Munster Youths Cup defeat for Rearcross Youths

Rearcross travelled to Templemore on Saturday afternoon to face BT Harps in the first round of the Munster Youths Cup with the hope of progressing to the next round of the competition and with barely 5 minutes gone in the clock it looked like the visitors meant business when Max Carroll opened the scoring, cutting in from the right and beating the BT Harps keeper from a tight angle. With the perfect start under their belts, Rearcross competed well throughout the pitch, gaining a foothold in the game. BT Harps were dealt a further blow after 11 minutes when their captain, Josh Quinlan collided with Brian Hammersley under a high ball resulting in the BT Harps player to depart the action with an injury. BT Harps continued to chase down an equaliser opting to go with several long ball efforts being launched on top of the Rearcross defence, however the visiting side were up to the task. Rearcross were unlucky not to double their advantage in the 20th minute when Callum Wallace sent a perfect pass from defence in to the path of Patrick Ryan who was bearing down on the BT Harps goalmouth only for his strike to sail over the crossbar. 5 minutes later BT Harps showed how dangerous they could be when Finan McAleese struck a high looping effort from outside the area which came off the crossbar and away to safety. BT Harps were finally rewarded on the half hour mark when a perfectly placed corner was met by a Finan McAleese glancing header finding the back of the Rearcross net. A further blow to the visitors ambitions came only 6 minutes later when a BT Harps free kick landed in the Rearcross area causing confusion and it was Finan McAleese again for the home side who took advantage by heading it into the net. If the home side thought it was only going to go one way at this stage, they were mistaken. The 40th minute saw Rearcross work the ball up the field with Larry Collins at hand to find the net from close range making it all square at the break.
The second half saw a more concerted effort from the Templemore side and as soon as the 51st minute they had taken the advantage once again when Marco Antonino found himself one on one with the Rearcross keeper who coolly dispatched his effort to the Rearcross net. 2 minutes later however, Rearcross were unlucky not to score from a free kick when Callum Wallace's great effort was well saved by Oisin O'Dwyer in the BT Harps goals. The 61st minute saw another free kick saved, this time the BT Harps effort was parried out for a corner by the Rearcross Keeper, Brian Hammersley. It was BT Harps who looked the most dangerous as the game moved on. The 73rd minute saw a long range BT Harps free kick find its way into the the visitors net however it was disallowed due to an offside infringement. A minute later however, a high looping ball landed in the Rearcross area and when the visitors failed to clear, Marco Antonino struck a fine effort to make it 4-2 for the home side. BT Harps made the final meaningful attack of the game with 5 minutes remaining, their long range effort struck the outside of the Rearcross upright. While the Rearcross side bow out of the competition, there was some encouraging signs for the side for the remainder of the season.

BT Harps Youths: O O'Dwyer, J Foy, M Da Costa, C Moloney, D Cantwell, W Collier, F McAleese, J Quinlan, D Hogan, C Foy, S Monaghan
Subs: M Bovi, R Coleman, C Campion, B Byrne, L Delaney, D Augustyniak, E Regout

Rearcross Youths: Brian Hammersley, Patrick Kennedy, Luke Carroll, Callum Wallace, Jack Brett, Max Carroll, Taylor Light, Larry Collins, Aaron Quinlan, Patrick Ryan, James Butler.
Subs - Sean Griffin for Larry Collins, Mel Sheridan for Taylor Light, Liam Crump for Patrick Ryan, Timmy Costello for Aaron Quinlan, Nicholas Dawson for Jack Brett.

Referee: Alec McCormack.

Report by Dermot Hammersley