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Manager’s Notes. Limerick FC U-19’s Manager, Tommy Barrett
G
ood afternoon and welcome to today’s Under-19 Promotion Playoff Group match against Derry City in Milebush, Castlebar. We would like to thank the Mayo League for helping us to host the game here, which is a huge help to us as it splits what is a very long journey to Derry. I’d like to welcome Derry manager Eddie Seydak, his players, backroom team and all those who have travelled to today’s game. We expect to have the same team as against Dundalk due to the number of players we have involved with the first team over the weekend in their games against Bray Wanderers and Cork City. That is great for those players and it also gives us a chance to blood our younger players with a view to next season. We should have Paudie O’Connor back for today’s game which is a plus. Today, we face a Derry team who together with Dundalk qualified from the Northern Division. I have seen them a couple of times and they are a good, solid defensive team who are in ways similar to Dundalk. They can play football and they have a couple of underage internationals, so we are expecting a tough game. But it will be a good test for our players especially looking towards next season. Having lost our opening two games against Dundalk, this is a must-win for us. Our last four games are all cup finals now – we’ve got to win them all if we are to make the top two. But the main thing, as always for us, is development. We have a lot of players with the first team at the moment which shows that the squad is strong. That allows the younger players to get game-time under their belt which is great for them. Looking back at last Saturday’s game
against Dundalk, I thought it was a good performance considering how youthful the team was. They played very well. In the first 20 minutes we were a bit nervy and apprehensive, but after that I thought we were the better team. I thought we were the better team for long periods after that. It’s difficult for the younger lads because the 18 and 19-year-olds are that bit quicker to the ball and they don’t make that many mistakes. I still think we can beat anyone in this division. Dundalk are a good team – they’re probably the best team in the division. We feel we have the beating of Mervue. We’ve beaten them three times already this year and we welcome them to Aisling Annacotty on Wednesday night (7.45pm). Derry are a good side but hopefully we can claim three points today and go into Wednesday’s game with plenty to play for. Enjoy the match.
TOMMY BARRETT
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DERRY CITY
MANAGER TOMMY BARRETT
MANAGER EDDIE SEYDAK
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
Nathan MURRAY Colm MURPHY Tony WHITEHEAD Paudie O'CONNOR Mark HOBAN Shane WALSH Kieran HANLON Seán MCSWEENEY Cian O'DONOGHUE James MCGRATH AJ O'CONNOR Matt KEANE Conor MAGUIRE Ross FITZGERALD Mikey GREED Evan CUSACK Val FEENEY Shane COSTELLOE Ross MANN Michael GUERIN Jack LYNCH Paul O’LEARY
P
TEAM
PL
W
D
L
PTS
1. 2. 3. 4.
Dundalk Derry City Limerick FC Mervue Utd
4 2 2 2
3 1 0 0
1 1 0 0
0 10 0 4 2 0 2 0
Michael LYNCH Ryan HARKIN Conor BARR Dylan MCCALLION Feargal HARKIN Stephen MILLS Conal KELLY Rory HOLDEN Ciarán HARKIN Adrian DOHERTY Georgie KELLY Ronan CURTIS Aiden MCCAULEY Joshua TRACEY Paul RAMSEY Conor TOURISH
FORM
Limerick FC Derry City
WWDLL WWWDW
NEXT FIXTURE
Limerick vrs Mervue United. Wednesday 12th March, 7:45
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LIMERICK FOOTBALL CLUB
DERRY CITY
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U19 Report. Limerick undone by Lilywhites again.
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arfide Matondo scored twice to help Dundalk to a 3-2 win over Limerick in the Under-19 Promotion Playoff Group at Annacotty last Saturday afternoon, with the winger striking the decisive second-half goal moments after Ross Mann had equalised for the home side. The visiting Lilywhites went into the game with seven points from their opening three outings in the group, but for Tommy Barrett’s side it was just their second game in the series having lost 3-0 at Oriel Park the previous weekend. And Limerick soon found themselves behind again as Dundalk broke the deadlock inside five minutes when captain Conor McDonald struck to the top corner after some ping-pong in the box. Martin Connolly’s team could have doubled their advantage just three minutes later when a poor back-pass was left short, with Ciarán O’Connor stealing in but his effort was well blocked by the out-rushing Paul O’Leary. However, Dundalk did make it 2-0 on 19 minutes when McDonald this time turned creator to set up Matondo who narrowly beat the offside trap before firing low past the ‘keeper in a one-onone. Dundalk were well on top at this stage but Limerick slowly found their feet in the game. Their first effort of note came when Mann tested Ryan Davis with a powerful strike from the right angle of the box which the netminder did well to hold.
The hosts were back in the game on 35 minutes when Craig Pentony brought down Michael Guerin in the box and Shane Walsh stood up to drill the resulting spot-kick to the net. Moments later, defender Conor Maguire found himself in on goal but his shot was well blocked, before Davis was forced into a fine save as he turned Mann’s shot around the post. Early in the second half, there were chances at both ends, with O’Connor blazing over when through on goal while Cian O’Donoghue forced Davies into a smart save from distance. Limerick found an equaliser on 61 minutes when Mann finished clinically to the far bottom corner, but it was short-lived parity as Dundalk immediately regained the upper hand through Matondo who took advantage of a defensive slip. Limerick pressed for another leveller and they went close a number of times, with Walsh and substitute Jack Lynch – who was making his debut – seeing efforts fly just off target. Dundalk too had opportunities and O’Leary did well to deny O’Connor on 83 minutes. However, despite that save, the Louth men held firm for victory to hit 10 points after just four games. Limerick: Paul O’Leary, Shane Walsh, AJ O’Connor, Conor Maguire, Michael Guerin, Seán McSweeney, Matt Keane, Mark Hoban (Jack Lynch 73), Cian O’Donoghue (Evan Cusack 78), Ross Fitzgerald, Ross Mann ©.
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