CBL GOTW: Ten-man Doolan’s Cow progress on pens in a cracking quarter final

Doolan’s Cow (won on pens) 1 – 1 Helio Inter

Man of the Match: Javier Vidal

In a dramatically tight affair in Mayfield Sports Complex, it was Doolan’s Cow who reigned victorious on penalties over Helio Inter to progress to the Semi Finals of the Grandon’s Toyota Jackie O’Driscoll Cup.

It was a fiery opening to the game, with the first blow coming after twenty five minutes, and it was The Cow who dealt it. A long ball over the top from Darren McGrath found the run of Tony O’Reilly, who controlled it excellently before slotting it into the bottom left corner to give his side the lead.

The Cow went looking for a second and came close five minutes from half. They won a free kick at the edge of the box. O’Reilly stepped up to take it and drove a hard effort under the wall, but his shot whistled narrowly past the left hand post.

That was the last action of a fairly quiet first half chances-wise, but the fiery aspect of the game foreshadowed what was to come.

It all came to a head three minutes into the second half. Already on a yellow card, Paul Koffi made a late tackle on Gustavo Trulls on the sideline and earned himself marching orders leaving his side in a difficult position to try and maintain their lead.

Buoyed by their newfound advantage, Helio went searching for an equaliser, and almost found it in the sixty fourth minute. A short corner was played to Juan de Vila, who looked to bend an effort into the far right corner, but it took a vital deflection off the head of Greg Kelly, which diverted the shot barely wide of the post.

Helio continued their chase for a goal, and finally got it with three minutes to play. Jose Oliveira Guerra worked the ball down the right wing and dinked a cross to the penalty spot, where Ruben Sarasa sent a first time volley past James Murphy to bring the game to penalties.

It was The Cow who took first, with Tony O’Reilly burying the first penalty. In response, Ruben Sarasa tucked his penalty away to level things up. Stephen McCarthy scored his pen, followed by Fulvio Bedoya Pabon who skied his over the bar to give The Cow an advantage. Aaron Hennessy converted from the spot and Gustavo Trulls couldn’t do the same, giving Ryan O’Gorman a chance to win the game. He stepped up and slotted the ball home to progress his side through to the semi finals.

And that was all she wrote for this cup tie as a fiery encounter was won by The Cow as they look to follow their Grandon’s Premier Division league win by going the distance in the Jackie O’Driscoll cup.

Doolan’s Cow: J. Murphy, S. McCarthy, I. McCarthy, D. McGrath, G. Kelly, P. Koffi, A. Hennessy, L. Horgan, T. O’Reilly, S. Teegan, G. Cerini, C. Keegan, R. O’Gorman, I. Gray, S. O’Leary, R. McCarthy.

Helio Inter: M. Barcena Gomez, J. Vidal, J. Oliveira Guerra, I. Milicevic, J. De Villa, G. Pena da Silva, M. Galicia Barajas, S. Castano Cailla, J. Martins, R. Sarasa, K. Lopez Vicente, F. Bedoya Pabon, G. Trulls, E. Costa, J. Orozco Marín, H. Sheedy, D. Figueiredo, A. Hernandez Rosello.