St. Kevin's Boys 0 - 0 Dynamo Moscow (Moscow win 4-3 on penos)

St. Kevin's Boys' U16s were dumped out of the 1997 Elite section of the UMBRO Cup on penalties by Dynamo Moscow following a dour 0-0 normal time draw . The Muscovites now advance to the final, where they are up against the Republic of Ireland.

Kevin's started this game nervously with a couple of sloppy balls out of defence in the early stages. Their anxiousness contrasted markedly with confidence of their Russian opponents, who looked the happier on the ball and sought to move the ball quickly through midfield.

To their credit, the Dublin side disrupted Russians' intricate passing movements well, not allowing them a clear cut opportunity.

Dynamo's earliest sniff of a chance came on 15 minutes, as a throw-in caught them unusually off guard. Nikita Vasilkovskiy latched onto the ball in behind but shot wide from an acute angle.

Kevin's were increasingly being pinned back at this stage, and while their rearguard action was undoubtedly impressive and well-organised, they found it difficult to mount any sort of counter.

Their main attacking options were long balls up the pacy Patrick Obijuri, but he looked isolated and they were easily cut out.

Dynamo's Mikhail Mogulkin had a header that looped onto the bar, before Kevin's had their best chance of the half just before the interval - a free kick from Stephen Confey that was headed over by Mark Hoban.

The second half continued in cagey fashion and a couple of niggly fouls broke up the rhythm and flow of the game. Yury Mishcherskiy headed a Danil Yamshikov free straight at the Kevins' 'keeper Evan Moran before Hoban nearly got on the end of a free kick for the Dubliners.

The rest of the half settled into a familiar pattern, with Kevin's disrupted Dynamo's passing well, but offering little in attack. The closest they came was a run at the heart of defence by Obijuru, but he was well marshalled by Mishcherskiy and Sergei Evtushenko.

The game completely petered out after that, and no-one was disappointed to hear the full time whistle.

The tie went straight to a penalty shoot-out and Aron Molloy took the first, slotting the ball into the bottom right corner. A save by Moran from Nicolay Obolskiy handed the Irish side the advantage, but they missed their next one as Confey saw his shot stopped low to the keeper's right. Yamshikov kept the pressure on by converting his spot kick before Jason Caffrey and Anton Terekhov  both scored theirs.

The decisive moment then came as Anthony Dolan saw his effort saved, with Nikita Cherevatyy converting his. Richard Purdy kept his side in it with his penalty but Mogulkin won it for Dynamo.