Villa's Sean O'Keeffe heads clear from De La Salle's Eoin Brown. | Photos: Noel Browne
Villa C 2; De La Salle B 1
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The Villa youngsters went into this Under-11C League game with an unbeaten record on Saturday morning last which was played at the Hospital Grounds, the home ground of St Otterans. On this occasion they came up against a brave and talented De La Salle side who never stopped trying during the 60 minutes but the Villa had that little bit of extra luck to secure another three points which keeps them at the top of the table.
Having said that, the DLS boys did take the lead and they gave the leaders a real fright and the Villa will not face a tougher game for the remainder of the season.
Villa could have went in front on 12 minutes when Sean O’Keeffe split the De La Salle defence with a superb pass for Alex Casey but despite racing clear on goal, his right-footed shot was hacked off the line by visiting defender Stephen Power.
At the other end, Eoin Brown sent Matthew O’Connor into the clear but the pacey centre forward was superbly denied by an excellent Colm Smith tackle before the same player raced onto a Luke Walsh pass; however this time his right-footed effort came crashing back off the post.
It has to be said that young O’Connor was causing problems to the Villa defence and he had another real chance to give his side the advantage on 25 minutes when he got on the end of an Eoin Brown pass but his cracking 16-yard shot was somehow tipped over the crossbar by netminder Evan Barry.
No goals then during the first half but plenty of effort and commitment from both sides.
For full story see our print edition.
