage.

In fairness, stand in goalkeeper Heffernan was one of the reasons this tie made it to such a latter hour in the evening as a series of saves kept his side in the game as Renmore seriously pressed in the final minutes of normal time.

In the opening half, the only excitement was provided by Bernard Carbury as the big Renmore right full made it into the opposition area for a series of set pieces and he got on the end of four deliveries with the post denying him on 12 minutes.

At the other end, Niall Crossby showed his agility when turning a cracking John Sullivan volley around the post on 26 minutes.

In the second half, the younger Oranbay side struggled to gain any reasonable possession as Noone, McHugh, Kilroy and McGuinness ran the show for the home side. However Remore were not as progressive in the finishing stakes as Lavery and Tully shored up the visitors’ rearguard.

Heffernan’s smart save to deny Kilroy in the final minute endured further pleasure for those on the sideline, but in extra time McGuinness and Noone settled a contest that was enjoyable for the honest efforts of the protagonists and after all it is the players who have to be satisfied by their exploits.

A round up of all the matches and reports on the weekend’s league fixtures are on pages 28 & 29 of this week’s Sentinel