- Alex Dunne
- Sat, May 13 2017
Sheriff YC lifted a fourth FAI Junior Cup trophy in six years after handily defeating Evergreen 2-0 in the Final at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.
The game's opening goal came in the 44th minute, when a low driven free kick from Stephen Murphy caught Evergreen goalkeeper Packie Holden by surprise and sent Sheriff on the way to continue their recent domination in this competition.
Captain Paul Murphy added a stunning driven effort from 30 yards out to complete what was a comfortable day's work for the Dublin side – the scoreline doing an injustice to their domination of the game.
The earliest indication came in just the fifth minute when Mark Higgins, Joe O'Neill, and Stephen Murphy had a clever one-two-three combination from a corner that ended with a Murphy cross to an Anthony Kavanagh header, which went just wide.
Higgins dominated the play in the first half, creating chance after chance for himself and for Sheriff striker John Rock, who headed wide in the 13th minute from close range from a Higgins cross that he really should have turned in.
Sheriff rarely were able to muster up a chance, Niall Andrews had a headed shot from a Chris Whearty corner denied in the 18th minute, while a speculative effort from 30 yards out from striker Darragh Walshe was about all else they could come up with in the opening half an hour of play.
A clever heel flick effort from Rock was denied with agility by Holden, and Higgins nearly found the net by accident when a ricochet from an Andrews clearance hit the winger and it nearly rolled in.
Just a minute before half time, however, Sheriff got their just rewards when, after Rock scythed a glorious chance wide on a virtually open goal, Sean Murphy was brought down outside the box and a cleverly disguised effort fro Stephen Murphy rocketed into the bottom right corner.
The opening chance of the second half fell to Kavanagh who just nodded wide from a cheeky chip from Stephen Murphy just four minutes after the half began.
From there, Sheriff began to dominate possession and play the ball around, not causing very much damage to their Kilkenny opponents but giving them no opportunity to do so either.
It was a controlled second half display, with every player working hard to contain Evergreen and protect the lead.
A hopeful punt from 30 yards out from Conor English was all Evergreen could muster in the opening ten minutes of the second half, and most Evergreen breaks were usually snuffed out.
Sheriff had the chance to clinch the game with 15 minutes to go but a lovely piece of combination play from Murphy, Stephen and Paul sent a cross from the right wing towards Rock at the back post, but the ball went just over his head.
Coming down to the final ten minutes Sheriff had total control and were just looking to see the game out, when the second goal came out of nowhere.
A bolt from the blue, the Dublin 3 were fittingly wearing their royal blue Chelsea-like away strip and this was a goal worthy of champions as a rocket from the captain Paul Murphy flew from 30 yards out into the right side of the net, leaving the bewildered Holden with no chance and with a fitting end not to another successful campaign for Sheriff.
Sheriff YC: Lee Murphy; Paul Murphy, Anthony Kavanagh, Gavin McDermott (Joe Flood 70), Joe O'Neill; Sean Murphy, Stephen Murphy (Anthony Murphy 89), Darren Dunne, John Lester, Mark Higgins (Thomas Dunne 87); John Rock.
Subs Not Used: Mark Hatton, Philip Hand, Michael Hannigan, Brian Godson.
Booked: John Lester (45+1), Darren Dunne (50)
Evergreen: Packie Holden; Tom Earls (Oisin Corr 90+2), Niall Andrews, Dylan Whearty (Sam Johnston 89), Robbie Quane (Declan McQuillan 73); Conor English, Brian Jordan (Lee Delaney 58), Michael Drennan, Sean Barcoe, Chris Whearty (Jamie Owens 83); Darragh Walshe.
Subs Not Used: Ciaran Farnan, Peter Hennebry.
Booked: Robbie Quane (56), Sean Barcoe (57)
Referee: Paul Kilcoyne
Attendance: 3,500 (est)
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Stephen Murphy (Sheriff YC)
