Tullamore Town turn on the style against Youghal Utd

U13 SFAI National Cup

6th Round

Tullamore Town 8 Youghal United 0

Tullamore Town lay down a real marker of intent in the SFAI National Cup against Cork side Youghal United in their cup tie at a sun-kissed Leah Victoria Park on Saturday last. If the Cork team thought their day had started badly when their team bus broke down on its way to Tullamore, they would surely have had no idea of how tough a day it would become.
Tullamore started the game very brightly, attacking the visitors down both flanks, with both Mark Monaghan and Dara Waldron finding their way past their opposing full-backs. Chances fell to both along with early efforts from Adam Martin in the striker role, and to midfielders Jamie Harvey and Calan Kinnarney. The Youghal Utd keeper stood up to everything thrown at him in those early exchanges, catching, diving and blocking until the fifteenth minute when Tullamore made their breakthrough. A through ball from Calan Kinnarney for Adam Martin, who managed to hold off the centre back and slot the ball past the goalkeeper. 1-0.

At the other end Youghal were finding it difficult to get past Tullamore’s midfield and when they did Adam Malone was a rock at the centre of defence. Not long after Ronan Guinan played a ball from defence out to Dara Waldron on the left, who after beating his man, cut the ball back from the byeline to Mark Monaghan who met it with a sweet first time volley to make it 2-0. Tullamore were now flying, playing really good pass and move football. Jamie Harvey and Calan Kinnarney were winning everything in midfield while Scott Halloran was popping up, demanding the ball and dictating play in the hole behind the striker. Halloran has great ability in the tightest of spots to create space for himself and progress the play. As the first half drew to a close Tullamore won a corner, Monaghan whipped in a cross which Youghal failed to deal with and Waldron finished smartly from inside the six yard box. 3-0.

As the referee blew the half-time whistle, Tullamore were completely on top, with Ben Boland never having been tested by the Cork side. Youghal started the second half with far more intent and started to use the flanks to try to get at Tullamore. But full backs Steven Murrihy and Thomas Carroll didn’t yield any opportunities on either side with robust defending. Youghal resorted to long balls through the middle which Malone and Guinan dealt with without fail. 5 minutes into the second half Adam Martin lofted a clever ball over the last man for Dara Waldron to run onto and blast the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-0. Shortly afterwards Tullamore thought they had a fifth, when Scott Halloran ran from midfield, beating two Youghal players before smashing the ball off the underside of the crossbar and down behind the keeper. Had the ball crossed the line? The ref said no goal! 

10 minutes into the second half Youghal had a chance to open their account after the ref penalised Steven Murrihy for making contact with a Youghal player in the box as he cleared the ball. With Boland in goal the penalty kick was driven against the foot of the post, and Ronan Guinan was quickest to the rebound and cleared his lines. Tullamore made a number of changes, and from a very strong bench Oran Gilmartin came into midfield, Adam Keegan to left back and Fionn Kane up front. Shortly after Scott Halloran had again struck the crossbar, Gilmartin made his impact with a superb individual goal, dribbling around a pair of defenders before driving into the net. Tullamore were now totally dominant with Adam Keegan surging forward from deep inside his own half to threaten the Youghal defence, and Steven Murrihy pushing high up the pitch before Scott Halloran finally got the goal his performance deserved, striking the ball early with his left foot to curl the ball beyond the keeper’s reach.

Jamie Harvey left the field after a fine performance in midfield for Calan Kinnarney to retake his place in the middle and soon Kinnarney found the space to twist and turn in the box before shooting to the keeper’s left to make it 7-0. Tullamore were not finished and after good work on the right from Mark Monaghan, his drilled cross was met by young Fionn Kane to make the final scoreline, an emphatic 8-0. This was a complete performance by a side whom some observers on the day rated as one of the best underage sides the club has produced. The management team of Patrick Murrihy and Jason Halloran admitted afterwards that it was an almost flawless performance from their charges. It was certainly one that the Youghal side simply couldn’t live with.

Tullamore now advance to the quarter finals of the SFAI National Cup and will meet Waterford side Bohemians on the weekend of 26th/27th March, again with home advantage. Who knows how far this young team will go, but after six rounds of cup ties in this competition, their goals record reads: goals scored: 39, goals conceded: 1. Is there a place in the last four for the Blues?