Nenagh Under 13’s advance in National Cup

Nenagh AFC advanced to the last 32 of the SFAI National Cup last Saturday with a deserved 2-0 win against Killorglin from Kerry, in tough weather conditions at Brickfields.

Killorglin, who had already disposed of Limerick sides Fairview Rangers and Aisling Annacotty in earlier rounds, would have fancied their chances against Nenagh but in truth the home side dominated this affair.

Aided by a strong breeze in the first half, Nenagh pressed for the first goal and were unlucky not to score with some long-range efforts from Ryan Byrne and Harry O’Gorman.

Nenagh’s breakthrough came eight minutes before half time when Darragh Daly intercepted a chipped pass and headed in front of himself and volleyed a low drive into the front post to make it 1-0 at halftime.

A different type of performance was going to be needed in the second half as Killorglin now had the wind advantage. To their credit Nenagh dealt better with the conditions; however, Killorglin did have a good chance after ten minutes but Nenagh goalkeeper Iarlaith O’Donoghue making a great save.

Nenagh pressed and were unlucky not to score with chances from Ryan Byrne, Kaden Fogarty & Lukah Williams. They worked hard, defended well and got their deserved second goal with twelve minutes remaining. Goalscorer Ryan Byrne turned on to his left foot from twenty yards and chipped a super strike into the top corner. Nenagh shut up shop for the remainder of the game and outworked the Kerry side to advance to the last 32 in the Country.

Team: Iarlaith O’Donoghue; Alex McKenna, Harry O’Gorman, Senan O’Leary, Adam Quigley, Lukah Williams, Ronan Quinn, Kaden Fogarty, Darragh Daly, Ryan Byrne, Mabb Mohammad. Subs: Harry Walsh for Daly; Harry Coughlin for Quinn; Kevin Hogan for Mohammad, Alex Monko, Yannis Radu, Anluan White.

Management: Shane O’Gorman, Michael Gavin, Paul Cullen.