Clane lift Senior Cup after shoot-out drama
Clane Utd celebrate after winning the Karina Donnelly Senior Cup Photo: Michael Anderson
What a dramatic Cup Final between two fantastic teams. In the end, Clane United ended their sorrow years of hurt in the competition with a victory after extra-time and penalties over rivals Naas United on a drizzly, mild and cloudy early Sunday afternoon clash in Rathangan last week.
You could tell that this was a rivalry. The match official ended up showing ten yellow cards throughout the 120 minutes, two of which resulting in a red card to Naas’s Victor Olapado in the 76th minute. There were plenty of hard tackles going in from both teams, which had the two side-lines fairly animated.
Clane could have had three goals in the opening half, but didn’t take any of their chances; Stephen Leavey gave a delightful corner into Mark Kelly in the 20th minute, who couldn’t keep his free header below the crossbar to the frustration of his team and his brother watching among the spectators, fourteen minutes later James Ralph was all on his own, charging towards Keith Higgins in the Naas goal, only for Ralph to lose his footing at the critical moment after getting past the opposing goalkeeper. Golden chance number three came in the 41st minute when, after rounding Naas’s Sheldon NBala, James Ralph has his firing low shot saved by the leg of Joey Higgins and blocked for a corner by Daniel Phillips. The resulting corner from the foot of Liam Deane failed to find an awaiting Andrew Hyland in the box.
Naas United had less chances, but found the net in the 35th minute. From the counter-attack, Darragh Faherty charged through the middle of the Clane defence like a Spanish bull to assist Victor Olapado to his right, who slid the ball into the left-hand-corner of John Ball’s net in what was an excellent finish. This put Naas 1-0 up at the interval.
Clane nearly had the dream start 35 seconds into the second-half, though Deane Commisky’s shot sailed over the crossbar. Darragh Faherty found himself in a similar position for Naas, though his effort was denied by John Ball. Clane did find the net in the 66th minute; James Ralph broke a tackle and tucked the ball into the left-hand-corner of Joey Higgins’s net, a similar finish to the opening score of the match. This spurred Clane on to find their second goal twelve minutes later when they were awarded a penalty after Naas’s Victor Olapado was penalised for a handball. Mark Kelly stepped up, and had his attempt foiled by a diving Joey Higgins, but James Ralph was quick to slot in the rebound, and Clane pushed ahead.
The tackles kept flying in, but there was more drama to come. Five minutes into added-time, Sheldon NBala’s cross found the head of Daniel Phillips, who had the ball hanging in the air before it dipped into the corner of the net. Extra-time was to come.
There were no clear-cut chances in extra-time, but Aidan Ralph of Clane and Manny Phillips and Ritchie French of Naas were unlucky to miss the target during this period.
There was drama even in the penalty shootout, as Mark Kelly of Clane had three attempts after Naas goalkeeper Joey Higgins came off his line twice to deny him, but the third found the target. Adam Mazur’s save and Stephen Leavey’s finish won the game and silverware for Clane at long-last.
It was a sweet victory for Clane after losing out in penalty shoot-out in the Lumsden Cup Final earlier this season and sets them up nicely for another meeting between these two teams in the Senior Division League play-off in Kilcullen on Saturday evening.
John Ball (Adam Mazur 110); Sean Sheridan, Stephen Leavey, Jack Kelly, Gavin O’Dwyer; Mark Kelly, Cathal Geoghan, Andrew Hyland (Nathan Carr 80); James Ralph, Deane Commisky, Liam Deane (Aidan Ralph 65).
Keith Higgins; Jordan Martella (Brian Nolan 100), Sheldon NBala, Daniel Phillips, JP Higgins; Marvin MBala (Jamie Dunne 100), Cian McDonnell, Victor Olapado; Niall Faherty (Richie French 85), Paul Omoteso (Manny Phillips 78), Darragh Faherty (Leon Doyle 62).
Alan Sherlock.
Cathal Geoghan (Clane United).
