Kildare Football Focus: Naas and Clonmullion win on penalties as Clane upset Athy

Karina Donnelly Senior Cup Quarter Final

Naas Utd 3

Suncroft 1

Naas win 3-1 on penalties AET

Suncroft travelled to Naas for the KDFL Senior Cup Quarter Final tie with both teams coming into the game on a decent run of form.

The Home side began brightly with Samson Ometeso going on a lovely run, he played a one two with Owen Moran before seeing his shot brilliantly blocked. Naas didnt have to wait long to open the scoring though as Ver Nolan swung in a set piece in the fourth minute, Suncroft only headed away as far as the edge of the box where Aaron Dunphy was perfectly positioned as he struck a superb volley straight into the top corner of the goal giving the Croft keeper Colin Farrell no chance.

Two minutes later Naas captain John Paul Higgins headed just over from another dangerous Nolan set piece. It was all the home side at this stage and another opportunity went begging as Dane Higgins struck wide after a fine pass from Paul Ometeso. Ometeso went close himself on fifteen minutes after a swift turn from Jamie Dunnes throw in saw him strike just over the bar.The away side were struggling to make their passes connect in the opening period of the game with the home side pressuring every touch and making life uncomfortable for the Suncroft midfield.

The 'Croft came close to equalising on the twenty minute mark when Keith Kinsella's corner was met by the head of Josh Lee who saw his header crash back of the post. Ben Kinsella was next to try his luck for Suncroft but saw his goal bound effort blocked by Naas centre half JP Higgins. Suncroft applied pressure for the remainder of the half without creating any clear cut opportunities while Naas always remained a threat on the counter with Dane Higgins pace out wide and Paul Omoteso always dangerous on the ball.

The second half picked up in a similar fashion to how the first ended with Suncroft unable to find a way through the Higgins marshalled Naas defence. Ben Kinsella had the first opportunity of the half, with fifty five minutes played, when Dylan Connolly found him coming in from the right but he failed to get an adequate connection on his effort. The Corft’s Kieran Sheedy looked like he had the equaliser when he found himself unmarked from a Kinsella corner but his header was excellently saved by Keith Higgins in the Naas goals.

Higgins was well positioned to stop a Niall Costigan effort from outside the box soon after as it began to look like Suncroft would never score. The visitors finally found the equalising goal with ten minutes remaining when a dangerous Kieran Sheedy free-kick was headed down by Liam Knight and Niall Flynn in the right place to apply the finishing touch from close range to level matters.

Neither team could find a winning goal in the remaining ten so the game went to extra time. With two sets of tired players at this point, there was little goalmouth action during extra time, the closest to a goal either side came was when Higgins stretched to tip away a Dylan Connolly cross just as it looked like Eoin Doyle was about to head it home.

After 110 mins of football in rising temperatures the game went to the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, which Naas ran out 5-4 winners. Suncroft will surely feel a little hard done by to come away with nothing from the game but it's Naas who march on to the semis feeling confident they can go all the way in the cup after getting through a tough tie here. 
The away side were served well on the day with strong performances from Connolly, Sheedy, Ryan Farrell and Paddy Flood. With Naas Utd served best from penalty saving match winner Keith Higgins in goals and the excellent Paul Omotesa in midfield.

Divisional Cup

Rathangan AFC 0
Clonmullion AFC 0

Clonmullion AFC win 7-6 on penalties AET

This Senior Division Cup quarter final was played out on a perfect surface in beautifully sunny conditions in Canal Road, Rathangan. Games between these two rivals always tend to be tight affairs and this one proved to be no different.

The visitors dominated possession early on in the game but it wasn’t until the fifteenth minute mark that they threatened Craig Shannon’s goals. Cody Mulhall expertly controlled a ball dropping out of the sky and almost in the same movement hit an overhead pass to the on rushing Lee Doyle who was brought down on the edge of the box by Tom Power.

Nathan Robinson stepped up and hit a curling dipping free kick which rebounded off the crossbar to Jodie Dillon who’s headed effort was expertly saved by keeper Shannon and he also denied Lee Day who hit the second rebound straight at him.
Shortly after Ross Lyons won a great 50/50 in midfield and he passed to Arun Doyle whose right footed effort was easily saved by keeper Michael Lawless.

Mark Hughes was giving an exhibition of distributing the ball from the back and his superb pass to Robinson allowed him the time and space to pick out Mulhall whose first time pass found Day running from deep but again Shannon pulled off a brilliant save.

Dean Fennessy’s influence on the game was growing all the time and his work almost paid dividends when he won the ball back out on the right and slipped the ball to Lee Doyle who dribbled past Dan Mulpeter and Tone Byrne and put Mulhall through and his low first time effort was saved by Shannon and the ball deflected into the path of Dillon who shot just wide.

The visitors thought they had made the breakthrough when the imperious Hughes hit a diagonal pass to Fennessy and his pass was volleyed to the back of the net by Lee Doyle but referee Eddie O Sullivan ruled it out for offside.

The Mull started the second half in the same manner as the first and after just a minute Connell and Robinson combined down the right and the full backs cross was headed over by Dillon.

Clonmullion’s next chance came with ten minutes gone in the second half when set piece specialist Robinson whipped in a great free kick to Dillon but his header flew just over. Fennessy continued to torment the Rathangan defence and when he latched on to a cross field pass from Hughes it looked as if he had been brought down for a penalty by Shannon but the referee adjudged it to be just outside the box.

Mulhall whipped in the free kick across the face of goal and Lee Doyle got on the end of it but the keeper parried it and Fennessy hit the rebound but Shannon again denied the visitors.

With 15 minutes left Mulhall fired a free kick across the box and Hughes headed the ball back into the danger zone and Robinson’s first time effort was again saved by Shannon.

Five minutes later Robinson slipped a quick free kick in between the two centre halves to Dean O'Sullivan Owens and he made no mistake only for his effort to be ruled offside.

With five minutes left on the clock Hughes stepped out of defence and played a lovely ball to Fennessy who threaded the needle to Owens who was through on goal but put his effort just wide. Fennell was next to try his luck when he slipped a great ball to Mulhall who rolled the ball to Owens but Shannon was not to be beaten and saved at the strikers feet.

Extra time had barely started when a long ball over the top from Tom Power dropped to Fennell but himself and Lawless seemed to get their calls mixed up and substitute Paul Lynch almost slipped in between them but Fennell recovered well to avert the danger. Fennell and Mulhall were next to combine down the left and when the latter passed to Lee Day he pulled his effort jut wide of the post. Hughes then came close just before half time of extra time when he got on the end of a Robinson corner but his header was just off target.

Then came the save of the game from the outstanding Shannon when Robinson took a quick free kick to Mulhall who’s excellent left footed curling effort looked destined for the bottom right hand corner but the keeper dived full length to fingertip the ball around the post.

The penalty shoot out was a tense affair as always but it was The Mull keeper Michael Lawless who was the hero this time saving two penalties including the fifth one which would have been the decisive one for Rathangan and also taking the seventh and winning penalty for Clonmullion.

Best for Rathangan were Tone Byrne, Jack Cannon, Iain and Arun Doyle up front Conlon and Lyons in the middle while Craig Shannon was outstanding in goals.

Best for the winners were the back four who were solid and were the launch pad for so many attacks, especially Hughes who controlled the game. Robinson and Day in midfield, Mulhall was always a danger up front while Fennessy’s tireless and unselfish work rate in the very hot conditions was fantastic. Keeper Lawless did what he had to do and in the end he was the hero.

Athy Town 0
Clane United FC 2

Clane United progressed the the semi finals of the Karina Donnelly Senior Cup on Friday night following their 2-0 victory over Athy Town at Aldridge Park. Both teams started the match well with Athy having slightly more possession in the early stages.
Athy had a chance to open the scoring with twenty minutes gone. The ball was played in from the right hand side but Murt Brennan shot over the bar.

Clane rallied well in the opening stages and scored through Andy Brogan when a ball was played in behind. Brogan made no mistake finishing into the bottom corner. It finished 1-0 to Clane at half time.

Clane started the better of the two sides at the start of the second half and had plenty of chances to double their lead but didn’t take them. Clane were then awarded a penalty around the hour mark when Eoghan Maguire was talking down in the box.

Mark Kelly stepped up for Clane but the Athy keeper saved to his right hand side.
With two minutes to go Killian Patchell pounced on a mistake by the Athy defence and he drove into the penalty area finishing into the bottom corner. A deserved victory for Clane in the end.

Best for Clane: Killian Patchell, Andy Brogan, Jack Kelly and Stephen Dunne. 
Best for the town on a poor night were Martin Brennan, Tyrone Delaney.

Coill Dubh AFC 2
Kilcullen AFC 1

The Dubh’s march on to the semi finals of the Karina Donnelly Senior Cup with a hard fought victory over kilcullen on Friday night at Cusack park.

The D were getting plenty of joy and on 20 minutes a pass from Mark Grace found Brady on the right wing beating his marker before sending in a delightful cross for Noah Byrne to control and finish into the top corner of the Kilcullen net.

The away side settled after that and began to create some chances. Their improved efforts were rewarded on 35 minutes when Keith Scanlon nodded a header to Paul Clifford who played a pass to Mark Wolfe in behind the back four and he showed good composure to give the keeper no chance 1-1

In the 43 minute Coill Dubh's Brady picking up the ball on the wing before switching play with an inch perfect pass to on-rushing Mark Grace on edge of thr box taking his man on near the endline to hit an unstoppable finish to Kilcullen net 2-1 at the break.

Kilcullen burst out of the traps in the second half with Mark Wolfe hitting the post after two minutes and Jason Keogh seeing a brilliant effort from outside the box tipped away from the top corner by the excellent Coill Dubh netminder.

Best for Kilcullen were Cian Byrne, Paul Clifford and prodical son Shane Higgins while for the winners the back five were solid all through the game. Mark Grace in midfield, 16-year-old Noah Byrne and Sean Hannon on the wing before being forced off with injury. Man of the Match who hasn't been in amongst goals lately but his work rate for his teammates is just incredible and two more assist tonight was Conor Brady outstanding on the night.

League Action

Kildare Town AFC 1
Ballycane Celtic FC 3

Ballycane made the short trip to Rathbridge Rd in glorious sunshine for the afternoon kick-off in the Senior Division.
Ballycane settled the quicker with Bubba Doyle and Mick Doheny looking very composed in the backline sniffing out any early Kildare threads. Callum O'Reilly, Noone and Larkin all combing well in midfield ,but just couldn't work a clear cut opportunity to trouble the Kildare goal. 

The breakthrough came for Ballycane on the half hour mark when Sam Allison was fouled in midfield, Bubba Doyle delivered an inch perfect pass to the boot of keelan Noone who applied a classy first time finish to break the deadlock.

Ballycane doubled their advantage moments later when the two O'Reillys combined Jake putting Callum through on goal but he was bundled over in the box  for a penalty kick.

Callum dusted himself off and converted from the spot with a clinical finish. 
Kildare  came out  in the second half in blistering form with Gazza leading the charge, with a great mazy run and applied a brilliant low drive finish  from just inside the eighteen yards box to pull one back for home side  in the opening minutes of the second half.

Ballycane bounced back almost immediately with the goal of the game, from 25 yards from Jake O'Reilly.
Best for Ballycane were Jake, Callum O'Reilly, Levis, O'Sullivan, Allison' 'Mc Donnell and Bubba Doyle.
Best for Kildare was Gazza.