'It’s a dream come true for the lads' – St Joseph's manager
Subway Under-16 SFAI Cup final
St Joseph's 1 Leeside United 0
By Noel Spillane
St Joseph’s created their own piece of history when they won back-to-back national soccer titles at the splendidly appointed Evergreen FC grounds near Kells in Co. Kilkenny on Sunday afternoon.
Having defeated Belvedere 3-2 on their own pitch at Cushla Park to reach the decider, the Monksland outfit got the better of Cork’s Leeside last Sunday. St Joseph’s won the U15 equivalent last year with a 3-1 win over Dublin’s Home Farm.
On Sunday last, in warm, humid and, at times, sunny conditions they had a hard fought victory over the Rebels on a 1-0 scoreline.
The defining moment in a highly competitive match arrived on ten minutes when the Athlone side was were awarded a penalty after John Price took a tumble in the box. Up stepped Dylan Dennehy and he netted with a crisp, low drive to the goalkeeper’s right, beating Rory Cullinane in the process.
It was just the start Joseph’s needed on SFAI Cup final day and they held their nerve and composure to see out the tie and clinch the trophy again.
"It’s a dream come true for the lads and that’s back-to-back national titles now. I can’t even get it into words what it means to us,” said St Joseph’s team manager Davy Cummins afterwards.
“We won it at the U15 grade last year but we had four changes from last year’s squad. We had Jossi Jose, John Price, Sean Finneran and Abdul Adams (Odusoga) – they all did very well for us.
“I didn’t expect us to do it back-to-back because I thought the Belvedere semi-final game would be the one to undo us but it didn’t. The lads put in a great performance and I think we deserved it.
“It took a penalty to win the title but we knew what we were coming into up against Leeside.
"We knew it would be a tight game, we knew it would be a physical game against direct opposition but our backline did extremely well. Dylan Dennehy, in particular, who is just back after 12 months out with a serious injury was exceptional for us,” Cummins added.
Leeside won the game’s first corner after six minutes and it took a brilliant one-handed save from Niall Ward to tip over Alex Bollard’s header on the end of Jamie Coughlan’s cross. Leeside, in a changed strip of black and white, were denied again on 18 minutes when Danny Brennan’s cross found Tim Hegarty but his effort went out for a corner.
St Joseph’s front man Felipe Sousa saw his header come back off the underside of the bar on 20 minutes, before the teams took a welcome water break midway through the opening half.
Leeside’s right-back Daniel Brennan cleared off the line at one end and wide man Bollard had a rising shot go over at the other as a tight first half ended.
On the restart, Sean Finneran had a high, curling effort that landed on the roof of the Leeside net while Leeside’s Tim Hegarty fired wide. The Cork side had a Jamie Coughlan ‘goal’ disallowed for offside on the hour mark as the game ebbed and flowed.
It took a fabulous double save from Cullinane in the Leeside goal to keep out Leon Nolan Henderson midway through the second half and just before the scheduled water break.
Leeside relied on long balls over the top and launched it forward too often rather than try to play out for the back and, as a result, Joseph’s had the better possession.
The champions had a ‘goal’ of their own disallowed for offside from Sean Finneran’s free kick before Leeside, in a desperate bid to draw level, forced three corners in quick succession.
Ryan Dineen headed Bollard’s corner over at the far post and Bollard himself had a goal-bound drive deflected out for another fruitless corner. Five minutes from the end, Leeside conjured up one last chance to force extra-time but skipper Aaron O’Mahony fired over from inside the penalty area.
Leeside from Little Island, just outside Cork city, were coached by Conor Murray in their first national final. And despite their defeat it has already been a season to remember for the Cork outfit, an amalgamation of two clubs – Leeside AFC and Glounthaune United.
St Joseph’s (4-3-3): Niall Ward; Ciaran Cummins, Abdul Odusoga, Dylan Dennehy, John Timlin (captain); Darragh Riordan, William Geraghty, Sean Finneran; John Price, Felipe Sousa, Leon Nolan Henderson. Sub used: Jossi Jose for Sousa (62 mins). Rest of panel: Colin Moran, Timothy Tselapedi, Jimmy Walshe, Aaron Meares, Patryk Misiewicz, Gary Staunton, Santiago Lopez, Zac Mullally, Alvaro Garcia.
Leeside United (4-3-3): Rory Cullinane; Daniel Brennan, Aaron O’Mahony (captain), Ryan Dineen, Chris Kelly; Ciaran Beecher, Ronan Murray, Craig Nolan; Alex Bollard, Jamie Coughlan, Tim Hegarty. Subs used: Ewan O’Shea for Murray (62 mins); Maidhc Ross for Nolan (84). Rest of panel: Michal Czaja, Ryan Lane, Surinder Padam, Emmanuel Bomor, Konrad Drewnicki, Oscar Verdonschott.
Referee: Paul Hunston (Kilkenny).
*See more photos in this week's Westmeath Independent - including the homecoming celebrations as the team brought the trophy over the town bridge in Athlone.