Our U17s traveled to Killorglin on Saturday afternoon looking to continue their recent good form. With the game being played on their astro turf pitch their was no excuse for either team not to get the ball down and play. We set about our task well early on with our midfield trio of Alan McElligott, Thomas Lenihan and Bobby O Regan using the ball very well to link up with our front three. Up front Sean Higgins, Chris Murphy and Conor Lowe were a handful for the home side and their energy and link up play allowed them to create a few half chances during the half. Our task was made a bit tougher when we conceded from a speculative long range effort midway through the half. This seemed to give the hosts a boost as we started to panic a little bit, playing a lot of long balls which made it difficult for our front players to maintain possession. Killorglin scored a second late in the half when they finished well with a curling effort.
The first twenty minutes of the second half saw us completely dominate possession as we showed great composure and steel. Most of our good play in the half was started by our back five of Brian O Regan, Darren Chester, Ciaran Carmody, Cormac O Brien and Oisin O Brien. We were putting together some lovely passages of play with Cormac, Alan, Thomas, Sean and Chris heavily involved. Bobby pulled a goal back for us when he drilled a free kick home from the edge of the box. We introduced David Lenihan later in the half as we kept pushing for an equaliser. Unfortunately the hosts scored again which all but confirmed the result with Brian saving a penalty after that as well.
We showed a lot of quality and bravery to play out from the back throughout the game but unfortunately lacked a certain toughness when defending.