Corduff advance in FAI Junior Cup
by Mark O’Toole

Corduff F.C. 2 1 St. Peter’s Athlone 1

In the days of the Roman Empire there was a saying that “All Roads lead to Rome”. At the height of the great empire’s power the returning legions would have to fight all types of battle hardened hordes at the furthermost corners of their vast territories to return whence they came and walk the famous highway Appian Way to the Eternal City. A similar task faced Corduff, as all roads lead to the final and glory, in of one of the largest amateur soccer competitions in Europe in the prestigious F.A.I. Junior Cup.

From the original 600 teams, the competition had been whittled down to the best 32 and Corduff faced a tough task as they found themselves playing a strong Westmeath-based St. Peter’s Athlone side at home. The men from Athlone had defeated Dublin opposition in the form of Malahide United to get to this round, and are, like the Corduff side, flying high in their respective league, leading the Midland’s Leinster Junior League by nine points. With the bookmakers offering odds of 25/1 on each side winning this illustrious competition the stage was set for the highly competitive battle.

It was the Dublin 15 side that won the early skirmishes, soaking up St. Peter’s pressure and breaking quickly on the counter attack with left midfielder Kevin Murphy noticeably offering a lot of pace and width. Corduff’s number nine and top scorer Robbie Burke was looking particularly menacing as his clever movement, sometimes dropping deep and other times drifting out wide, creating a lot of space as St.Peter’s defence seemed unsure how to pick him up. This early pressure was reflected in a chance that was headed narrowly over the bar from short distance by forward Paul Featherstone.

In fairness St Peter’s had three main players out for this match with both Niall Scullion and Paul Philips unavailable and left winger Aiden Ward carrying a knock from the previous week’s encounter. There was a further blow as stalwart Tom Silke, formerly of Longford Town, a side with a great cup pedigree, failed a late fitness test. All this combined meant that Sr. Peter’s were slightly off the pace and failed to impose themselves on a home team that was greatly energised by a large and vociferous support.

Having said that, St. Peter’s had a loyal following present and gradually their team gained a grip on the game. As the first half wore on and midfielder Damien Gannon, and Brian Caldwell dropping deep from his position of central forward, began winning the balls sent up the middle to them and knocking them on. The only problem with the imposing Caldwell, who played excellently throughout coming short and holding the ball up, was that it left an isolated Mark Sherlock alone to lead the line.

The general feeling was that if a couple more players made a gamble with a run into the box and latched on to Caldwell’s headers, opportunities would arise more often. This is what happened as Sherlock pressured and won the ball after it was missed by the Corduff central defender. As Sherlock bore down on goal, the keeper took him down in the box. As the keeper escaped with a caution Caldwell put the penalty over the bar.

On the stroke of half time it was Corduff that got the breakthrough. A ball sent in from the right wing wasn’t dealt with and the ever-dangerous Burke headed the ball back across goal for Philip Marky to slide in and put the ball away.

Despite this blow St. Peter’s started the second half brightly contesting more challenges and looking a lot livelier with pacey number seven David Donoghue giving a lot of width and causing the Corduff defenders so much problems they needed to double up on him at times. The pressure paid off as Peter’s won a second penalty that was duly slotted home by St. Peter’s big centre half Gareth Gaffney. As St. Peter’s pressed forward for a winner they left holes at the back, which Corduff looked to expose through their counter attacking game.

Corduff’s Robbie Burke capitalised on this and his looping header hit the back of the net after his strike partner, Paul Featherstone burst down the wing and sent in a good cross. From then on there could only be one winner as St. Peter’s heads dropped against their opponents’ more streetwise and varied game. Burke, growing in confidence all the time, turned his marker on numerous occasions and was powering shots in from all angles, notably a clever dipping shot from distance that Peter’s keeper Keith Hynes did well to tip over.

Featherstone, Coates and Murphy provided an attacking trident behind Burke and the clever play between these players was great to watch at times, while at the back captain David Brennan organised their back line to neutralise the aerial threat of St. Peter’s powerhouse forward Gannon. The closing ten minutes were frantic, as St.Peter’s tried to push the tie to extra time looking for an equaliser through set pieces and a bombardment of high balls into the box. In this last period of pressure Corduff must have been thankful for big central defender Martin Donegan who looked calm and assured displaying a master class in defending effortlessly clearing ball after ball away from danger.

After Corduff, survived the siege and deservedly won the match, man of the match Robbie Burke said that ‘It was a great team performance’ and singled out wingers Coates and Murphy for praise, ‘They were great today and made life a lot easier for me with some great crossing.’ With that Burke put his finger on the most promising aspect of this exciting Corduff team, in that any one of their players could step up and put in a match-winning performance. There is a feeling that there is more to see from this squad even though they have already taken Corduff further than they have ever gone in this competition
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The next step on the march to glory takes Corduff to the last sixteen and a tough meeting away to Milford United of Donegal. And while there is stiff opposition left to face in this tournament Corduff will be mindful that although Rome wasn’t built in a day, this team have certainly laid the foundations for something special.

Corduff: 1.David Byrne, 2.David Brennan, 3.Philip Marky, 4.Stephen Ryan, 5.Martin Donegan, 6.Paul Power, 7.John Dowling, 8.Richard Coates, 9.Robert Burke, 10.Paul Featherstone, 11.Kevin Murphy

Subs: 12. Johnny Kinsella, 13. Anthony Brennan, 14. John Paul Brennan, 15. Gary Hilliard, 16. Chris Baker.

St. Peter’s Athlone: 1.Keith Hynes, 2. Noel Keleghan, 3. Paul Murphy, 4. Gareth Gaffney, 5. Andrew Carberry, 6. Stephen Mullan, 7. David Donoghue, 8. Damien Gannon, 9. Mark Sherlock, 10. Brian Caldwell, 11. Aiden Ward.

Subs: 12. Colm Noonan, 13. John Molloy, 14. Tom Silke, 16. Damien McCormack.

 

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