Extra time win for Rearcross 'A' in Roscrea

Rearcross were on the road in the Tipperary cup against Killavilla B which would prove to be a tricky tie for the visiting team. Rea were fast out of the blocks and had a couple of chances to take an early lead. James Deegan's corner from the left nearly went all the way to the net with the keeper punching over the crossbar. From the resulting corner Michael O’Gorman had an effort cleared off the line. Next chance fell to Cillian Kennedy when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area and his 1st time strike was well saved by the keeper with no one from Rea able to follow up on the rebound. From here Killavilla grew into the game and dominated possession for the next 20 minutes. They had a couple of efforts from outside the box which never really tested Cathal Kennedy in the Rea goals. Rea finished the half the stronger and thought they had taken the lead on 2 separate occasions. Michael O’Gorman had the ball in the net following good play on the wing from Paddy Dawson and James Deegan saw the ball played into the back post and his headed back across the keeper to find the net, celebrations were short lived though as he had just strayed offside. Another free-flowing move saw Cillian Kennedy play James Deegan in one on one with the keeper but his strike hit the bottom of the post with the keeper well beaten. Nil all at the break.
The 2nd half took a similar pattern to the end of the first half with Rea pushing for the opening goal. However, they were made to pay for their missed chances on the 55th minute. Killavilla moved the ball to the right-hand side and their winger whipped a great ball into the six-yard box where Craig Phelan was on hand to finish to the net. Rea continued to huff and puff to force an equaliser with Paddy Deegan coming closest when his bullet header from a corner kick was cleared off the line. With the game in the dying embers Rea forced one more opportunity, a long throw in from Paddy Deegan saw the ball fall to Eoghan Kavanagh whose 1st time strike arrowed into the corner of the net to force extra time.
The first half of extra time passed by without any incident or clear-cut chances as both sides were out on their feet. Rea did start the 2nd half brightly and created a decent chance right after the break. Another long throw in from Paddy Deegan saw Michael O Gorman win the header but the onrushing Callum Wallace couldn't find the target with his volley. With 5 minutes remaining Rea got the all-important winner. James Rochford picked the ball up on the wing and played a quick one-two with James Deegan who kept his composure to find Michael O Gorman in the box and his strike clipped the post and went into the net.

Killavilla United ‘B’: J Brooks, A Loughnane (Capt), S Byrne, R McNicholas, R O’Gorman, F Ryan, B McCabe, O Tynan, C Phelan, J Tynan, E Moloney
Subs: P Quealy, J Boland, D Buckley, C McGrath, S Murphy, C Peacock R Moloney

Rearcross ‘A’: Cathal Kennedy, Callum Wallace, Brian Nolan, Greg Kennedy, Paul Nolan, Patrick Deegan, Conor Nolan, Cillian Kennedy, Patrick Dawson, Michael O’Gorman (Capt), James Deegan
Subs: James Rochford, Eamonn Devitt, Eoghan Kavanagh, Stephen Rochford

Referee: Hannah 0’Brien

Report by Robert Harrington