Cork advance to quarter-final

Clare 0-3 Cork

Cork had an easy victory over an under strength Clare side in the Inter League Youths Cup at the County Grounds on Saturday. Clare were missing a number of players due to injury and illness and to be competitive against strong teams like Cork in this competition Clare need to be able to field their strongest team. This result puts Cork into the quarter-final and on this evidence they are justifiably favourites for the title.

Clare started brightly and Conor Ryan caused Cork problems early on with some good attacking runs down the left wing. When Cork settled they started to pile on the pressure. On 10 minutes Darren O'Neill had to make a great defensive header from under his crossbar to keep the score at 0-0. On 20 minutes Gary Twomey shot wide for Cork when in a good position on the edge of the box. Moments later Twomey got loose again on the edge of the box and this time he made no mistake with a well struck effort to the right corner. In the 25th minutes Eoin Kilcommons missed a free header for Cork from 6 yards out after a good delivery from the right by Kevin Long. Daniel Collins in the Clare goal was called on to make two great saves in quick succession in the 35th minute from Twomey and Kilcommons. Clare best chance of the first half came in the 40th minute. Keith O'Connor found Nicola Macura on the edge of the box and his well struck effort just went over the crossbar. On the stroke of half time Collins had to make another great save to keep a header from Kevin Kennelly out.

To their credit Clare came out fighting in the second half and had the best of the first 15 minutes of the half. Simon Malone had a great chance to level the match on 55 minutes but his shot narrowly missed the target with a powerful shot to the left corner. Jason Whyte came closest to equalising for the home side on 60 minutes when another powerful shot from outside the box was saved onto the crossbar by Daniel Moore in the Cork goal. In the 65th minute Cork finished the game as a contest. A long ball into the box was met by Kilcommons with a sweet left foot strike and Collins in the Clare goal had no chance to make the save. In the 70th minute Cork substitute Kenny O'Leary completed the scoring for Cork when he volleyed home a corner from Kilcommons with Collins again given no chance to make a save. Ryan Boyle tried hard to get Clare back in the match but on this day there was no stopping this Cork outfit from claiming the three points and advancing to the quarter-final. Clare now play Waterford away on the 14th December and will need to get a result to keep their hopes alive in this year's competition.

CLARE:
1. Daniel Collins (Burren Utd)
2. Darren O'Neill (Kildysart Celtic)
3. Michael Redden (Burren Utd)
4. Alan Horan (Sporting Ennistymon)
5. Keith O'Connor (Kildysart Celtic)
6. Jason Whyte (Avenue Utd)
7. Conor Ryan (Newmarket Celtic)
8. Ryan Boyle (Lifford)
9. Nicola Macura (Avenue Utd)
10. Simon Malone (Sporting Ennistymon)
11. Kenny Ogendenbe (Turnpike Rovers)
12. Thomas Cronin (Turnpike Rovers) for Ogendenbe
13. Ethan McCarthy (Kildysart Celtic)
14. Shaun Downes (Kilrush Rangers)
15. Daryl Quain (Bridge Utd)
16. Thomas Corry (Avenue Utd) for Whyte
17. Jamie O'Gorman (Bridge Utd) for Ryan (inj)

CORK:
1. Danie Moore
2. Chris Fahy
3. Liam Doyle
4. Sean Blare
5. Stephen Kenny
6. Gary Twomey
7. Chris Fox
8. Kevin Long
9. Kevin Kennelly
10. Eoin Kilcommons
11. Danny Buckley
12. Christy Bullman for Kennelly
13. Stephen Mahon for Long
14. Kenny O'Leary for Kilcommons