U-17
Goalkeeper: Darren Territt
Defence: Cathal O'Connor (Captain), Eoin Phelan, Mark Preston, Christopher Carroll, David Power
Defence/Midfield: Phillip Roche, William Carroll, Michael Cairns, Daniel Delaney, Conor O'Sullivan, Sean Mulhall, Mark Dunne, James Henderson,
Midfield/Forward: Emmanuel Okpara, Michael Conroy, David O'Halloran, Callum Flannery,
Forward: Paul Talbot, Tommy Rickard, Dillon Cleary
MATCH REPORTS
Portlaoise AFC U17 7 v Killeigh 0
(Scorers: Callum Flannery (2), Dylan Cleary (2), Cathal O'Connor, James Henderson, Tommy Rickard)
What was a miserable day weather wise, turned out to be a delightful day for PAFC. It was a thrilling game to watch with PAFC convincing winners in the end. The first half proved to be all that was needed to clinch the match.
The home side led within 2 minutes after brilliant play by the whole team to set up Callum Flannery for the first goal. Then 7 minutes later PAFC got a corner and from it Cathal O'Connor got his second goal of the season. Brilliant play from James Henderson and Emmanuel Okpara sent Callum Flannery through for his second goal of the game. Then soon after Callum's goal went in Dylan Cleary added one goal then another just before the half ended. You couldn't blame the keeper from Killeigh because of the calliber of goals that were scored.
Into the second half and PAFC got a strong start and put pressure on the away team from the whistle. Killeigh's defence started to crack and more chances started to come for PAFC. Soon enough Michael Cairns had the ball in the back of the net but to only notice that the goal had been disallowed. Finally Tommy Rickard superbly tucked away his goal which proved to be the final goal from a very good team performance.
Killavilla 4 - 2 PAFC
(Dillon Cleary, Cathal O'Connor)
15th October, KO 2.30pm, Villa Park, Roscrea
PAFC U/17s travelled to Roscrea Saturday last to take on rivals Killavilla at Villa Park. It was a depleted and tired PAFC team as most of the players had spent the week away in Delphi and through a variety of reasons, were only able to field a squad of 13 for the game.
The game kicked off at 2.30pm in the constant driving rain and PAFC began quite brightly as they normally do, passing the ball quickly along the wings whenever the chance arose. PAFC were in the ascendancy when they took the lead. The ball was sprayed out wide on the left wing where Dylan Cleary took control. He embarked on a mazy dribble and finished to the far corner of the net from a tight angle for his 6th goal of the season. PAFC doubled the lead soon enough as centre-back Cathal O'Connor scored a rare headed goal from a corner for the away side.
The away team should have been cruising after half time but within 10 minutes disaster struck as Killavilla scored two quick-fire goals from long balls over the top to level matters. Things got worse for PAFC when an opportunistic effort from out near the sideline by the Killavilla striker somehow nestled itself in the bottom corner of the net. PAFC pushed for an equaliser but were caught on the break and hit a sucker punch when Killavilla again capitalised on a long ball and some sloppy defending to make it 4-2. The game finished up just after this. For PAFC to make an impact on the league this year they will need to stop throwing away leads, as they have done this in all their matches so far this year. However they never stopped working hard and will learn from this defeat.