Rearcross U-16 Boys grind out impressive 3-2 away victory

Rearcross travelled to play Ardcroney in a Shield semi-final fixture on a very windy Monday at the away venue and secured their place in the decider by the narrowest of margins. Ardcroney had the wind at their backs from the kick off and were pushing hard early on to use their advantage, however good defending by the Rearcross rearguard was holding them out. Rearcross started to get into their rhythm and it was Conor Nolan who set up Patrick Carr for a shot on the Ardcroney goal. A dangerous cross from the left by Jonathan Dawson had the Ardcroney defence scrambling, as Conor Nolan was luckless not to direct his shot on target. Ardcroney took the lead against the run of play when a Shane O'Meara free kick was put into the Rearcross six-yard box and it was Jack O'Meara who was quickest to react to give the hosts a 1 nil lead. Ardcroney were now using the speed of Jack O'Meara to good effect and his best chance of the half came from a cleared Rearcross corner as the Ardcroney speedster had too much pace for the Rearcross rearguard, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Leo Armstrong at the near post. The resulting corner from Mark Cleary was headed goalbound, only for Micheal Collins to head clear from under the cross bar. Rearcross were starting to take charge in midfield with some telling tackles by James Costello and Matthew Ryan, making their mark. Conor Nolan was becoming more influential and a free kick won was taken by Jonathan Dawson as Stephen Ryan was unlucky not to have made a better connection to score. Another counter attack by Ardcroney saw Leo Armstrong make another brilliant save to deny Jack O'Meara. Superb play by Ciaran McLoughlin and Jack Hickey saw the latter release Conor Nolan down the right flank, his cross found Patrick Carr but his effort was gathered by Ronan Hayes in the Ardcroney goals. Rearcross equalized before half time when Stephen Ryan won the header from an Ardcroney kick out before Patrick Carr gathered the ball and set up Conor Nolan to unleash a shot from the edge of the box which flew to the back of the net, to leave the sides level at the break.
Rearcross with the advantage of the elements in the second half were out of the blocks the quickest and Ardcroney can thank Ronan Hayes after he saved to deny Jonathan Dawson early on. The resulting corner kick saw the ball break to James Costello but his effort was cleared off the Ardcroney line. Rearcross upped the ante and peppered the Ardcroney goals with shots from Darragh Reynolds and Ciaran McLoughlin in quick succession. Darragh Reynolds was unlucky after being played through by Conor Nolan, as his effort was cleared off the line by Shane O'Meara and then Darragh Reynolds saw another effort saved by the Ardcroney keeper. The O’Toole Electrical sponsored side took a 2-1 lead when Jonathan Dawson was fouled just outside the box, the Rearcross number 9 dusted himself down before dispatching the freekick to the back of the Ardcroney net with precision. Rearcross extended their advantage with another Jonathan Dawson free kick effort, this time from a more difficult angle out on the left wing which went all the way to the net. Ardcroney to their credit kept battling and were awarded a penalty late on which was scored by Shane O'Meara to bring it back to 3-2. The Slieve Felim outfit dug deep and stout defending in the last few minutes by all Rearcross players made sure that the away side held out for a thrilling win.

Ardcroney FC: R Hayes, B McLoughney, R Cleary, R McLoughney, T Teefey, S O’Meara, M Cleary, H Gannon, J O’Meara, A Fahey, C Gaynor
Subs: D O’Brien, C Last, M Gaynor, J Ryan, O O’Mahony, J Last, C McLoughney

Rearcross U-16 Boys: Leo Armstrong, Jack Hickey, Stephen Ryan, Micheal Collins, Conor McInerney, Matthew Ryan, James Costello (Capt), Patrick Carr, Jonathan Dawson, Conor Nolan, Liam O'Dwyer
Subs: Darragh Reynolds, Sean Guidera, Ciaran McLoughlin, Paudie Clifford, Leon Wallace

Referee: Ben Lynch

Report by Shane Reynolds