19.10.13
Blackrock College 3, Spartak 4.
Things looked pretty bleak after 59 minutes of this contest in Rockfield Park as Blackrock fired in to make it 3-0 for the home side, with Spartak reduced to ten men after Jonathan Lane’s two petulant first half yellow cards.
However the Sky Blues team spirit came to the fore to forge an unlikely victory.
The story of the first half was a bleak one; poor distribution, lack of support for attack, low energy in midfield. It was no surprise when Blackrock took the lead on 29 minutes with a shot from the edge of the box. On 39 minutes Jonathan Lane received his second yellow.
Blackrock got their second on 50 minutes, after Conor Callis’ misplaced pass; Conor raced back to try to recover his error and was fouled before the cross came in for the goal; the goal stood however. Their third came minutes later as sub Chris Hogan erred and David Marlow was slow to get down to the resulting shot. It seemed to be the final nail in the Sky Blues’ coffin.
After a formation change Sean Doyle fed Jeff Gamble who passed to Shane McInerney; Shane popped the ball in from 12 yards to reduce arrears. Three minutes later a Sean Doyle pass was touched onto the post by Jeff Gamble. The rebound was expertly driven in left footed by Jervis Mulhall. Game on!
A rejuvenated Sky Blue side drove forward in waves.
Mick Leslie’s shot was almost fumbled over the line by the keeper; then on 74 minutes came the move of the match. A finely weighted pass by Mulhall sent Doyle down the right and his cross was joyously swept home by Niall Lennon for the equaliser.
With eleven minutes left Jervis Mulhall got the winner as he took a pass from Dave O Kelly and drove the ball into the far corner.
As is often the case, the emphasis switched again as the home side realised their predicament. There were a few scary moments for he Sky Blues as Blackrock threw everything into attack and forced a succession of corners. In a clean break Barry Maguire had a chance to kill the game but, with support inside, went for th shot and dragged it wide.
Its rare to come back from three down – even rarer with ten men. To do both – all credit to the boys in Sky Blue!
Form Report
David Marlow 5 Dave O Kelly 6 Jonathan Lane 4 Fintan Grace 6 Sean Doyle 9 Shane McInerney 7 Jervis Mulhall 8 Conor Callis 6 Jeff Gamble 9 Niall Lennon 8 Mick Leslie 7
Subs Derek Gibney 6 Chris Hogan 5 Barry Maguire 5 Kevin Loftus Eoin Kelly.
