Top 10 most read extratime.com match reports for 2021

Waterford's Paul Martin makes his second penalty save during the Athlone Town v Waterford FAI Cup tie

Waterford's Paul Martin makes his second penalty save during the Athlone Town v Waterford FAI Cup tie Credit: Gerry Shanahan (ETPhotos)

Having digested our Top 20 most read articles over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we bring you our St. Stephen's Day present to you - the Top 10 most read reports on extratime.com during 2021.

10. League Report: Galway United 0 - 0 Shelbourne

26 March – Paul Corcoran
A scoreless draw from a cold and wet Eamon Deacy Park sneaks into our Top 10. It was a match from the opening night of the First Division season between the two teams who were favourite for promotion.

The Reds had to dig in to gain a point as they played all of the second half with ten men after Glen McAuley’s red card late in the first half. 

Shels would remain undefeated in the league until the two sides faced each other again in Galway in August when John Caulfield’s side won 3-1. 

9. League Report: Longford Town 0 - 1 Shamrock Rovers

29 May – Macdara Ferris

Three times during the season, the Hoops broke the hearts of Longford Town with late late injury time winners. Rovers led for just seven minutes in 290 minutes (including injury time) of league action in the first three games of the season between the sides.

Sean Gannon got a 93rd minute winner in Rovers’ 2-1 win in Tallaght in April. Liam Scales got the winning goal with 95 minutes on the Tallaght Stadium clock in August. The game that made our Top 10 was from Longford in May when Rory Gaffney grabbed the winner in the fifth minute of injury time.



Check out the Tony Ghee’s commentary on Gaffney’s goal “It’s happened again. Deep deep into stoppage time.”

8. League Report: Cork City 1 - 3 Shelbourne

16 April – Michael Cooke

Ian Morris’ men faced an early season trip to Turner’s Cross in April and their 3-1 victory was a real sign of intent by Shels.

City really struggled at the start of the season and while they got better as the year progressed it was a surprise to see them finish sixth and out of the promotion play-off come the end of the season.



7. FAI Cup Report: Maynooth University Town 3 - 2 Cobh Ramblers

29 August – Andrew Dempsey

Maynooth University Town had a great run in this year’s FAI Cup. They defeated Bonagee United 3-1 in the qualifiers, before beating Malahide United in the First Round.

They faced league opposition in the second round and in a dramatic match played in John Hyland Park Jackson Ryan grabbed the winner in a five goal thriller nine minutes from time.

The win earned them a quarter-final tie against Bohs at Dalymount Park and a spot in our Top 10 most read match reports for 2021.

6. League Report: Shelbourne 4 - 0 Galway United

29 May – Patrick O’Connor
Another Shelbourne and Galway United game in our Top 10. This comprehensive win over Galway in Tolka Park kept the Reds five points clear of second placed UCD and it was a lead that Shels would never relinquish.

John Caulfied’s side would finish runners up in the First Division six behind Shels but would lose out in the promotion play-off semi-final 1-0 on aggregate to Bray Wanderers.

5. Friendly Report: UCD 2 - 2 Shamrock Rovers

20 March – Rónán MacNamara
We tend not to have too many friendly reports in our top 10 list but due to COVID-19 delaying the start of the Premier Division which only kicked off the previous evening and with all games being played behind closed doors, our readers flocked to read Rónán McNamara’s report from the Bowl.

Come November Andy Myler’s side would win the promotion/relegation play-off to earn promotion while Shamrock Rovers would secure back-to-back league titles. 

In this match the Students came from 2-0 to draw against a Rovers side who had kicked off their league campaign the previous night with a 1-1 draw at home to St. Patrick’s Athletic. Stephen Bradley gave starts to Aaron Greene, Dylan Watts and Sean Kavanagh who all played against Pats off the bench less than 24 hours previously.

4. League Report: Shelbourne 3 – 2 Wexford Youths

14 November – Cahal McAuley

It couldn’t have been a more dramatic conclusion to the WNL season. Shelbourne needed to beat Wexford Youths and hope that Galway could defeat Peamount United. It seemed like the Peas were destined to be crowned champions when they led 2-0 at home to Galway.

The girls from Galway came from behind though to win 5-2. Shels were winning 3-1 and had a nervy final few minutes after Kylie Murphy scored for Youths four minutes from time. The Reds hung on for the win to spark scenes of joy around Tolka Park.

Youths would defeat Shelbourne the following weekend in the FAI Cup final.

3. League Report: Finn Harps 1 - 0 Bohemians

20 March – Stuart Connolly

On the opening night of the season Bohs travelled to Finn Harps but it was the home team who got the victory – making it back-to-back wins in the league over Bohs having won their first league game in Dalymount Park this century the previous November.

Adam Foley scored the only goal of this game. The striker was in great form for Finn Harps at the start of the season as Ollie Horgan’s side got ten points from the opening dozen on offer – with Foley on the scoresheet four times.

2. World Cup Qualifier Report: Republic of Ireland 0 – 0 Portugal

11 November – Cahal McAuley

It was a full house at the Aviva as Cristiano Ronaldo came to town to face the Boys in Green. Ireland had been desperately unlucky to lose in Faro in the previous game against Portugal with Gavin Bazunu saving Ronaldo’s penalty only for Ronaldo to score twice late on to win his team the game.

While the teenage Bazunu was beaten once again in the Aviva, it wasn’t a loss on the scoreboard after a gritty cleansheet in the scoreless draw but by Shelbourne under-13 player Addison Whelan who beat Bazunu to Ronaldo’s jersey after the final whistle.

1.    FAI Cup Report: Athlone Town 4 - 4 Waterford AET with Waterford winning 4-2 on penalties

 

24 July – Simon O’Gorman
Due to work and covid restrictions, it had been a while since Simon O’Gorman had reported on a game live for extratime. There was no easing back in for Simon with this FAI Cup tie for the ages. As he wrote: 

Glen McAuley’s stunning last-second strike wasn’t enough for Athlone Town as they were edged out in a penalty shoot-out by Waterford following a drama-packed FAI Cup first round tie.

The Athlone striker sealed his hat-trick with a spectacular strike directly from the kick-off to force penalty kicks as the First Division side came up just short in Lissywollen.

McAuley scored twice from the spot, either side of Stephen Meaney’s equaliser, after goals from Anthony Wordsworth and Shane Griffin had put the Blues 2-0 up.

Greg Halford netted late for force extra time and the home side looked to have won it thanks to George Forrest, only for McAuley to level it up with virtually the last kick of extra time.

The late late injury time equaliser – along with all the match highlights – can be viewed here:

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile