Kildare County 1 - 2 Sunderland XI
Credit:
Kildare County brought their Festival Of Football to an end in Station Road on Wednesday evening with a narrow defeat to a Sunderland XI. The goals came courtesy of David Dowson and Irish underage international Conor Hourihane, with County’s goal coming from a Trevor Bowers penalty.
With Sunderland’s first string side taking part in The Amsterdam Tournament the following day, The Black Cats fielded a side that was effectively a collection of reserve and youth team players, though on the evidence of this game many of them will have bright futures in the game.
The opening half was one that saw Sunderland enjoying the majority of possession, although this didn’t prevent County from having some good opportunities which would have given the visitors something to think about after the break.
Sunderland’s front pairing of Oumare Tounkara and Jordan Cook started the game in very lively fashion and were causing numerous problems for the County rearguard. The first sniff of an opportunity came with eight minutes gone when Cook burst on to a through ball by the energetic Adam Reed, but Darren Kelly was quick off his line to quash any chance of a goal.
Despite some early pressure from Sunderland however, Kildare were coping admirably and had a decent chance with 18 minutes gone on the clock when Christy Doran unleashed a left-footed from a distance of 20 yards, but his effort was deflected just wide of the post. By this point the game was quite even, but Sunderland should have been ahead on 26 minutes when Michael Kay delivered a telling cross from the right only to see a towering header from Tounkara going harmlessly wide.
Further efforts would follow for Sunderland through Cook and midfielder Jamie Chandler, who featured on the fringes of the first-team squad last season, before David Lee had the home side’s best chance of the half. The tall and powerful striker rose highest to meet Christy Doran’s left-wing only to see his effort come back off the post.
This meant that the sides were scoreless going in at half-time, with Kildare County coming back out in the second-half with an entirely different team. As is often the case this can leave a team disjointed and Sunderland, who only made one change at the break, started the second half much the stronger. Dowson hit the side-netting with four minutes gone in the half as the travelling English men looked to get that elusive goal that would give them the lead. Try as they may though, Kildare were making it extremely hard for them to get this goal, with substitute goalie Colin Cassidy picking up where Kelly left off with some fine catches in and around his goalmouth.
Eventually though, they would take the lead after 68 minutes when Dowson managed to escape the attentions of Baba Isaaka before burying the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the County net. Buoyed on by this goal, Sunderland almost doubled their lead a minute later when Dowson took the ball around Cassidy, who had come well off his line, but his shot was cleared off the line by Isaaka.
This would have meant curtains for Kildare had it gone in, but they got out of jail and Kildare were awarded a penalty two minutes afterwards following a hand-ball by Liam Noble, which was brilliantly dispatched to the top corner by substitute Trevor Bowers to level the game up.
A draw would have been an excellent result for County if it had stayed this way, but Hourihane would have the last laugh when his perfectly executed drive from 30 yards was drilled low into the back of Colin Cassidy’s net with just five minutes remaining to ensure victory for the youthful Sunderland outfit.
Overall, the Festival Of Football has been a great success for County, and hopefully it will have helped, in some small way at least, in boosting the profile of soccer in the county of Kildare.
Kildare County: Darren Kelly; Mattie Byrne, Davy Byrne, Dean Lawrence, David Long; Dave O’Riordan, Darren O’Brien, David Jackson, Christy Doran; David Lee, Aaron Greene. SUBS: Colin Cassidy, Craig Purcell, Darren Young, Liam Tiernan, Baba Isaaka, Gavin Kinsella, Benny Daniel, Dean Barrett, Orrin Farrell, Trevor Bowers.
Sunderland XI: Michael Misiewicz; Michael Kay, Liam Noble, Jean Yves M’Voto, Conor Hourihane; David Dowson, Joe Cornforth, Jamie Chandler, Adam Reed; Oumare Tounkara, Jordan Cook. SUBS: Robbie Weir, Louis Lang, Ben Wood, Matthew Fletcher, Andrew Galer, Adam Slegg.
Extratime.ie player-of-the-match: David Dowson Sunderland – Got his side’s first goal, could have had one or two more, and was a general threat all the way through.
With Sunderland’s first string side taking part in The Amsterdam Tournament the following day, The Black Cats fielded a side that was effectively a collection of reserve and youth team players, though on the evidence of this game many of them will have bright futures in the game.
The opening half was one that saw Sunderland enjoying the majority of possession, although this didn’t prevent County from having some good opportunities which would have given the visitors something to think about after the break.
Sunderland’s front pairing of Oumare Tounkara and Jordan Cook started the game in very lively fashion and were causing numerous problems for the County rearguard. The first sniff of an opportunity came with eight minutes gone when Cook burst on to a through ball by the energetic Adam Reed, but Darren Kelly was quick off his line to quash any chance of a goal.
Despite some early pressure from Sunderland however, Kildare were coping admirably and had a decent chance with 18 minutes gone on the clock when Christy Doran unleashed a left-footed from a distance of 20 yards, but his effort was deflected just wide of the post. By this point the game was quite even, but Sunderland should have been ahead on 26 minutes when Michael Kay delivered a telling cross from the right only to see a towering header from Tounkara going harmlessly wide.
Further efforts would follow for Sunderland through Cook and midfielder Jamie Chandler, who featured on the fringes of the first-team squad last season, before David Lee had the home side’s best chance of the half. The tall and powerful striker rose highest to meet Christy Doran’s left-wing only to see his effort come back off the post.
This meant that the sides were scoreless going in at half-time, with Kildare County coming back out in the second-half with an entirely different team. As is often the case this can leave a team disjointed and Sunderland, who only made one change at the break, started the second half much the stronger. Dowson hit the side-netting with four minutes gone in the half as the travelling English men looked to get that elusive goal that would give them the lead. Try as they may though, Kildare were making it extremely hard for them to get this goal, with substitute goalie Colin Cassidy picking up where Kelly left off with some fine catches in and around his goalmouth.
Eventually though, they would take the lead after 68 minutes when Dowson managed to escape the attentions of Baba Isaaka before burying the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the County net. Buoyed on by this goal, Sunderland almost doubled their lead a minute later when Dowson took the ball around Cassidy, who had come well off his line, but his shot was cleared off the line by Isaaka.
This would have meant curtains for Kildare had it gone in, but they got out of jail and Kildare were awarded a penalty two minutes afterwards following a hand-ball by Liam Noble, which was brilliantly dispatched to the top corner by substitute Trevor Bowers to level the game up.
A draw would have been an excellent result for County if it had stayed this way, but Hourihane would have the last laugh when his perfectly executed drive from 30 yards was drilled low into the back of Colin Cassidy’s net with just five minutes remaining to ensure victory for the youthful Sunderland outfit.
Overall, the Festival Of Football has been a great success for County, and hopefully it will have helped, in some small way at least, in boosting the profile of soccer in the county of Kildare.
Kildare County: Darren Kelly; Mattie Byrne, Davy Byrne, Dean Lawrence, David Long; Dave O’Riordan, Darren O’Brien, David Jackson, Christy Doran; David Lee, Aaron Greene. SUBS: Colin Cassidy, Craig Purcell, Darren Young, Liam Tiernan, Baba Isaaka, Gavin Kinsella, Benny Daniel, Dean Barrett, Orrin Farrell, Trevor Bowers.
Sunderland XI: Michael Misiewicz; Michael Kay, Liam Noble, Jean Yves M’Voto, Conor Hourihane; David Dowson, Joe Cornforth, Jamie Chandler, Adam Reed; Oumare Tounkara, Jordan Cook. SUBS: Robbie Weir, Louis Lang, Ben Wood, Matthew Fletcher, Andrew Galer, Adam Slegg.
Extratime.ie player-of-the-match: David Dowson Sunderland – Got his side’s first goal, could have had one or two more, and was a general threat all the way through.
About Daire Walsh
Daire Walsh began reporting for Extratime in 2009, when he covered Kildare County's games in the League Of Ireland First Division. He currently reports on games involving the league's Dublin sides and also Bray Wanderers. … View Full Profile