Under 17/18 League Cup Semi Final

Rivervalley Rangers marched on into the Final of the League Cup after a pulsating semi final clash in Hartstown Park this weekend. Rivervalley started the brighter and dominated the first half but were caught out by a speculative cross that somehow dipped into the net on 37 minutes. The Valley didn’t drop their heads and got their rewards on 44 minutes when Mark Cashen headed in from a corner by John O Donoghue. The second half started much the same as the first with Rivervalley pushing their hosts back into their own half for 20 minutes until Hartstown got a second wind and dominated the last 25 minutes with the Valley hanging on somewhat for extra time. Rivervalley started well in the first half of extra time and went 2-1 ahead after 5 minutes with a piece of sublime skill from super sub Carl Dowling who took a long speculative ball down with amazing ease, turned a defender on the corner of the box and lifted the ball over the oncoming keeper from a tight angle. This spurred Hartstown on and they pushed the Valley back for the rest of this half and drew level in the last minute of the half after a goalmouth scramble. The second half of extra time provided few chances and the game drifted into a penalty shootout. Every penalty shootout has a hero, and the Valley hero was Eoin Crowley who saved two of the first three penalties and with Mark Cashen, Ciaran Lattin and Carl Dowling converting for the Valley and Hartsown shooting over for the fourth, Rivervalley earned a place in the final where they will meet the Portmarnock 18 Premier team. One thing to note from this encounter was the comment from the referee who said he couldn’t believe he had officiated at a semi final of two Premier teams of 17’s and 18’s and he didn’t have to issue one yellow card, credit goes to both sets of players.

Rivervalley Squad for 2007 / 2008 Eoin Crowley, Dan Dowling, Lee Raferty, Mark Wolfe, Ciaran Lattin, John Morgan, Eoin Kestell, Gary Mc Cabe (Captain), Ciaran Fairman, Stephen Bradshaw, John O Donoghue, James Carolyn, Robbie Murtagh, Carl Dowling, David Brown, Chris Burke, David Reilly, Dave Mc Carthy, Mark Cashen, Johnathon Scally, Michael O Toole