TWO GOALS midway through the second half by Evergreen’s Matthew Kelliher denied Cappry Rovers in the Under-12 SFAI Sketchers Cup on Saturday.
Cappry Rovers 2 Evergreen (Kilkenny) 4
Cappry battled gamely to the end of an absorbing encounter in arctic conditions.
The away took the lead on four minutes with Cillian Hackett scoring from close range after a scramble inside the area.
They doubled their advantage when central defender Michael Raggett hit a screamer from 30 yards.
It took Cappry 27 minutes to test Sam Ireland, the Evergreen netminder, and he pulled off a terrific double save from Shaun McMenamin to keep the two goal margin.
Cappry got back into the game on the stroke of half time when a well hit free kick by Shaun Ward sailed over everyone into the top corner of the net.
With Cappry now playing with the wind and forcing the Kilkenny side further back, they were dealt a massive blow when a shot from Brian Whelan was going wide and it deflected off the back of Kelliher who had fallen to the ground into the net.
The home side lost another goal when a breakaway by Kelliher made it 4-1 when he calmly slotted home.
Cappry never lay down and with a few minutes remaining, the tall Andrew Murray scored a terrific header but it was too little too late. Both teams should be commended for a sporting contest and best of luck now to Evergreen in the next round.
Cappry Rovers: Evan Long, Oisin McGlinchey, Gavin McCormick, Daniel Marley, Andrew Murray, Shaun McMenamin, Jack Long, Luke McGlynn, Mark Mbali, Shaun Ward.
Evergreen: Sam Ireland, Bill Smith, Christian McInerney, Kevin Moore, Michael Raggett, Harry Shine Matthew Kelliher, Brian Whelan, Cillian Hackett, Ronan Walsh, Conor Kavanagh, David Mulrooney, Harry Cummins.
