Kerry District League

U17 Mark Farren Memorial Cup 1st Round
Wednesday 3rd May 2017
Cobh Ramblers 1-1 Kerry , Kerry won 5-4 on penalties AET .

Report by Tommy Naughton

Kerry are through to the second round of the Mark Farran Memorial Cup after a thriller sudden death penalty shoot win over Cobh Ramblers at St Coleman’s Park last night .

Kerry Keeper Rob Osbourne was the hero saving Cobh’s 1st and 6th penalties to win the game in sudden death .

Neither side could find a break through in the opening ninety minutes with Cobh hitting the crossbar with 20 minutes remaining from Jaze Kabia and then Kerry’s Adria Miravet denied by the post with 15 minutes remaining.

Thomas Burke opened the scoring for Kerry five minutes into the first period of extra time only to see Jaze Kadia level the game for Cobh Ramblers with just three minutes remaining to send the game to a penalty shoot out.

Penalties as taken ;

Kerry’s Ronan Cahill scores , Kerry 1-0 Cobh .

Cobh’s Jaze Kabia has  penalty saved by Robert Osborne , Kerry 1-0 Cobh .

Kerry’s Sheagh O’Connor scores , Kerry 2-0 Cobh .

Cobh’s Loic Ngwefang scores , Kerry 2-1 Cobh .

Kerrys Martin Coughlan see’s his penalty come back off the crossbar , Kerry 2-1 Cobh .

Cobh’s Cameron Harlson scores , Kerry 2-2 Cobh .

Kerry’s Thoms Burke scores , Kerry 3-2 Cobh .

Cobh’s  Luke Quinn scores , Kerry 3-3 Cobh .

Kerry’s James Rusk scores , Kerry 4-3 Cobh .

Cobh’s Jack Turner scores , Kerry 4-4 Cobh .

Sudden Death

Kerry’s John Ward scores , Kerry 5-4 Cobh .

Cobh’s keeper David Harrington has his penalty saved by Robert Osborne. Kerry 5-4 Cobh .

Kerry team on the night was , 1.Robert Osborne , 2.James Rusk , 3. Adam O’Donoghue, 4.Shane Jordan, 5.Ronan Cahill, 6.Sebastian Vasiu, 7.Thomas Burke (capt), 8.Eoin Clifford, 9.Adria Miravet, 10. Sheagh O’Connor, 11.Boki Nikic, 12. John Ward, 13.Sean Carmody, 14.Martin Coughlan, 15.John Hayes, 16.Kevin Williams, 17.Dillon Robinson .

Kerry travel Cobh again on Sunday in the League as Kerry look to make it 3 wins in a row in all competitions .

After Match Comments , Extract From The LeagueOfIreland.com

Kerry’s Manager Darren Aherne said, “It was a great night that will live long in my memory for sure.

We asked him the result being history-making, and he said, “It’s not our objective to make history. We are just coaches and players looking to get some success from an elite U-17 environment. But it is something that I do mention to the players on occasion, that we are the first group to achieve these things from our County/Area as we do have players from Limerick in our squad.”

“These Limerick lads are vital to our successes, and they have also come up through the FAI emerging talent program, which has the aim of developing players for this standard of football.”

“So at the moment we are achieving many firsts as a group, but I’m sure we will be brought back down to earth pretty soon, but at the moment we are having great fun.”

Aherne continued, “The win was brilliant. Travelling ‪on Wednesday night‬ had it’s difficulties. We left straight after school, with some players still in their uniforms. I must thank the parents for their support with this.”

On the game itself he said, “I have to say our first 20 minutes of the game reflected the challenges of a midweek game. Cobh started really strongly and I have to say we rode our luck on occasion.”

“We started to adjust for the remainder of the half after this. We are two evenly matched teams, and the chances and the score reflected this on the night.”

“Thomas Burke got a very important goal to give us the edge. We had a great chance to go two up, but great credit was due to Cobh in how they responded, and they got a deserved equalizer.”

“On to the dreaded shoot out. I now know I have six strong characters in the group, as they immediately wanted to take a penalty. I said to our keeper Robert Osbourne to go and enjoy the shoot-out which is what he did, and he became the hero on the night making two excellent saves.”

When asked how big was the win for Kerry football in general Aherne said, “I suppose to put it in context as to what it means for the football community in Kerry, the texts of congratulations started once the final whistle was sounded. It made headline news on Radio Kerry this morning, and the phrase ‘three wins in all competitions’ has been used. So I have already contacted the players this morning to guard against complacency, and to focus them on their recovery over the coming days in preparation for what will be another stern test against Cobh on Sunday.”

He was also quick to praise all the players, and staff, “If this squad has any chance of achieving anything at this level then it will always be a team effort that is needed.”

“We made a few changes from the Cabinteely game, and to also help us get something from the 2 games in 5 days.”

“All of the changes gave a very good account of themselves, which shows myself and the staff, that we have a squad that we can utilize over the coming months.”

“Special mention must go to our keeper Robert Osbourne who handled everything that Cobh threw at him on the night, and made the all- important saves in the shootout. Thomas Burke came up with our goal in extra time. And I have to say some of our penalties where of the highest standard, Sheagh O’Connor and James Rusk in particular.”