Congratulations to Lismore on retaining the Ned Barry Cup on Saturday evening last at Railway Athletic’s excellent pitch, when defeating a gallant Pinewood. Both teams entered this final evenly matched, but Lismore scored the only goal of the game minutes before half-time. Once again the Lismore club has proved their cup pedigree.

This coming weekend will see the league wind down with the final league game in the Premier division being played and two quarter-finals in the Liam Fitzgerald Cup. The draw for the two Fitzgerald Cup semi-finals will take place on Sunday next at Lismore House Hotel.

NED BARRY CUP FINAL

Lismore 1 Pinewood 0

Cup finals are notorious for not living up to expectations and Saturday’s final fits into this category. While it was a very good game of football for the neutral, we know that both teams are capable of better performances than that displayed over the 90mns on Saturday.

On an excellent pitch and with only a slight wind blowing into the town goal, the scene was set for a wonderful game. Both teams tried their very best, but it was obvious from an early stage that two teams showed a great respect for each other, afraid of making a mistake. Lismore had advantage of the breeze in the opening 45mns and went on the attack, but Pinewood’s defence held firm. Horkan was kept busy with Kevin O’Donoghue and Shane Lynch forcing straight forward saves from the experienced Pinewood ‘keeper.

At the other end a wonderful strike from Darren Guiry just went over the top, while Ollie Smith saw his effort go wide. Darren Guiry was causing problems from midfield for the Lismore defence, but the back four of Paul Quinn, Bobby Ryan, Dave Howard and Alan Landers kept a tight rein on the Ballymac’ attack. As the half wore on, Lismore’s midfield started to get the upper hand, with Brendan Landers and Jordan Shanahan getting forward at every opportunity, putting the Pinewood defence under a lot of pressure. Paul Quinn saw a wonderful strike from a free from outside the box go agonisingly wide.

A corner to Lismore on 43 mns saw Shanahan rise highest to head to the corner of the net, giving Horkan no chance in goal. It was a wonderful header and this proved to be the match winning goal.

From the restart, Lismore introduced Eddie Pollard in place of O’Gorman and he added to Lismore’s midfield superiority. However, Pinewood seemed to have gained an upper hand for a 10 minute spell, and while they had possession, they did not cause many problems to Dan Shanahan in the Lismore goal.

A well rehearsed free kick to Pinewood involving three players was cleared by the Lismore defence, while at the other end Horkan had to make two saves in quick succession to deny Lismore a second goal.

With 15mns remaining, Shanahan in the Lismore goal made a top class save when diving full length to turn an excellently taken free kick from Darren Guiry round the post at the expense of a corner, and showed a clean pair of hands as he held the resultant corner kick. This was without doubt the turning point in the game, as Lismore showed a lot of composure in defence from here to the final whistle, with a man of the match performance from Paul Quinn.

Lismore were the favourites since the cup draw was made last January and in the early stages on Saturday, the defence and midfield held the upper hand, but the strikers appeared to be too far back as if crowding the midfield, allowing the Pinewood central defence to deal easily with any threat.

Dan Shanahan’s brilliant save from Guiry’s free was crucial to the result, but his back four on the day was outstanding, especially Paul Quinn, who belied his age with another master class display. Midfield saw Shanahan in excellent form, as was Brendan Landers who fell back to help out the defence when under pressure. Up front Kevin O’Donoghue, Shane Lynch and Kieran Bennett were always a handful.

In our preview we wrote that cup finals are all about the team that performs on the day, and Lismore did this to greater effect than Pinewood.

Lismore: D Shanahan, P Quinn, A Landers, B Ryan, D Howard, C O’Gorman, J Shanahan, B Landers, S Lynch, K O’Donoghue, K Bennett. Subs used: E Pollard for O’Gorman, S Reaney for Pollard, C Tobin for O’Donoghue; also P O’Keeffe, S Barry.

Pinewood: P Horkan, A Meehan, S Whelan, J Whelan, R Meehan, O Smith, J Molloy, S Guiry, D Meehan, D Guiry, G Guiry. Subs used: G Peters for S Whelan, B Hickey for D Meehan; also J Guiry, D Nugent, M O’Grady

Referee E Cusack, assistants M Reddy and D O’Sullivan. We compliment all three on their performance as they tried to keep the game as free flowing as possible.

After the game, the league chairman thanked both teams for a very sporting final, congratulated Lismore on their victory and commiserated with Pinewood. He complimented the match officials and thanked Railway for the use of their ground, with the pitch in excellent condition.

Paddy then announced the Man of the Match award, which went to Paul Quinn. Joshua Kiely, grandson of the sponsor, Paddy Pollard, presented the award to Paul. The man of the match is, as always, selected by a total neutral to the competing clubs and the league.

The chairman then called on Paddy Pollard to present the Barry Cup to Lismore club captain, Craig Tobin. Before presenting the cup Paddy Pollard spoke of the past three years when the late Siobhan Barry, wife of Ned presented the cup, but passed to her eternal reward last February. Paddy said he was very honoured to be asked by Siobhan’s closest friends, Julie and Ann, to present the cup in Siobhan’s place. For many of the Lismore contingent present, this was a very emotional moment.

Craig Tobin in accepting the cup, said how important retaining the cup was and he thanked the management team of Colin O’Rourke and Owen Madden for all their time and dedication throughout the season and he complimented the Pinewood team on a very sporting game.

Finally we want to say a very special thanks to Sheila and all at Railway for their help to ourselves and to the many who availed of the cuppa. Always more than welcome and always much appreciated.

LIAM FITZGERALD CUP

Mogeely 4 Brideview B 0

Played in midweek, this was a Liam Fitzgerald Cup game with the league champions Mogeely proving much too strong for the Brideview side. Goals from Charlie McCarthy and Timmy McGann gave the visitors a comfortable lead at the break. In the second half goals from Darren McCarthy and Peter Dennehy saw Mogeely have a comfortable win and now play Railway Ath. in the quarter-finals next Sunday. The cup is sponsored by Alan McNamee Heating and Plumbing.

LISMORE HOUSE HOTEL 1st DIVISION

Inch B 1 Kinsalebeg 5

This league game was a Fitzgerald Cup rehearsal for the two teams when they meet this Wednesday in the quarter-final. Played last Sunday morning in Sexton Park, Inch went into an early lead through Jason Galvin, but Kinsalebeg hit back with goals from Paul O’Sullivan, Sean O’Neill and Tom Power, for a comfortable lead at half-time.

In the second half, Power scored again and when Conor McDermott scored a fifth, the game as a contest was over. Both teams meet this Wednesday in the Fitzgerald Cup.

PREVIEWS.

This week we have the quarter-finals of the Liam Fitzgerald Cup and in the Premier, we have the final league game when Youghal play host to Pinewood.

The draw for the semi-finals of the Fitzgerald Cup will be made in Lismore House Hotel on Sunday next, after the 1st Division Cup presentation to the Mogeely club.

Inch B v Kinsalebeg

Last Sunday both sides met in the league, and this Wednesday (24th) night they met in the quarter-finals of the Fitzgerald Cup. Kinsalebeg will definitely have fancied their chances, but we have a feeling it may take a penalty shoot out to decide the winners.

Railway Ath v Mogeely

This is the last quarter-final game in the Fitzgerald Cup and will kick off on Sunday morning. Both sides should have met in the league last weekend, but Railway were unfortunately unable to field a team on Saturday and so had to concede a walk-over. They must still play each other in another league game in Cappoquin.

Sunday’s game will see a strong Mogeely travel to Cappoquin, as following the game they will be presented with the 1st Division Trophy in Lismore House Hotel. This game is Railway’s last hope of silverware for this season. However, we believe Mogeely will be too strong.

Youghal Utd v Pinewood

The final premier game of the season, when last week’s beaten cup finalists, Pinewood, make the trip to Youghal’s Ardrath Park. All that is at stake for either team on Sunday is a third place league position. We expect Youghal, with home advantage to come out on top.

FIXTURES

SUNDAY, 28th APRIL

Mari Mina Pharmacy Premier – Youghal Utd v Pinewood 11.30, D Fogarty.

Liam Fitzgerald Cup – Railway Ath v Mogeely 11.30, S Forde.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The committee have confirmed that the AGM of the West Waterford East Cork Junior Soccer League will be held on Monday, 10th June at Lismore House Hotel, commencing at 8pm.

Any alterations or additions to rules being deemed necessary, notice of the proposed alteration or addition must be sent in writing to the hon secretary of the WWEC League, bearing postmark not less than 21 days before the date of the AGM, signed for, and on behalf of the club concerned, by the hon secretary.

Such alterations or additions shall not be made unless supported by a two–third majority of those present and voting at the AGM.