Inchicore make Crumlin pay the penalty in FAI Cup
INCHICORE Athletic took a major scalp in beating Crumlin United 4-3 on penalties to make the first round of the FAI Cup on Sunday.
Playing two divisions below their Pearse Park opponents in Senior 1A, Inchicore held Crumlin to a 1-1 draw, forcing extra time and ultimately a shootout.
Inchicore winger Jack Cronin was in great attacking form, but the Crumlin defence held firm thanks in no small measure to the work of centre half Blair Mandiangu.
Indeed he was key to choking off a lot of the Inchicore threat and initiating Crumlin attacks by feeding the likes of Alan McGreal and Curtis Murphy.
Adam Mitchell and defender Mark Donohue were kept busy in the Inchicore rearguard as both defences kept first half clean sheets despite eight minutes of injury time.
Crumlin exploded out of the blocks in the second half in which the game was stopped three times in the opening 15 minutes as a result of injuries.
Crumlin’s Conor Murphy went close to breaking the deadlock with a wicked shot but Inchicore goalkeeper Patrick Reilly managed to get his body behind the ball.
Jake Donnelly also went close when he got himself into an excellent position to meet a delivery head on, just outside the six yard line, but his resulting header travelled over the bar.
At the other end Daniel Geragthy was proving a handful for Crumlin, but it was Martin Loughran’s side who took the lead when Donnelly converted a penalty after Curtis Murphy had been fouled in the box.
Yet Inchicore were not about to give up and restored parity when Geraghty pounced on a loose ball that the Crumlin defence failed to properly deal with and blasted home two minutes into injury time.
Extra time could not separate the two sides and so it was left to penalties to determine a winner.
And it was Inchicore who prevailed after Crumlin missed two of their opening three spotkicks and substitute Ger Marshall converted the winner.
