RCC 5:3 Tullamore College
On Thursday 21st of December RCC’s senior boys’ soccer team travelled to RDFL headquarters in Lecarrow to take on Tullamore College in their second West Leinster league game. The match was played under tough conditions as it was very windy which effected both teams on the day. Although RCC were playing against the wind in the first half they started the game brightly and went ahead after 7 minutes when Kian Mulligan turned home a cross from Enzo Bueno. RCC continued on the front foot and got their second goal of the game in the 15th minute. After a huge, long kick out by RCC goalkeeper Brian Keegan wasn’t dealt with properly by the Tullamore defence, it left Ryan Dowling chasing the ball down which put pressure on the Tullamore goalkeeper who miskicked the ball into his own net. RCC then suffered a minor setback when Tullamore scored against the run of play in the 24th minute to make it 2-1. The RCC team recovered quickly from the setback and added a third goal when Enzo Bueno picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch and played a lovely through ball to Eugenio Neto who calmly slotted the ball past the Tullamore goalkeeper in 28th minute.
Some great defensive play from centre back Jack Hayes and right back Conor Fannon who was constantly running up and down the wing ensured that Tullamore didn’t get an equaliser. There was still time for one more goal for RCC in the first half and it came in the 38th minute when Enzo put in another dangerous cross that was flicked on by Ryan Dowling and was buried into the back of the net by midfielder Liam Naughten.
Tullamore came out strong at the start of the second half and got a goal back after four minutes to make it 4-2. The Tullamore number 12 produced a great shot from the edge of the RCC box which curled into the bottom corner of the net leaving goalkeeper Brian Keegan no chance of saving it. Tullamore made a raft of substitutions which effected the flow of the game over the next twenty minutes with both creating very little with the tough windy conditions. RCC got their fifth and final goal of the game on the 69th minute when Ryan Dowling’s corner was tapped into the net by Kian Mulligan after Tullamore failed to clear their lines which resulted in a scramble in the Tullamore box and Mulligan found himself in the right position to tap the ball into the net leaving the score at 5-2. RCC used all four of their substitutions as the second half wore on with Jack Campbell replacing Conor Fannon at right back, Nathan Mac an Bhaird replacing Eugenio Neto, Evan McNeill replacing Paul John Devaney and Joshua McCormack replacing Brian Mannion. Tullamore scored a late goal in the 84th minute but it proved to be too late to mount any kind of a comeback as RCC ran out 5-3 winners in the end. Next up for the senior team is Wilson’ Hospital in their final league game after Christmas.
