SSE Airtricity U17 League ; Kerry 3-1 Salthill Devon

SSE Airtricity U17 League
Sunday 26th June 2016
Kerry 3-1 Salthill Devon

Report and Pictures by Tommy Naughton. Images Copyright to KDL ,No usage without permission by any other website, Facebook or Twitter Pages.

There are good days and there are great days and Saturday was one of the great days because after nine defeats the Kerry league side, under new manager by Darren Aherne, recorded their first victory in the SSE Airtricity U17 League . It also showed the versatility of the squad when t hr substitutes used were to make a major contribution to the victory.
Once again they conceded tan early goal which came from a corner that was forced over the line by Jack Mortimer with just two minutes gone on the clock. But on this occasion they came back to win.
It might have taken them an hour to draw level but when they did you could see the transformation in the players as they forced the Galway side to defend from deep inside their own half.
Before the equaliser they had created several chances that on another day Dillon Robinson would have scored a hat trick but to his credit he never gave up and self belief and determination were finally rewarded with a great equaliser. We all know that to win games you must score goals but a factor that is sometimes forgotten is that you must also prevent goals. This was exhibited the Kerry captain and central defender who made two fantastic body blocks to prevent Salthill Devon from increasing their lead. Another superb display came from Gearoid Dillane at right back whose willingness to go forward is an added asset. Kerry had the ball in the net in the 18th minute but a dubious offside flag ruled it out.
Approaching the 40th minute a superb effort from Robinson was well held by Mark Greaney at the back post and the striker was denied by the bounce of the ball in the 43rd minute and then lost his footing as was about to shoot in the 44th minute.
The Galway side could have doubled their lead early in the second half when Kerry keeper Brian Lonergan failed to hold a Jake Mortimer corner but was saved by the upright.
Kerry needed a player who was willing to take on the Salthill defence and this materialised with the introduction of Blake Bolster, who had replaced the injured Martin Coughlin after thirty minutes, whose ability to ride the tackles and bypass players transformed the game.
Kerry eventually got the deserve equaliser in the 61st minute when a Brian Bolster corner was won by Thomas Burke whose header was finished by Robinson. Kerry could have gone ahead a minute later when a shot from Robinson hit the cross bar with the keeper a mere spectator. The home side took the lead in the 79th minute when Bolster put the ball over the defence and into the path of Thomas burke who beat the keeper at the back post. Kerry kept the Galway side at bay with one touch football and the use of area immediately adjacent to the corner flag. They consolidated their lead with another goal from Ben Cooney in stoppage time.

Kerry : Brian Lonergan, Gearoid Dillane, Kevin Williams, David O’Connor, Conor Standen, Darren Loughnane, Thomas Burke, Thando Dube, Dillon Robinson, Dylan O’Sullivan, Martin Coughlan . Subs;Blake Bolster, Michael O’Gara and Ben Cooney for Coughlin, O’Sullivan and Dube.

Salthill Devon; Mark Greaney, Christopher Horgan, Evan Reen, Cillian Doyle, Cian Dunne, Jack Mortmer, Jack Dwyer, Adam Nolan, Mark Wynne Walshe, Evan coyle, David Connaughton. Reserve: Matthew Davenport for Walshe.

Officials;
Referee , Adrian Quirke
Assistants, Thomas Sheehy & Kevin Cunningham .