Institute of Technology Carlow 1 Waterford Institute of Technology 0
WIT suffered heartache in the Tallaght Stadium on Wednesday last when they lost out to a strong IT Carlow team in the final of the CFAI Cup. The Waterford outfit went into the game on the back of two brilliant displays. In the quarter final they defeated Belfast Metropolitan College 4-0 and in their semi final they repeated that score against Letterkenny IT.
The team, who are managed by the Waterford United manager Paul O’Brien, knew they would find life difficult against a Carlow outfit who were trying to win this prestigious trophy for the third time in four years. It must have been a bitter sweet occasion for the Blues boss because it was one of his RSC based players Ben Ryan who scored what proved to be the winning goal of a tense decider. He struck just after the hour mark and his header was good enough to break the hearts of Paul O’Brien’s men.
WIT handed IT Carlow an early opportunity as they conceded a penalty after just six minutes. Ben Ryan was fouled in the penalty area by goalkeeper Cormac O’Brien and the referee pointed to the spot on the advice of his assistant. Barry O’Mahony stepped up but O’Brien got down to his right to mark a smart save.
