Kilnamanagh AFC saw off St Paul’s Artane on penalties
Photos by Leslie Evans
Kilnamanagh are spot on after penalty shoot out
KILNAMANAGH AFC found themselves in a penalty shootout last Friday as they beat St Paul’s Artane to get themselves to the third round of the Metropolitan Cup.
The game went to penalties after ending 2-2 with the match being a frantic affair to say the least. Kilanamanagh found themselves on the backfoot on two occasion but showed great resilience each time to work their way back into the game.
Sean Casey would score first for St Pauls before John O’Donoghue equalised from a Conor McCrea assist. The game would be 1-1 for the majority of the second half before a flurry of action late on.
Casey would once again score for St Pauls before Kilnamanagh would find an equaliser almost immediately with Darragh Deegan getting a goal for the side. Now tied at 2-2 the match was heading into extra time.
While Kilnamanagh would gain an extra man advantage in extra time following the dismissal of St Pauls’ Evan Ryan, they would be unable to press on and find the winner.
Action from the game between Kilnamanagh and St Paul’s
Ultimately extra time would also finish 2-2 and the game was to be decided with a penalty shootout. The hero of the day would be goalkeeper David McNamara who produced a save to secure a 4-2 win for Kilnamanagh after one of the Pauls players had blasted a previous attempt over the bar.
Manager Conor Kenna spoke on the win and the overall status of the team.
“Overall I’m very happy with where we’re at. We’ve had some good results and one or two that didn’t go our way. We’re playing Sacred Heart this week which is obviously a local derby so we’ll be looking to get some more points at the weekend.”
“Obviouly promotion is the main thing. Three teams go up and three teams go down. It’s a tough league to get out of. The aim is to try to get out this year and try to win the cup.”
The team is getting consistency while introducing some new faces to the squad. Kian Ekhumelo made his debut for the team on Friday. Luke Feighery is another young player who performed well coming on and scoring a penalty in the shootout.
