Thrilling finish seals win with a five minute trio of goals

Rearcross U-14’s kicked off their season with an away trip to Knigh Utd on a very wet Thursday evening. Rearcross had the first shot on goal with a Jonathan Dawson strike 2 minutes in, and then on 5 minutes a Jonathan Dawson corner kick fell to Jack Hickey who was luckless to see his effort go over. Another Jonathan Dawson corner kick caused havoc in the Knigh Utd box but was cleared just in time. Patrick Carr had the best chance of the half after being put through by Jonathan Dawson, but a last-ditch tackle saved Knigh on this occasion.
Both teams had half chances in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, but then the Rearcross defence led by James Costello started to dominate. A strike from Jonathan Dawson produced a fine save from the Knigh Utd custodian on the hour mark and then 3 minutes later, a headed effort by Stephen Ryan from a corner-kick delivery, hit the cross bar before whizzing wide. The last 5 minutes of the tie will go down as the best finish that any Rearcross FC team has produced to the memory of this scribe. Jonathan Dawson led the way when a brilliant through ball by Patrick Carr was finished smartly by Jonathan Dawson to give the Rea boys the edge. Knigh Utd tried to attack straight away from the kick off, but James Costello intercepted a pass and then played a neat pass behind the Knigh Utd rearguard for Jonathan Dawson to collect and finish his second of the evening to the back of the net. The high drama finish wasn’t over as good work by Leon Wallace and Jack Hickey forced Knigh Utd to concede a corner, Jonathan Dawson stepped up to send an in-swinger to the near post before the on-rushing Stephen Ryan dispatched to the net from close range. The final whistle sounded seconds later to give the Slieve Felim side a thrilling win and a great start to the new campaign.

Rearcross U-14 Boys: Darragh Reynolds, Jack Hickey, James Costello, Stephen Ryan, Matthew Ryan, Micheal Collins, Ciaran McLoughlin, Patrick Carr, Jonathan Dawson, Cathal Hickey, Ryan Quigley
Subs: Conor McInerney, Andrew Hanly, Liam O’Dwyer, Paudie Clifford, Leon Wallace

Report by Shane Reynolds