Borrisoleigh 4 - Rearcross 'A' 3

Rearcross made the relatively short trip to Borrisoleigh last Sunday hoping to secure back to back victories in the league for the first time this season. The game began at a good pace with the balance of play marginally favouring the away side in the opening exchanges. Unfortunately for the visitors disaster struck on the twenty minute mark when a Rearcross kick out was intercepted by a Borris midfielder who played a first time ball to a fellow team mate out on the left wing. The resulting cross found the net courtesy of Borrisoleigh’s Jimmy Shanahan and suddenly the game took a new dimension. The visitors did not give in however and a mesmerising run by Diarmuid Sheehy five minutes later ended with the big centre half smashing a left footed 25 yard strike past the Borrisoleigh keeper - Sheehy’s pair of boots, one red and one black, deceiving the Borrisoleigh defence as he danced through them in a run reminiscent of the centre half’s glory days during the 90s. The second half began well for Rearcross who were now enjoying the lion’s share of possession, their dominance being rewarded with five minutes gone on the clock when Paul Murphy flicked the ball into the path of Liam Ryan (R) who stepped inside his man and finished to the corner of the net from twelve yards out. A penalty minutes later gave the home side a lifeline, yet Noel Kent blasted wide from the spot leaving Rearcross clinging to a one goal lead. With twenty minutes gone in the second half the home side scored the equaliser however, a ball not cleared from the Rearcross box ending up on the foot of Borrisoleigh’s Matthew Stapleton and from there to the net. From then until the final whistle the home side took control of the game, with another goal coming ten minutes later when a somewhat dubious free kick around the midfield area was taken early and a first time cross found the net after a sublime touch from Noel Kent. The visitors to their credit never gave in and got an unlikely equaliser in the last minute of the game, Eamon Gleeson latching on to a long ball from defence and squaring to Greg Kennedy who finished with assurance from just outside the box. As the game entered stoppage time Rearcross won a free kick outside the box after Simon Kennedy was hacked down and a smash and grab victory looked suddenly possible. Alas, as USA forward Landon Donovan once put it, ‘soccer is a cruel game sometimes. One minute you are on top of the world and the next minute you are bottom of the mountain’. And so, from the resulting free kick, the home side broke down the field in a swift counter attacking move and the ball, though cleared at first by the Rearcross defence, was eventually hammered to the net from 25 yards out by a John Fogarty, leaving goalkeeper Sean Sheehy with no hope of making the save. The full time whistle followed and Rearcross went home wondering how they threw away what would have been a very important point in what is going to be a season long battle for the boys in green and white.

 

Rearcross 'A': Sean Sheehy, Robert Harrington (Capt.), Diarmuid Sheehy, Martin Mc Loughlin, Tommy Ryan (L), Simon Kennedy, Greg Kennedy, Briany Sheehy, PJ Mc Loughlin, Liam Ryan (R), Paul Murphy.

Subs: Liam O’ Toole, Declan O’ Toole, Eamon O’ Toole, Eamon Gleeson

 

Referee: Naoise Lawlor

Report Compiled by Simon Kennedy