On Wednesday May 16, eight boys from our school traveled to Tralee to play in theMunster5 a-side soccer finals. There were five teams in the competition and we were representingTipperaryas we had won the county final two weeks previous.
We were drawn in a group with Glanmire of Cork and Piltown of Waterford. We had to playCorkfirst. We started off the better team with a few early chances. Near the end of the first half Éanna McBride rounded the goalkeeper and passed it into the net. Straight after the break Paddy Cadell made it two.Corkgot a goal near the end and they could have equalised but Ruairi Mockler saved from a one-on-one shot.
Next we had to play Piltown of Waterford and it wasn’t long before Éanna got his second of the day. However Piltown kept fighting and in the end they deserved their 3-1 victory.
Luckily, we had made it to the semi-final as Pilltown beat Glanmire. Here we had to play Abbeyfeale of Limerick. After only five seconds of play we went one nil down and we realised that this would not be easy. We kept improving as the game went on and we finally got that all important equalizing goal through Éanna McBride. Then Paddy Cadell scored a header. At half-time it was 2-2. In the middle of the second half Paddy flicked the ball up volleyed it to the bottom corner. Abbeyfeale had no answer and we held out. Pilltown came through the other semi-final beating Spa N.S of Kerry.
Before the final Mr. Doyle and Mr. Healy told us this was the big one. We were pumped up but at half time we were 2 nil down. During the second half we took loads of shots but none would go in. With only minutes remaining, Éanna collected a pass and took a shot which went straight into the top corner. We won a throw and the ref turned around and warned us that this was the “last play lads”. Paddy Cadell threw it to Shane Doyle and he took a shot. GOAL!!! The whistle went and we were heading to extra time, golden goal.
One half passed and no goal. During the second half Shane took a throw and launched it into the box. Under pressure from two Templemore forwards, the poor defender from Piltown headed it into his own net, an own goal. That meant that we won, we were over the moon.
We got our medals and our captain Stephen Carroll collected a fine big cup. We will now travel to Tallaght Stadium in Dublinon the 5th June to play in the All-Ireland Finals. Well done to Ruairi Mockler, Andrew Ormond, Shane Doyle, Paddy Cadell, Eanna McBride, Michael Fogarty, Stephen Carroll and Ciarán Byrne and a big thanks to Mr. Doyle and Mr. Healy for their hard work in preparing us.
By Andrew Ormond