Rearcross progress to Shield quarter final following sudden death shoot out

Rearcross ‘A’ kicked off their NT&DL season on Sunday with a Premier Division shield preliminary quarter final at home to newly promoted Moneygall ‘A’. The first half was a very evenly matched affair with both teams defending well and limiting chances for each other. Moneygall finally got their chance in the 29th minute when Michael Ryan opened the scoring for the visitors with a cool right footed finish into the bottom right corner from close range. Conor Nolan almost replied for Rea soon after when his long-range effort flew just over the crossbar.
Rea went in trailing 1-0 at half time despite playing some good football. Cillian Kennedy was introduced at the half time mark and added a burst of pace to the Rearcross attack. Rea were well on top for the first 25 minutes of the second half playing some excellent football. James Deegan was denied by Julian Betancourt in the Moneygall goal as his brilliant effort was acrobatically stopped by the Moneygall keeper. However, the home side kept on threatening and James eventually got a well-deserved goal in the 56th minute to put the game in the balance. Rea kept things tight at the back with Callum Wallace and Greg Kennedy putting a stop to any Moneygall attacks. The home side were then awarded another when Cillian Kennedy got on the end of a 50/50 ball ahead of the Moneygall netminder, Cillian cooly took it around the keeper and slotted home to deservedly put Rea in the lead. The game looked to be all but over but credit to Moneygall as they got on the end of a wide free kick in what was the last kick of the game and equalised due to a Rearcross defensive mix up.
This sent the game to penalties where Rearcross went on to win 5-4. Greg Kennedy, Eoghan Kavanagh, Robert Harrington, Conor Nolan and Stephen Rochford were the penalty scorers for Rea. Disappointing not to see the game out in normal time from a Rearcross perspective but we now look forward to a quarter final at home to BT Harps at 11:00, Sunday morning. Well done to Callum Wallace and Stephen Rochford for making the NT&DL team of the week.

Rearcross 'A': Brian Hammersley, Greg Kennedy, Callum Wallace, Eoghan Kavanagh, Stephen Rochford, Conor Nolan, Robert Harrington, Kieran Devitt, Gavin Denihan, James Rochford, James Deegan
Substitutes: Colm Carey, Colm Nolan, Cillian Kennedy, David Brennan

Moneygall 'A': J. Betancourt, D. McCormack, M. Ryan, C. McLoughlin. D. Hogan, D. Maher, A. Lee, C. Fleming, C. Longe, T. Sheedy, S. Moroney
Substitutes: D. Lee, J. Lee, D. Murray, P. Costello

Referee: Thomas Murphy

Report by Brian Hammersley

Greg Kennedy sets Rea on their way with the first penalty

Brian Hammersley makes a superb block to deny Moneygall's Cameron Fleming

Eoghan Kavanagh put Rearcross back in control with a fine finish

Robert Harrington converts Rea's 5th attempt to keep the home team in the tie

Conor Nolan scores in sudden death to keep the pressure on Moneygall

An ice cool finish from Stephen Rochford proves enough to seal the win for Rearcross