St Francis FC 4 vs Shamrock Rovers  1

On a rain soaked surface and tough conditions in Baldonnell Park today, this game between two in form teams didn’t disappoint.

The game started off at a blistering pace, both teams going at each other right from the first whistle. St Francis created a few good early chances in the first 15 minutes breaking through the Rovers back line after excellent work from Kai Keogh, Sebastian Fravela, Emil Abulu and John Leonard.

Rovers weathered that storm, and managed to go in front after a quick interception and counter attack. St Francis number 1 Wesley Benton saved the initial shot, but he couldn’t get to the rebound and the Rovers number 7 Adi poked the ball over the line showing great calmness and composure.

With 5 minutes to half time, both teams were playing excellent attacking football bringing the best out of the keepers and defenses.

The St Francis boys rallied together again to push for an equalizer and it almost came through Feilim Dikcius after clever combination play from Leon Byrne and Reece Doyle down the right side.

The Rovers keeper was in great form stopping shot after shot from the home side.

1-0 to Rovers at half time.

St Francis coaches Mark ONeill & Simon Madden made 4 changes at half time, and introduced Kyle ONeill, Janek Sarwinksi, Adam Tyrrell and Steven Alueboselle. The impact of these boys was key, and after 6 minutes, the excellent Sennan Bolger hit a long clearance into the Rovers box then ball somehow bounced over the keeper to make it 1-1.

Rovers continued to play out from the back and the passing from these younger Rivers boys was excellent.

Former Rovers player Cillian Glynn was then introduced into the game and he immediately impacted the score line. Cillians skill and vision set up the next two goals after excellent link up play with the impressive James Leigh and the energetic Luke Smith who had a fine game at left full.

Daire Darcy played a clever ball into Adam Tyrrell who then played a lovely pass over the Rovers Centre half, a Powerful run through the from Feilim Dikcius saw the home team go 2-1 ahead, and playing on the front foot, putting constant pressure on the away side.

With 5 minutes to go, Kyle “Nailer” ONeill, Emil Abulu and Reece Doyle combined down the right wing with Emil putting in a brilliant low cross only for James Leigh to tap in from close range to make it 3-1 to St Francis.

The final goal for St Francis came from a lovely pass by John Leonard to Cillian Glynn who set up Feilim Dikcius for his second to make it 4-1 to the saints

Well done to both teams for producing a very entertaining, end to end game especially in the tough conditions.