De Courcey Albion pulled a fantastic fightback out of their bag of tricks today in Water Rock Park away from home to St. John Boscos first team. Albion looked quite organised in the opening minutes until a through ball split the back 4 where their player rounded Michael Walsh sending them 1-0 to the good. 2 minutes later they grabbed another in the exact same fashion though this time Walsh stayed on his line and managed a slight touch but the ball rolled in to make it 2-0 to Boscos after just 7 minutes. The following 10 minutes Albion looked in all sorts of trouble spilling balls and not making the most of any passing opportunities. Out of nothing came a fantastic headed goal for Albion. Rob O’Donovan recieved the ball on the right side of midfield, fed it through to John Hipwell who used 2 touches to lay it to Noel Twomey on the left who was standing on the half way line and with the first touch switched wings where he found Conan Dillon who crossed the ball with again a first touch, Martin El-sahen rose to meet the ball to bring the travelling team back into the game. Boscos closed out the 2nd half as the more dangerous of the 2 after creating a few chances and striking the inside left post. John Hipwell was also unlcuky not to score from a free when it struck the crossbar. Half Time 2-1 to Boscos.
The opening 15 minutes of the 2nd half was largely dominated by Boscos though Albions back 4 and defencive midfielder John Hipwell were pulling out all the stops to keep them at bay. Albion started to use the width and started switching wings and all of a sudden found themselves well on top and pushing for an equaliser. Conan & Ben Dillon were starting to run midfield while John Hipwell was controlling the game at this point. Colm O’Donovan was putting in another storming performance winning 100% in the air and Colum Walsh wasn’t far behind in a great 2nd half performance from the young man. They were creating waves of attacks as the full backs joined in on the act but nothing to trouble the keeper. With less than 5 left on the clock Albion got a croner, it was swung in and headed scrappily by Boscos defence and fell to the feet of Jody Mac who swung and fired and ball goalwards, the ball just about crossed the line before Boscos tried bloacking in and the ball spun back over the line once more to make sure, Boscos cleared it but the ref was in a great position to give the goal. 2-2 Full time.
Albion picked up where they left off in extra time, well on top. 5 mins into the first half John Hipwell looked to have scuffed a ball to the left but Noel Twomey pressed and forced the defender into a mistake, Twomey latched onto it and rounded the keeper to make it 3-2. Albion held firm for the rest of extra time to come away with a great 3-2 much needed win to advance to the next round of the cup….. James O’Driscoll.
Team: M Walsh, J MacNamara, J O’Driscoll, C Walsh, C O’Donovan, R O’Donovan, N Twomey, C Dillon, J Hipwell, B Dillon, M El-sahen
Subs: JP Hayes(’55 – for R O’Donovan), D Daly(’65 for M El-sahen), M Ryan(‘119 for N Twomey).
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