CLERIHAN SCHOOLBOYS FC

U14 SFAI CUP

Saturday was a landmark day for the u14s as they became only the second ever squad
from the club to step onto the pitch at the last 32 stage of the SFAI cup. The trip to
Herbertstown was always going to be a difficult assignment against opponents that had
just lost out by the odd goal in three to Cherry Orchard of Dublin last season. The first
half saw some heroic defending from the Clerihan lads with Eoin O’Donovan and Jack
Burke keeping the highly-rated home centre-forward quiet while goalkeeper Eoin Power
made a number of brilliant saves . Herbertstown did manage to score once but a slender
half-time deficit gave Clerihan plenty of hope. Unfortunately , a second goal after the
restart was the killer blow and forced Clerihan to re-organise in an effort to get back into
the game. Jack Burke moved to midfield in an effort to get some more support up to Luke
Hahessy but this inevitably left some gaps at the back which the home side exploited to
the full. To their credit , Clerihan kept plugging awy but found it impossible to breach
a very strong , physical defence. Each and every one of the squad gave it their all on the
day and there was a real sense of pride in this performance against a serious outfit. The
team managers were full of praise for the display and the home team were gracious to
acknowledge that they had a tough test. It is important to note the significance of the
achievement in reaching this stage of the competition , something that was beyond the
ability of any other U14 team from the South Tipp league this season. We hope that the
other teams in the club will strive even harder to match and maybe surpass this in the
coming years. Well done to all concerned , players and coaches , and also to those who
travelled to Limerick to support the lads.

HERBERTSTOWN (LIMERICK) 5 CLERIHAN 0

U11A LEAGUE

The U11s recorded another comfortable win in Clerihan on Saturday morning , totally
dominating against a gallant but depleted Vee Rovers squad. Callum Meagher gave
Clerihan a tenth minute lead with a sweet strike and was only denied a first-half hat-trick
by the post and crossbar. The Vee Rovers goalkeeper was in wonderful form and made
a number of top-class saves. Cormac Freier volleyed to the net early in the second half
to make it 2-0 before Callum Meagher completed the scoring with another great shot.
The visitors couldn’t cope with the power of Callum and Anthony Phelan in midfield and
a little bit more composure and better option-taking in attack would have yielded more
goals. Brian O’Sullivan had a great game on the left flank while there was a touch of
class about everthing Conor Og Ryan did.

CLERIHAN 3 VEE ROVERS 0

U16 TIPPERARY CUP

The U16s made their exit from the Tipperary Cup at the quarter-final stage when they
lost out to league leaders St. Kevins at Newhill park on Saturday morning. Clerihan
began brightly and didn’t allow Kevins any space or time on the ball. An unfortunate
lapse allowed the Kevins centre-forward through for an easy goal after ten minutes but
that was to be the only defensive slip-up of the first half. Dale Greene , playing through
the pain barrier with a troublesome hip injury , was outstanding at centre-half while
goalkeeper Liam Powell made one tremendous point-blank save. The second half saw
Clerihan pose more of an attacking threat with Reno Roche looking the most likely to
unhinge the home defence with his pace. However , a wonderful strike gave Kevins a
two-goal advantage on the hour mark , leaving Clerihan with a mountain to climb. The
last twenty minutes saw Clerihan throw everything into attack with James Maher almost
scoring from a Rory Maher corner and Stephen Sheehan close with two efforts. On the
day , however , the Kevins goal remained intact and Clerihan must now focus on the
upcoming Plate competition , a trophy that looks well within the grasp of this team on the
evidence of today. Team captain Rhys McMorrow and Rory Maher were outstanding on
the day and everybody else responded by upping their own game significantly.

U14 NSL TEMPLEMORE 4 CLERIHAN 2

The U14s day turned into a bit of a farce when , after travelling to Templemore , they
were told that the pitch was unplayable and both teams returned to Clerihan to play the
game. Templemore proved to be a formidable outfit and were good value for their 1-0
half-time lead. A deflection off a Clerihan defender following a corner after the restart
made it 2-0 to Templemore and it was 3-0 shortly after , as the Clerihan defence really
struggled against strong speedy opponents. Luke Hahessy converted a penalty to give
Clerihan a glimmer of hope but Templemore responded quickly with a fourth goal before
Luke Hahessy then headed home a Jack Burke free-kick to complete the scoring. A
season that had started so well has taken quite a nose-dive in recent weeks as many of the
lads seem to have lost their form. We can only hope that there is a big improvement next
week for the trip to Herbertstown in Limerick for the SFAI cup tie.

U10A LEAGUE PEAKE VILLA 5 CLERIHAN 2

The U10s travelled to Thurles on Sunday morning and gave an excellent account of
themselves against probably the best u10 team in the league. This was a far stronger
Peake Villa team than that which played out a 1-1 draw some weeks back in Clerihan
and they started in whirlwind fashion. Two goals within minutes of the start of the game
showed that they meant business and it would have been far worse but for Clerihan’s
man-of-the-match , goalkeeper Ryan Walsh. Once the lads settled , they played some
lovely football and were rewarded when good passing left Cathal O’Mahoney with a
simple tap-in goal to leave the home side 2-1 in front at the interval. The match was all-
square early in the second half as Micheal Quinlan , who was exceptional throughout ,

ST KEVINS 2 CLERIHAN 0

scored a fine goal when he converted a pass from Daragh Hurley. Clerihan needed to
keep things tight at this stage but , unfortunately , conceded straight from the kick-off,
a score that really deflated the lads. Peake Villa went on to add two more , finshing the
game much more strongly , but this was a really good workout that should stand the lads
in good stead for the games to come.