DUNMANWAY Town brought the curtain down on the 2024 SuperValu West Cork Schoolboys and Schoolgirls League season by completing an U15 schoolboys league and cup double.
Lyre hosted the U15 Schoolboys Cup decider between the host club and double-chasing Dunmanway. The latter had already annexed the U15 Schoolboys Premier League before embarking on an impressive cup run. Town knocked out Ardfield (7-1), Bunratty United (6-2) and Togher Celtic (3-0) en route to qualifying for this season’s cup final. Their opponents proved equally proficient by dispatching Clonakilty AFC (2-1) and Bay Rovers (3-1) in the same competition.
A midweek floodlit encounter was expected to deliver an evenly-fought cup final. So it proved, with defences on top and neither side able to find the net during normal or extra-time. Solid defending and standout goalkeeping ensured penalties were required to decide the outcome after 110 minutes of action.
Disappointingly, Dunmanway had to prepare for spot-kicks without Connor Vassallo who was replaced after suffering an unfortunate collarbone injury. Town held their nerve impressively however, as Alex Bramoulle, Oisin McCarthy, Sean Galvin and Luke Holland each converted from 12 yards to earn their team a second trophy of the 2024 season.
Despite the loss, Matthew Buttimer, Daniel Donovan, Joe Twomey, Cormac Moroney and Padraig Whelton stood out for Lyre. As for Dunmanway, Luke Holland proved his side’s most impressive performer. Holland began in the middle of the park before donning the goalkeeper gloves during extra-time.
Holland saved and scored a penalty in the ensuing shootout, cementing a talented Dunmanway Town’s squad’s U15 schoolboys double-winning campaign.
Dunmanway Town: Luke Holland, Shane O’Connell, Alex Bramoulle, Sean Galvin, Luke Hall, Shaun O’Connell, Paddy O’Brien, Gavin McCarthy, Kalan Murphy, Éanna Hayes, Daniel Vassallo, Eoin O’Connor, Calum O’Driscoll, Calvin O’Donoghue, Cillian O’Leary, Fillip Kowalewski, Oisin McCarthy.
Lyre Rovers: Andrei Ciobanu, Ben McInerney, Cormac Moroney, Daniel Donovan, Daniel McCarthy, Dara Ryan, Feidhlim McCarthy, Gearoid Donegan, Issac McInerney, Jack Hayes, Joe Twomey, Jonathan Bennett, Liam Ryan, Matthew Buttimer, Micheál Ryan, Niall Jennings, Padraig Whelton, Seán McCarthy, Yago Medina Gomez.
Referee: Tadgh Sheehan.
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The West Cork Academy qualified for the 2025 SFAI All-Ireland U16 Schoolboys National Shield final thanks to a cracking 3-2 win over Clare on Sunday.
A five-goal thriller between the Munster rivals took place in Castlelack’s home ground in Brinny. Things were looking bleak for West Cork when Clare moved 2-0 ahead and held that lead until the interval.
Staging a superb second-half comeback, the hosts scored three times without reply to book their place in the SFAI All-Ireland U16 Schoolboys National Shield decider. All three goals arrived in the final ten minutes with Sean Platt, Eoin Hickey and Luke Holland finding the net. The University of Limerick hosts West Cork’s All-Ireland final meeting with Wexford at 1pm on Saturday.
West Cork Academy U16 Schoolboys: Charlie Curtin, Kalen Murphy, Matthew Buttimer, Liam Ryan, Paddy O’Brien, Sam Mullaney, Kevin Duffy, Sean Platt, Milo Kinsella, Luke Holland, Eoin Hickey, Harry Chambers, Vitor Coutinho, Daniel Kiely.
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Ardfield FC have been busy in recent weeks, hosting the first of two pre-season U12 schoolboys tournaments at the Clonakilty RFC astro.
The Mountain Cup proved a huge success with six WCSSL clubs taking part. The one-day tournament saw two groups of three teams play-off in a round-robin format before semi-finals and a final decided the overall winners.
Beara, Castlelack and Lyre Rovers made up the ‘Cascarino’ Group with Ardfield, Clonakilty AFC and Drinagh Rangers contesting the ‘Bonner’ Group. Drinagh and Beara came out of their respective groups and contested a fourth/sixth play-off which Beara won 3-1.
A 2-0 win over Drinagh was enough to secure host club Ardfield’s semi-final spot against Castlelack. The latter drew 0-0 with Lyre and overcame Beara 2-0 before seeing off Ardfield 1-0 to reach the Mountain Cup final.
Lyre Rovers were Castlelack’s opponents in the decider having drawn with Castlelack 0-0, defeating Beara 2-0 and Clonakilty AFC 0-0 (4-3 on penalties) in the last four. A cracking Mountain Cup final also went to penalties following a 0-0 draw before Lyre Rovers emerged 3-2 winners on spot-kicks.
