Last weekend our Under 17 team exited the National Cup in a game away to Oranmore/Maree who now advance to the quarter final. The game was in the balance up to 70 minutes but a number of quick goals decided matters. As you would expect in a game of this importance it was helter skelter from the off with neither team able to get control of the ball on the slippery surface. Our back 4 of Ciaran Carmody, Aussie Clifford, David Lenihan and Alan McElligott were quite solid and started many attacks for us when the game settled and they were able to get the ball down. But after 20 minutes Oranmore struck after a well worked near post corner caused consternation in front of our goals and they forced the ball just over the line. We came into it from there and more than matched our opponents up to the half with a midfield of Sean Donnellan, Sean Collins, Cormac O’Brien and Dean Meehan beginning to get on top. Our front 2 of Conor Lowe and Christopher Murphy forced 2 excellent chances but somehow Oranmore kept the ball out. 2nd Half – Our best period of the game came just after half time and for 20 minutes we dominated but a dogged back four and a well organised midfield in front of them kept us away from their goal. On the counter Oranmore were very dangerous with a number of quick tricky players probing. On 68 minutes the game changed when a shot from outside our box was parried by Brian O’Regan but an opposing forward was first on the scene to finish the rebound. Unbelievably a carbon copy followed 2 minutes later and we were 3 nil down. On 75 minutes the linesman gave a 4th goal against us which was hotly disputed but to no avail. To the credit of our team they kept going due in no small part to Jack Lynch, Ed Moynihan and Ciaran Murray who came on at various times in the second half. We finished the stronger and Ed himself got a goal with 10 minutes left. Try as we did we just couldn’t force another so it finished 4-1 to Oranmore. So ends our National Cup voyage for this year but if the lads keep on training and improving we might be in the hunt for trophies later on in the year. Well done to all our lads on their spirited performance – they left nobody down. Thanks too to all our supporters who made the long journey, to the officials and also to the Oranmore/Maree club who were very sporting and looked after us very well after the game.