Lourdes battle their way to Neville Cup
AN EXCITING Under-16 Neville Cup Final saw Lourdes Celtic win 2-1 after a dogged Leixlip United side clawed back to level the match in the second half at Rathcoole Boys on Saturday.
In what was an end-to-end decider, it was the Crumlin lads who started on top with it taking them just five minutes to break the deadlock.
Lourdes Celtic had to battle tooth and nail to see off a dogged Leixlip team when they met in the Under 16 Neville Cup decider.
Centre forward Dylan Barry peeled off the shoulder of the last defender to latch onto a well-timed through ball and buried it across ‘keeper Ed Arbociene from just inside the box.
But the goal was not a true reflection of Arbociene’s overall display as he pulled off consistent saves to keep them within touching distance.
The Kildare side came close when Ryan Lynch rose high inside the box to meet a cross in the air, but his headed effort flew wide.
With the tricky Reece Lamphiere in midfield, a goal seemed imminent for Leixlip but Lourdes skipper Devin Gallagher matched him with work rate, going from box to box dictating the rate of play.
After the interval, Lourdes reaped the rewards of their battling when an in-swinging Lamphiere corner was deflected into the net.
However, Adam Roche and David Cuite’s pairing in central defence shut out several of Leixlip’s advances for much of the second-half.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, TJ Gill gained some height with a massive leap to nod the ball home from a corner at the front post to place one hand on the cup.
Leixlip were not going to go down without a fight however and right before the games close, Jesse Grist had a chance to level but his header went just wide.
