The 17s team played a hard fought National Cup game vs Killarney Athletic last weekend in sundrenched Fenit. We ended up winners on a scoreline of 3-2. It was a game that we might have won by more but in the end it could easily have been a draw but for good defending. The first half was even enough but it was noticeable that when we kept possession of the ball and moved it quickly, Athletic were in trouble. But when we defended frees, at times we weren’t committed as we should have been and we were in trouble. Nevertheless we took the lead after 5 minutes after Conor Lowe finished a sweet move involving Christopher Murphy and Cormac O’Brien. Athletic responded by upping the intensity and made it difficult for us. As already said we endured one or two scary moments from frees but Brian O’Regan in goals was solid for us. As the half wore on our lads forced a number of chances, all of which were spurned by narrow misses and excellent goalkeeping. Coming in to half time a smashing through ball by Athletic caught us and their centre forward showed excellent technique and confidence in scoring the equaliser. 2nd Half: We started the second as we did the first with a goal after 5 minutes when Cormac drilled in a corner and Ciaran Murray rose high to finish with a powerful header. We had the better of the second half with better defending from Ossie Clifford, Ciaran Murray, Dean Meehan, Ciaran Carmody and Alan McElligott snuffing out their attack. We continued to be dangerous in attack but again were not clinical near the goals. Sean Collins, Conor Lowe, Ed Moynihan and Cormac O’Brien did very well in midfield and more than matched their opponents.Padraig Donnellan and David Lenihan, when introduced, added impetus when some of the other players were wilting. We scored number 3 with 20 mins to go through Conor after long periods of sustained pressure in their half. In the last 10 minutes Athletic threw caution to the wing and committed people forward but at the back by now we had grown into the game and had their measure. On the counter we had a few attacks with 4 attackers against 2 defenders but took the wrong option too often. In the final minute we conceded needlessly when we never cleared a routine high ball and teams like Athletic punish such shoddiness. But in the end a good win in the National U17 Cup.Well done to all on the day, but lots to work on in training!