Cherry Orchard crowned in Northern Ireland contest

By Stephen Leonard

CHERRY Orchard brought home the Supercup Northern Ireland Vase following their nailbiting 1-0 victory over Tyrone in the Riada Stadium, Ballymoney last Friday.

Skipper Sean Madden led by example, producing a superb bit of skill that saw him slip two tackles before firing the ball into the top corner in the opening half.

It was the very least their first half efforts deserved as they produced what manager David Collins described as their “best football of the tournament.”

Indeed they should have been further ahead with Kevin O’Reilly seeing his shot flash across the face of goal while Aaron McGrath’s 25-yard attempt hit the crossbar.

The second half proved a lot more even and Tyrone threw everything they had at the Dubliners, switching to a 3-5-2 formation.
The Orchard countered that in kind and almost caught their opponents with a couple of late swift counter attacks, but, in the end, Madden’s goal proved sufficient.

It was the final step in an impressive campaign that saw the Ballyfermot side remain unbeaten over the five games they played in as many days.

Their tournament began with a scoreless draw against Londonderry- a game in which goalkeeper Harry Clarke was shown an early red.

The loss of the Irish Under 16 netminder was huge, but, while his replacement Kian Moore plays for the club’s Under 14s, he really stepped up to the plate and his performance was vital to seeing them earn the draw.

Next up was First Choice Soccer from Tennessee, against whom they took the lead 15 minutes through Emmanuel Odemiyi only to see the Americans equalise from a rebound off a long range effort early in the second half.

The Orchard did chalk up their first win of the tournament against Colina FC from Chile, beating the South Americans 4-0.

All goals came from three Clondalkin lads including two full-backs, Madden and Adam Nugent, with O’Reilly hitting as brace.

This set them up for, what proved, an epic clash with County Antrim in the semi finals.

The first half saw the Dubliners miss a penalty, and have three shots cleared off the line before Izzy Dezu hit the post.

They did eventually break the deadlock early in the second half when Marc Walsh unloaded a splendid half volley from the edge of the box to the target only to see Antrim respond with two goals to turn this deficit on its head.

Battling ferociously late on in the match, the Orchard managed to clinch an equaliser in the closing minute when Sobe Nwakaolo was taken down in the box and O’Reilly held his nerve to convert the resulting penalty.

The final whistle was sounded not long after and the match went straight to penalties during which goalkeeper Clarke pulled off a great stop to help see the Orchard win out 5-4 and book their place in the decider.