Glenmuir overcome spirited St Joseph"s side

St Joseph"s dream of SFAI Cup glory is sadly over for another season after they bowed out of the competition last Saturday, going down to Glenmuir Utd in a highly entertaining game at Cushla Park, Monksland. Credit must be given to St Joseph"s for what was a spirited and determined performance that on another day may have been enough to claim victory, but Glenmuir Utd looked a highly skilled and potent side that in the end had too much for the South Roscommon team. The game was an extremely close affair in normal time, despite the fact that Glenmuir won comfortably in extra-time. The visitors began the game superbly and dominated proceedings, scoring two early goals and putting themselves on course for a place in the quarter-finals. At this stage, one would have expected St Joseph"s to completely capitulate and perhaps go on to suffer a heavy defeat, but quite the opposite occurred as they sensationally pulled two goals back to bring the game into extra-time. However, extra-time proved to be somewhat of an anti-climax for the St Joseph"s players and their supporters, as Glenmuir"s ruthless streak once again kicked in and they disposed of Joseph"s with relative ease. It took the visitors from Louth only three minutes to find the net. Glenmuir had began playing some breathtaking football and St Joseph"s had barely touched the ball when they opened the scoring. Glenmuir"s opening goal was a wonderfully worked piece of football. Sean Murray received the ball in the centre of the park before delivering an audacious through ball to John Byrne, who instinctively chipped the ball over Joseph"s "keeper Brandon Ryan, who had become stranded on the edge of his own box. Glenmuir continued to dominate the game"s early stages and had many chances to extend the lead. The signs were looking ominous for St Joseph"s. Rather unsurprisingly, with 11 minutes gone, Glenmuir did manage to extend the lead - but this time it was due to a mistake in the Joseph"s defence as the home side needlessly gave away a penalty. Jamie Renaghan stepped up to take the kick and made no mistake, slotting the ball into the bottom left corner. Glenmuir had been totally dominant so far and little had been seen of the St Joseph"s attack. However, Glenmuir"s second goal appeared to turn the game on its head as the hosts finally began to make an impression in the final third of the pitch. In fact, it was not long before St Joseph"s actually found themselves right back in the game when they produced a goal out of nothing, having looked virtually dead and buried only moments earlier. With Glenmuir on the attack once more, Joseph"s broke up the play and attacked up the left wing through Jamie McBride. McBride continued his run up the left wing, shrugging off two defenders in the process, before cutting inside and firing the ball into the roof of the net, to make it 2-1 with 16 minutes played. St Joseph"s were now brimming with confidence and were being encouraged by an extremely supportive set of fans on the sidelines. With the half drawing to a close, Joseph"s were dominating on all fronts, but if they were to have a realistic chance of winning the tie, now would be an invaluable time to score. Therefore, when Jamie McBride again found the net in the 24th minute, it was no surprise that the goal was met with huge celebration in the home ranks. The goal came via a free kick on the edge of the Glenmuir penalty area, with McBride striking the ball powerfully at goal. His effort took a slight deflection off the wall before flying past a helpless John Bermingham in the Glenmuir goal. The second half failed to hit the dizzy heights of the first. Both sides played in a far more conservative manner as neither wanted to risk giving anything away. This tentative approach made for a relatively uneventful period of football that never really looked like producing a goal. Glenmuir"s Sean Murray crossed the ball from the right wing towards Stephen Sharkey, who headed powerfully at goal, but he was denied thanks to the reactions of Brandon Ryan, who tipped the ball onto the bar before it was cleared to safety. As the half progressed, the wind began to play a major role in the game. It was quite clearly beginning to hamper the efforts of both sets of players and was a major reason behind the lack of action in the second half. With the game seemingly destined for extra-time, St Joseph"s very nearly produced a winning goal out of nothing in the dying moments. Again, it was the skilful Jamie McBride who produced the opportunity, going on a solo run before striking from the edge of the box, but the ball failed to hit the target and so extra-time was the result. The period of extra-time panned out to be a totally different game to the lacklustre football produced in the second half. Whereas Glenmuir had chosen to defend for the most part of the second half, they brought out their attacking game for extra-time and went about steam-rolling their opponents. With only four minutes of extra time gone, the visitors were again in the lead, as Stephen Sharkey scrambled the ball in from close range. The second period of extra time was one-sided. Glenmuir"s lead was extended shortly after the restart as a Jamie Renaghan free kick was deflected in off a St Joseph"s player and the game was capped off with a goal from Sean Murray to send Glenmuir through to the next round. The final score line of 5-2 certainly does not tell the full story of this encounter. Although Glenmuir were deserving victors, St Joseph"s put up a really good fight. Credit must be shown to the home side for the incredible spirit shown in their comeback, but, unfortunately for them, it counted for nothing and all they can do now is wait to attempt a longer run in the cup next season. St Joseph"s: Brandon Ryan; Eoin Hannon; David McManus; Gary Nicholson; Harry O"Rourke; Sean McManus; Jamie McBride; Kieran Connaughton; David Griffin; Callum McCormack; Darragh Lennon. Subs used: Sean Fallon, Kyle Tobin, Niall Connaughton and Ciaran Lennon. Glenmuir Utd: John Bermingham; Adam Shields; Tadgh McInerney; Fergal Sheehy; Oisin Murphy; Jamie Renaghan; Sean Murray; Sean Matthews; Stephen Sharkey; John Byrne; Junior Anamarchan. Subs Used: Aaron Culligan and Shane Ruddy. Referee: Declan Toland.