CMUL 2 Sligo/Leitrim 1
The Cavan Monaghan Underage League Under 16 representative team got their SFAI Inter County campaign off to a winning start last Sunday with a 2 v 1 victory of Sligo/Leitrim.
The CMUL started at a high tempo right from the first whistle and forced a number of errors from the opposition which led to a number of chances on goal the best of which seen the Sligo goalkeeper pull off a fine save from a Daniel De Marcos shot on the edge of the box to turn the ball wide for a corner. From the resulting corner Conor Smith picked up the ball on the edge of the box and cleverly beat two players before firing a shot across the face of the goal that somehow missed everyone in the six yard box. The first goal arrived halfway through the first half when a long range free kick from Jake Doyle Hayes beat the despairing dive of the keeper into the side net. Shortly after Eoghan Cooney had a great chance to double the lead when he picked up the ball centrally weaved his way past both centre backs and was unlucky to see his shot superbly saved by the keeper. The Sligo keeper pulled off another first class save to deny a long range free kick from Jason McBride from under his crossbar. With half time approaching the CMUL doubled their lead when a free kick from the right was again well saved by the Sligo keeper only for Thomas Edward Donohue to react first and slide the ball into the path of Luke Fortune to tap the ball into the empty net. HT: CMUL 2 V 0 Sligo/Leitrim.
The second half would start with Sligo best passage of play in the game but despite a lot of possession Abraham Dixon was relatively unchallenged in the CMUL goal and what did come his way was handled with ease. In front of him there had been some fine defending through the game from Shame McMahon, Adam Quirke and John Flood. With 20 minutes remaining Monaghan United’s Tyler O’Hanlon made his Inter County debut and nearly created a third when a fine run down the right wing seen him deliver a great cross that just eluded everyone in the six yard box. With 10 minutes to go Sligo got back into the game when some fine build up of play released their striker to finish sharply in the side netting. CMUL responded by introducing Kyle Plummer who was unlucky when his mazy run and cross into the box from the left wing did not end with the finish it deserved. FT: CMUL 2 V 1 Sligo/Leitirm.
SQUAD: Abraham Dixon, Tiarnan Reilly, John Flood, Thomas Geehan, Adam Quirke, Luke Fortune, Daniel De Marcos, Jake Doyle Hayes, Karl Cosgrove, Conor Smith, Shane McMahon, Thomas Edward Donohoe, Stephen Smith, Jason McBride, Gavin Daly, Eoghan Cooney, Tyler O’Hanlon, Dylan Murdock, Alpha Ike, Kyle Plummer. Coaches Olly Martin, Kieran Donnely, Ciaran Cassidy.
