SWILLY ROVERS PULLED goals out of the top drawer to flex their muscles in the second half and move into the last 16 of the FAI Under-17 Challenge Cup at the expense of Cork’s Riverstown FC.
Swilly Rovers 5 Riverstown 1
Daylight was a long way off when the Riverstown bus pulled out of Glanmire at 5am and the journey south will seem endless on the back of a heavy defeat.
By the end, it felt like a trick of the mind that Riverstown should have been level at the break and would have only for Dylan O’Sullivan managing to hit the post from two yards with the goal yawning before him.
Ryan Flood, from a penalty, and Kieran Connor had driven Swilly (pictured above) two ahead in the opening ten minutes, but when Dan Irwin pulled one back the tide began to turn.
Paddy Martin’s half-time whistle came at the perfect time for Swilly, who added three goals after the break, Flood’s second of the day, in between goals from Paul Bradley, Flood and Mikey Sweeney, the pick of them.
Swilly could even afford a missed penalty by substitute Ryan O’Donnell as the coasted in the second half.
A half-time grilling by manager Tony McNamee spurred Swilly to life and it took a brilliant one-handed save by Paul O’Mahony, the Riverstown goalkeeper, to turn over a fine effort by Flood.
Four minutes into the second half, Swilly did bag their third, although it was all rather bizarre as Bradley’s free kick from wide on the right touchline sailed past O’Mahony and through a hole in the net.
It took a moment for the attendance to realise that the goal had been awarded, but from there, Swilly were comfortable.
They added a fourth, just before the hour, as Flood’s majestic 20-yard pop looped over O’Mahony while Sweeney’s was no less impressive as he cracking lofted finish put a gloss on things.
It could have been more by the finish, but O’Donnell – after being fouled by Matthew Gibson – stroked a penalty wide in the 71st minute and Flood was denied his hat-trick when a long-range free cannoned off the crossbar.
It was Flood who had set the ball rolling after only three minutes. The tricky Cameron Gormley went to ground under David Fisher’s challenge and the referee pointed to the spot.
It was certainly a soft award, but Flood tucked home the opener and Swilly doubled the lead when Connor riffled high to the net after a neat lay-off by Sweeney.
Ryan Toye and Flood were off target with chances before Dane Dunworth, the Swilly ‘keeper, made a brilliant save, diving out to his right to keep out a drive by Luke Jeffers.
After Dunworth denied a powerful shot by Daragh Kelly, Riverstown got one back when Irwin clipped over the goalkeeper and, despite the valiant efforts of Anthony Gallagher, the ball crept over the line.
Swilly thought they should have had another penalty when Connor was taken down, but Martin – who opted not to consult with his assistant, Joe McHugh – deemed he’d been tripped up by Kelly just outside the box.
The hosts survived a real scare when Toye’s loose pass across field was intercepted by Jeffers and his cross was perfect for O’Sullivan. He could have picked his spot but, instead, he nodded against the post.
The interval offered respite and Swilly – who had already put Ben Bulben and Ballysodare United to the sword in this competition – made no mistake in the second half.
There are windows to the past around Swilly with former FAI Junior Cup winners Joe Duffy and Ian McGarvey among the crowd today as the latest batch of hopefuls continue on their national voyage.
Swilly Rovers: Dane Dunworth; Anthony Gallagher, Cathair Doherty, Ronan Docherty, Brad Patterson; Kieran Connor (Andreas Afxentiou ‘78), Ryan Flood, Paul Bradley (Ryan O’Donnell ‘55), Cameron Gormley; Ryan Toye (Conor McHugh ‘70); Mikey Sweeney.
Riverstown: Paul O’Mahony; David Fisher, Ryan Barrett, Aria Shahi, Daragh Kelly (Matthew Gibson ‘66); Luke O’Connor, James Murphy, Luke Jeffers (John O’Driscoll ‘77), Dylan Terry (Ryan Higgins ’74); Dylan O’Sullivan, Dan Irwin.
Referee: Paddy Martin.
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