Late, late Dubs break Clare hearts

Clare District Soccer League  2

Dublin Athletic Union League  2

(AET, Dublin won 3-2 on penalties)

CLARE players and officials were disgusted at the manner of this defeat in the County Grounds on Sunday, as the referee played over five minutes of injury time at the end of extra time, which allowed Dublin to snatch a very late equaliser.
Five minutes of injury time would be a lot for a 45 minute half but allowing it for a 10-minute period was baffling and it cost Clare the match.
The Banner sideline were roaring for the final whistle when Dublin were awarded a penalty after Eoin O’Brien handled the ball on the line, almost four-and-a-half minutes into injury time.
O’Brien was red-carded, Keith Dunne slotted home the spot kick and Dublin were back from the dead.
In the shoot-out, both sides were unsuccessful with their first attempt, both scored the second and Clare took the lead, scoring their third while their keeper John Mulready made a fine save.
However, David Reidy missed Clare’s fourth and Sean Beresford converted for Dublin.
The fifth penalties were both missed, Clare’s Pat D’Arcy putting his high and wide, with Dublin’s James English also missing with a very similar effort.
In sudden death, Alan Brigdale missed Clare’s first penalty while Liam Tiernan’s effort went in off the post for the Dubs.
Speaking afterwards, Clare manager Liam Murphy was very disappointed. “The game was won as far as I could see and it was grabbed off us in the worst possible fashion. I can’t put into words how we’re feeling at the moment, there has been hard work going into it since last August and to get it robbed like that is so disappointing.”
Dublin manager Paul O’Brien acknowledged the sun could have set on his side’s hopes of retaining Oscar Traynor. “I said to the Clare manager, I don’t know where 14 minutes 23 seconds came from. I thought the game was over.”
However, he also felt the decision to play so much extra time may have been an attempt to even things up after a couple of decisions that went Clare’s way.
O’Brien was adamant there was “no way” Clare should have been given the free kick their second goal came from, while he also claimed Dublin should have had a spot kick following an extra-time incident, not unlike the one in which they were actually awarded a penalty.
While it was hard to tell from the sideline if a penalty should have been given on that occasion, O’Brien had a point when claiming the free kick for Clare’s first goal shouldn’t have been awarded.
At best, it was a dubious decision and if a free kick to Dublin had been awarded, there could have been few quibbles, following a collision between Alan Brigdale and a Dublin defender.
Dublin started the game a bit better, concentrating on attacking down the left and they put the Banner side under pressure in the early minutes.
However, after about eight minutes, Clare settled and they had the better of much of the first half. Daithí O’Connell and David McCarthy had shots that went off target while Steven Hickey, who was leading the line, shot over the bar on 20 minutes.
The Dublin side had a chance of their own on 22 minutes, when the ball fell nicely for Keith Dunne in the box but he fired over.
Clare were quite comfortable for the rest of the first half but when the second period began, again the Dubs took the initiative.
They put several crosses into the Clare box but didn’t really threaten that much from them.
However, in the 68th minute, the visitors took the lead. Cutting in from the right wing, James English’s shot took a deflection that left John Mulready with no real chance of keeping it out.
Eight minutes later, the Dubliners were incensed after the referee gave a free kick following a collision involving one of their defenders and Alan Brigdale.
While there was a bit of luck in getting the free, David McCarthy made the most of it with a superb strike, which found the bottom right-hand corner, just beyond Mark Hatton.
While there were a few more chances, the score remained unchanged and it was into 20 minutes of extra time.
Dublin put a lot of pressure on the Clare goal in the first period, with some good goalkeeping from John Mulready and some deep defending required to keep the sides level.
However, in the second half, the momentum switched again. First, David Reidy rattled the crossbar and after four minutes Clare took the lead, with Steven Hickey blasting the ball to the roof of the net from close range.
At this stage, Clare thought they had just six minutes to hold out but of course, it was closer to twice that.
After six minutes, Dublin had a major penalty shout when it was claimed the ball was handled on the goal line but the referee judged it as a case of ball to hand. James English got a yellow card for dissent after the incident and he was just one of several players haranguing the referee.
A rocket from Keith Dunne could have found the net but it was deflected away by the head of Darren Cullinane.
The decisive moment came after a header from English was well saved by Mulready at the expense of a corner.
The delivery from Sean Beresford wasn’t fully cleared and it fell to Jonathan Muleady, whose shot was handled on the line by Eoin O’Brien, four minutes and 20 seconds into injury time.
O’Brien was sent off and Keith Dunne stepped up and slotted the penalty, bringing the match to the shoot out and some fine saves from Mulready weren’t enough.
Clare: John Mulready, Colin Smyth, Darren Cullinan, Eoin O’Brien, Shane Daniels, Darren Murphy, David McCarthy, Eoin Hayes, Steven Hickey, David Reidy, Daithí O’Connell.
Subs: Alan Brigdale for O’Connell (54), Michael Crosbie for McCarthy (97), Pat D’arcy for Hickey (107).
Dublin: Mark Hatton, Liam Tiernan, Gavin Gaughran, Mark Mooney, Paul Murphy, Darren O’Brien, Sean Beresford, Jonathan Muleady, Keith Dunne, Alan McCabe, Dean Carpenter.
Subs: James English for Gaughran (39), Aaron Humphries for Alan McCabe (65), Kieran Ryan for Alan McCabe (73).
Referee: T Duggan.