Boys U13 (2012) Premier White - Derry Rovers
Naas AFC welcomed Derry Rovers to Caragh Road on a dull Bank Holiday Monday in the last 32 of the KDUL Cup. With a QF against Kilcullen up for grabs Naas were in fine spirits and ready to take on a team that was languishing 3rd from bottom in the division below.
Naas started brightly piling the pressure on to Derry Rovers. They came close to breaking the deadlock by striking the crossbar and the post in two successive attacks. Derry Rovers rode their luck at times and managed to create some chances against the run of play. The first half turned into a scrappy affair and ended 0-0.
The Naas mamagement obviously took some lessons from Carlo Ancellotti as their half time team talk spurred Naas into action and shortly after the whistle Josh Richardson latched onto a ball from Jake Dunbar to cooly slot the ball beyond the Rovers keeper. 1-0! Not long after Naas doubled the lead with a cool finish by Liam Patchell stroking the ball home after a composed assist by Ben Cox. Naas were 2-0 up now and cruising. The third wasn't long coming after Kebron Futsom, back to his brilliant best, ran on to a perfectly weighted through ball by Jake Dunbar. The keep came off his line quickly to narrow the angles but Futsom must be a master mathmatician as he calculated those narrow angles with ease and placed a perfect shot past the keeper and into the net. What a finish! Roy of the Rovers stuff by Naas!!! 3-0 and cruising.
"I can breath easy now!" one of the Naas coaches was heard whispering to another. Those easy breaths got a bit more laboured as the Derry Rovers winger picked up the ball, turned 4 of the Naas defenders inside out, squared the ball to his striker for a tap in. 3-1 suddenly turned into 3-2 when a late challenge by Frank Manka was judged by the referee to be in the box. Captain Conor O'Toole remonstrated with the referee but his protests fell on deaf ears. The Derry Rovers penalty taker made no mistake from 12 yards despite keeper Hayden Taaffe trying a Grobelaar "jelly legs" to distract his opponent. 3-2 and Derry Rovers had the bit between their teeth. The Naas coaches going grey by the minute made some changes to shore up the defence.
To their credit the Naas players did not let their heads drop and took control of the ball. A long boall by Derry Rovers was picked up by Conor O'Toole on the right side of defence. Showing great strength, he held off his opponent to play a lovely ball up the channel to Liam Patchell. Liam picked out Futsom with a perfectly weighted ball. Futsom got his head up and played it across the 6 yard box for the on rusing Cox to tap into an empty net. 4-2 and crisis averted.
The game petered out and ended with a whimper. Naas made hard work of their opponents but got the win and will march into the QF's to place a well drilled Kilcullen side that dismantled fellow Major title contenders Newbridge in their round of 32. Naas will be hoping to to take revenge against a team that beat them in the KDUL plate final last season.
MOTM - Kebron Futsom.
