Under-17 CYL Div2
1st October 2022 at Ballyadam
Carrigtwohill United – 3
Springfield Ramblers – 2
Carrigtwohill Utd U17s took on neighbours Springfield Ramblers A at Ballyadam, in the latest round of the U17A league. After a series of games which had seen good performances from our 17s squad but nothing to show for their efforts, Carrigtwohill needed to start getting some positive results on the board.
However, this game started negatively again for the home team with Springfield scoring from a corner after just 4 minutes. Carrig got back into the game and created numerous chances, and while finishing the half the stronger team, failed to get anything on the scoreboard. 0-1 to the away team at half time.
With the start of the second half, came a greater positivity in Carrigtwohill’s play and on the 55th minute, the home team won a penalty after Praise was taken down in the box. He stepped up to take the spot kick, but as with so much of this season so far, things didn’t go straight forward and after 2 great saves by the Springfield keeper, Praise managed to bury the ball to make it 1-1. Now it was game on!
On around the 70th minute, Carrig broke through again, and this time Praise played a brilliantly lobbed shot to beat the keeper from the edge of the box to put Carrig into a 2-1 lead.
With 10 minutes to go, Carrig made it 3-1, after sub Callum worked hard to get out to a ball on the wing and get a shot past the on rushing keeper, and Ryan (also on as sub) running through to drive home the score, to claim a vital 2 goal margin for the home team.
This turned out to be crucial, as several Carrig players started to suffer cramp, Springfield pushed hard to get goals themselves and with about 3 minutes to go, they won a penalty which they converted to make it 3-2.
There was still enough time for Springfield to mount one more final challenge before the end, with Robbie making a mighty goal line clearance to keep the score 3-2. And with that clearance up field came the final whistle to this real humdinger of a game.
There were many good performances on the day, with special mentions for Praise for his 2 goals, Josh’s martialling of the back line bravely all day and goalie Filip’s strong commanding of his area, but Player of the Match goes to Paul Browne for his brilliant tireless performance in midfield, where he tackled everything and literally ran himself into the ground.
Player of the Match: Paul Browne
