Greenstar Under 16 B Cup Final
Ballyduff 3 Villa 2

Ballyduff went home with the Greenstar Under 16 B Cup following a truly dramatic final in Graun Park on Monday night last. Played on what was a beautiful May evening the game ebbed and flowed all through and it kept the large attendance in suspense right up to the final whistle.The game erupted into life when the St. Nicholas’ Park outfit levelled the game on 55 minutes. Three quick fire goals, which included a fantastic match winning strike from Nathan Bagge, followed.
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Darragh Farrell created the first chance of the game for Ballyduff on eight minutes but his left-footed shot was just wide of the far post. On 17 minutes Ballyduff keeper Gavin Power tipped a Kyle Coughlan free-kick from 25 yards around the posts. From the resultant corner Eoin McSweeney opened the scoring for Villa when his corner kick deceived the Ballyduff netminder and found the far corner of the net. Cian Bolger had a chance to equalise on 26 minutes but his shot was wide.Eoin McSweeney created the first chance of the second half on 42 minutes when he took a pass from Conor Goff but his shot was saved at the second attempt by keeper Power.
Ross Delahunty was then denied by a super Power save seven minutes later.
Ballyduff levelled the contest with their first attempt of the second period on 55 minutes when Darragh Farrell split the Villa defence with a superb through ball to Michael O’Connor, who held his nerve to drill a low right-footed shot past Luke Horgan. The lead lasted less than two minutes as the Connor’s Park outfit got themselves back in front with a brilliant goal. McSweeney fed the ball out to Conor Goff and he unleashed an unstoppable right-footed shot that found the far top corner from 25 yards.
A third goal in the space of four minutes arrived when Ballyduff equalised on 59 minutes. Ryan Hennessy latched onto a long ball from out of the defence and beat Luke Horgan with a fine right-footed finish from 14 yards. Ballyduff scored the winning goal just three minutes when Michael O’Connor played the ball down the right-flank for Nathan Bagge and he powered a stunning right-footed strike past a helpless Luke Horgan from just inside the penalty area.
Although Villa did try force an equalising goal, Ballyduff held firm to win their second cup final in the space of a week with victorious captain Michael O’Brien picking up the Greenstar Under 16B Cup from Mary Ray after the game.