Cobh

[ForzaForth]

With Willie, Rocks and Duxey available again after suspension tonight, Shane Keegan picked the latter two and started with Graham, Craig, Gary, Lee, Ryan, Speedy, Peter, Duxey, Andy and with Rocks and Danny up front. Right from the start of the game in Ferrycarrig tonight, Cobh set Youths a difficult puzzle to solve - we'll concede all the space and you try and break us down and played only the excellent Ryan Goldsmith up front. Youths found it hard to create any chances against this tactic, as there was simply no space to play in the final third. However, on five minutes Youth had a rare chance when a free went towards the far post in the Cobh penalty area, but two Youth's players collided and the free header went abegging. With the right ball, Cobh had room to break, and on eight minutes a Cobh attacker broke free down the right but with only Graham to beat, he miscued and the ball bobbled into Graham's hands. With 22 minutes gone, Bobbi Donoghue had a run and a shot for Cobh, but it just went into the side-netting with Graham struggling. Three minutes later, Cobh had the ball in the net bit it was ruled out for offside with a late flag. Then on the half-hour, Cobh went ahead when the ball came into the Youth's area, went out again, and was sent back in where the unmarked Mulcahy side-footed it into the far corner to put Cobh one up.

[ForzaForth]

Curiously, it was almost the worst thing Cobh could have done, as they immediately switched off, and just after the re-start, they allowed Andy space to run down the left, where his low cross found Rocks who "made space" for Danny whose left-footed low effort beat Browne in the Cobh goal for 1-1. The remainder of the half saw Graham have to come off his line smartish to win the ball at the feet of Cobh attackers, while a shot by Andy was deflected to Danny who nearly steered it in from close range to leave the score at 1-1 at half-time just after Browne had done well to tip over a free by Danny over his own cross-bar. Draw a fair reflection of the first half.

[ForzaForth]

Youths started the second period with an obvious quicker tempo, and it paid dividends after three minutes when Peter Higgins drove into the box and got taken down for a peno which Danny put away majestically to put the Youths 2-1 ahead. Youths then were largely untroubled for the rest of the game although they couldn't manage to secure the third goal. On eight minutes, Duxey had a shot which Browne had to work hard to push away. On 19 minutes, Speedy Whittle had a volley a yard wide after being set up by Danny and then Andy just couldn't stretch to put the ball home after a long throw by Craig McCabe reached him about six yards out. Hopper came on for Duxey with 15 to go, and Eric Molloy and Craig Wall were the other two late subs. Cobh had a free close in right on the ninety minute mark, but it was smacked well over and Danny had a chance for his hat-trick in injury time but Browne was able to push it away to leave the final score at 2-1 for the Youths.

[ForzaForth]

Best for Wexford was Danny who was the obvious candidate for MOM, while Rocks did Trojan work alongside him up front and Andy did real damage down the left hand side. Also liked the look of Craig and Ryan who worked the ball well down the flanks in support of the Youth's wide-men. 2-1 at full-time with attendance called at 463.