Third time lucky for Fahy in McDonnell Cup final

Fahy Rovers B 3, Charlestown Athletic B 0

FAHY Rovers B were crowned McDonnell Cup champions following their fully deserved 3-0 victory over Charlestown Athletic at sun-drenched Milebush Park.

For Fahy it was third time lucky in this cup final as on two previous occasions they came out on the wrong side of the result. It was little wonder that there were massive celebrations after the final whistle among the team and large band of supporters.

It was a highly entertaining decider from start to finish, with plenty of goal action along with some fine football played by both sides.

But there was little doubt Fahy were the better side. They attacked in droves from the off and created several good chances.

The only blip in their opening half performance was not to find the net on at least two or three occasions. They created so many good chances in the opening period that one wondered if the misses would turn out to be very costly in the end.

However, on the resumption their relentless attacking finally paid dividends as they found the net on three occasions.

Charlestown Athletic, for their part, kept battling away throughout and although they were under severe pressure at the back, they defended brilliantly, especially in the opening half.

They did create a few decent scoring chances of their own and could have easily gone in for the break a goal or two up. But once their opponents scored, they found the going even tougher and despite their best efforts were never able to get in a blow.

Numerous
As already mentioned, Fahy had most of the play in the opening half. They created numerous scoring chances but just failed to find the target.

Driven on by team captain Richie Needham, they came close to scoring through Barry Rourke, Shane Fadden and Gary Concannon.

Indeed, a minute before the break Fadden hit a thundering shot that had goal written all over it but just went the wrong side of the Charlestown crossbar.

At the other end, Charlestown had a few scoring opportunities in that first half, with Sean Quinn and Martin Taylor going very close. Taylor in particular should have scored in the 40th minute when he found himself one-on-one with the Fahy ‘keeper. But despite two attempts, Ryan Feehan in the Fahy goal proved the master.

Although Charlestown had the first chance after the break, a Taylor shot that just went the wrong side of the post, it was Fahy who continued to dominate.
With that in mind, it came as no surprise when they took the lead in the 54th minute when a free kick by Gary Concannon was side-footed to the net by Needham.

After this goal Fahy drove on and both Pawel Wisniewski and Concannon had chances to extend their lead before Wisniewski scored a second in the 69th minute when he fired in a cross by Concannon.

To their credit, Charlestown - who had now introduced Kevin Duignan - continued to battle away.

Indeed, Duignan’s introduction saw Charlestown take control of a 15-minute period during which they put a lot of pressure on the Fahy defence.
However, five minutes from time it was game, set and match to Fahy after Barry Rourke scored his side’s third goal on a great afternoon for his club.

Fahy Rovers B: R. Feehan, J. Keane, S. Concannon, M. McDonagh, B. Durkan, P. O’Malley, R. Needham, B. Rourke, P. Wisniewski, S. Fadden, G. Concannon.
Subs used: M. Goggins, L. Sammon, E. Carney.
Charlestown Athletic B: D. Cassidy, G. Cassidy, B. Murphy, C. Flatley, S. Quinn, F. Harrison, P. Gavaghan, P. McDermott, D. Doherty, M. Taylor, D. McGrath.
Subs used: K. Duignan, M. McDonnell, S. Gallagher.
Ref: M. Walsh (Castlebar).
*Star rating: Richie Needham…captain led by example.