20th place finish for North Tipp in Kennedy Cup

By Gary Culbert

The new format of the Kennedy Cup U14 Boys soccer tournament came back to haunt the North Tipperary Schoolchildren’s Football League (NTSFL).

With all three teams in their group finishing level on points, North Tipp proved to be the unlucky team to come bottom on goals scored, ultimately leading to a 20th placed finish despite an impressive record of two wins, two draws, and one loss across an action packed week of football at the University of Limerick.

North Tipp began their campaign with a 1-1 draw against West Cork, who would go on to finish seventh in the prestigious tournament. Nenagh Celtic’s James Hynes drew the NTSFL level midway through the second half, while it was Arra Rovers’ Oscar O’Halloran who was named as the player of the match as the points were shared.

North Tipp entertained Kerry on day two in their second game, which was Kerry’s first match of the tournament. It finished scoreless, but North Tipp will feel aggrieved after a contentious offside call ruled out what would have been a winning goal. Dara Naughton of BT Harps was named player of the match.

North Tipp then had a nervous wait for the final game between Kerry and West Cork – the only result that they didn’t want was a score draw. Sure enough, West Cork and Kerry played out a conspicuous 2-2 draw, and so, owing to their inferior goals scored, would have to make do with a bottom place finish in the group, and thus a place in the Shield.

There may be some regrets from the North Tipp management for being conservative in their two group games, opting for a back five and one sitting in front, when they looked well capable of overcoming both teams when they got the ball down on the ground.

A difficult game against a strong Dundalk & District League side followed on in the knockout stages of the Shield.

North Tipp were a goal down after three minutes and the deficit was doubled ten minutes later. NTSFL pulled one back through skipper and eventual player of the match, Darragh Reynolds of Rearcross FC, but were unable to force an equaliser.

Once knocked out of the shield, the pressure was off North Tipp and they went on to record two wins in their placement games while thoroughly enjoying their football in the final two days of the tournament.

The first against Roscommon, where BT Harps’ Kyle O’Meara got the only goal of the game in a player of the match display. Cloughjordan FC’s

Darragh Greene was the player of the match as North Tipp came out the right side of a five-goal thriller with Sligo/Leitrim. Arra’s Oscar O’Halloran, BT’s Martin McGreevy, and Nenagh AFC’s Brendan Kinstlers were all on target in the win, which concluded a positive season for the group, which included a trip to Salou and lifting the inter-league shield.

It is well known that you can’t play Kennedy Cup if you are with a League of Ireland academy so for that reason, we will now see a lot of players from this squad joining academies in the coming weeks and months.

Players Player of the Tournament: David McElligott

Coaches Player of the Tournament: Brendan Kinstlers

NTSFL Squad: Aaron Owens, Dara Naughton, Kyle O’Meara, Pearse Óg Everard, Martin McGreevy (BT Harps); Conor Harrington, Brendan Kinstlers, Andi Durnescu, Cian Mandrilla (Nenagh AFC); James Hynes, Jakub Rivitt, Callun Ahern Donnellan (Nenagh Celtic); David McElligott, Tom Ryan (Ballymackey FC); James Lobek, Sean Hayes (Lough Derg); Darragh Reynolds (Rearcross, Captain); Oscar O’Halloran (Arra Rovers); Daragh Greene (Cloughjordan FC); Sam Kenneally (Killavilla United).