Burrin Celtic 1

St Joseph’s 1

The pitch at the Valley was in great condition, despite the torrential overnight rain and it made for a great game of football, with both sides giving their best, creating chances and both Keepers were in fine form, otherwise there would have been a number of scores.

As it turned out, the first goal didn’t come until twenty minutes into the game and it came from Burrin, as a great ball from Lorcan Doyle found Dan Smyth, who crossed it into the box and Eli Byrne fired it home for 1-0. Joey’s were dangerous, on the break and their striker was keeping the Burrin keeper on his toes, as he fired in a couple of good attempts. Joey’s came closest to equalising, when a shot hit the crossbar, but the rebound was cleared to safety by the Burrin defence. The interval came with Burrin leading by that solitary goal.

In the second-half, the tempo of the game rose, as Joey’s started to push more players forward and only some great goalkeeping by the Burrin keeper, kept them at bay. Joey’s finally had some luck some twenty minutes from the end, as Corey Connolly, scored a spectacular goal, from all of 25 yards to level the scores at 1-1 and a deserved equaliser at that. Both sides tried their best to get a winner and this resulted in a frantic finish, with Burrin’s Lorcan Doyle also hitting the bar and whilst Dan Smyth put the rebound into the net – it was disallowed for offside. Eli Byrne also had a great chance to score, but he pulled his shot wide and then with the last kick of the match Dan Smyth, only had the Joey’s keeper to beat, but he also pulled his shot wide. This was a great game to watch for the hardy spectators who braved the weather.

Best for Burrin were Lorcan Doyle, Scott Tracey and Jake Sommer, whilst it was a great, all-round team performance from the Joey’s lads.