DDSL 11B - Lee Kavanagh Cup - Match Report

Pitch 16 was the venue on Sunday morning for a classic cup tie involving two very evenly matched teams as Raheny Utd’s under 11’s hosted Lakelands FC for a place in the cup final. Raheny started well with the midfield trio of David Reddy, Darragh Heffernan and Killian Richmond attacking from the start and putting the Lakelands defence under pressure with their combination of pace and attacking flair. Lakelands did settle though and had a number of promising attacks but the stubborn defensive pairing of Raheny’s captain Darragh Geraghty and Zach Donegan were in resolute form. They did manage to unleash a promising long distance effort but Rhys Comiskey in goal for Raheny made one of his trademark stops to avert the danger. The deadlock was soon broken shortly after as a through ball from Heffernan was held up magnificently by striker Ruairi McDermott who then laid off a deft touch to the oncoming Reddy who rifled a shot into the bottom corner. Raheny were now in the ascendancy and were posing a lot of the questions on the flanks with Richmond and Cian Hartery both tormenting the Lakelands defence and before long Reddy got his brace following a very impressive passing move involving most of the team.

In the second half the expected fightback from Lakelands duly came Raheny’s way. Wave after wave of attack came but once again they were met by a stiff defence with Donegan and Geraghty competing fiercely for everything that was thrown at them by the Lakelands attack. Lakelands were forced to commit bodies forward in the latter stages of the game which left them vulnerable to the blistering pace of Harry Duffitt upfront who was posing a constant threat as Raheny tried to catch them on the break.

In the end Raheny held out to secure a 2 nil win which secured their place in the final which will lead them to an exciting end to the season as before that they are travelling to Scotland to get their first taste of European competition when they compete in the Moorlands FC Football Festival in Hamilton next weekend.

Best of luck lads.