Lucan bag the Tom Carroll Cup

LUCAN United’s Saturday team’s incredible season continued last Wednesday night in the Iveagh Grounds, Crumlin, when they bagged the LSL Tom Carroll Cup after a 4-0 win over Airfield United reports John Mooney.

Lucan had already won the Major 1B Saturday at a canter, got narrowly beaten in the Noel Ryan decider by Old County FC and will face Wexford Bohemians in the final of the LFA Junior Cup on Sunday, 30th June to see if they can add to their stash.

It is not a fluke that this side has been successful as Gary Stokes and Conor Duffy had two great years at Belgard Athletic before moving on to Lucan, and were joined by lifelong club stalwart John Markey, on the coaching side, to create a force of nature and haven’t looked back.

All season they have been mixing the team about so much that nobody is sure of their place and, the thing is, everyone seems to buy into their philosophy.

Wednesday saw them take control in the opening half and build up a comfortable 3-0 lead that they were never going to surrender, even if Airfield could have been allowed to field more than the allocated 11.

They hit the front on 20 minutes through man-of-the-match, Leo Myers, when he curled a free kick over the defensive wall and into the back of the net.

Myers is the sort of player that glides around the field and, while others seem to be breaking a sweat, he lets the ball do the work and is a very hard player to get to grips with.

Their second, just before the 30 minute mark, came from Oliver Kendrick, as he bravely rose with keeper Stephen Whelan and headed home a centre from Manuel Jesus.

And before Airfield had time to recover they were 3-0 down, when Jordan Hankey was on hand to slot home a Mark Young pass, after the Airfield defence failed to clear a loose ball.

In all honesty Airfield only had one real chance to score, when Alan Connor’s header hit the upright, then hit keeper Ian Molly on the back, but Molloy managed to grab the ball before crossing the line, that was at 1-0, would have made a difference, I doubt it.

The second half was never going to be anything like the first as Lucan were far too strong to surrender a 3-0 lead, however, there was icing on the cake for Tiernan McAleese.

He came in at centre back, did a great job, rounded off the scoring with a fierce drive, and banished the ghosts that haunted him after he was out of sorts in the Ryan Cup final a month earlier.

LUCAN UNITED: I. Molloy, T. McAleese, M. Jesus, M. Tuite, M. Young, R. Hyland, O. Kendrick, J. Hanley, A. Kavanagh, L. Myers, R. McMahon, D. Mhandiwa, C. Harte, B. O’Halloran, E. O’Halloran, T. Kane, J. Behan, C. McLoughlin, J. Chikiwila.