CBL GOTW: Helio Inter snatch late win in extraordinary nine goal thriller
Helio Inter 5 – 4 ARC Rovers
Man of the match: Juan De Villa
It was another cracking affair in the CBL Game of the Week this week as Helio Inter secured a dramatic last minute 5-4 win over ARC Rovers in their CBL Shield quarter-final matchup in Mayfield, writes Donncha Noonan.
The first breakthrough went to Helio Inter after twenty-one minutes. Ruben Sarasa stepped up confidently to take a long range free kick. He drilled a brilliant low effort towards goal which nestled in the far left corner to give his side the lead.
Their day would get better for Helio Inter with seven minutes to go before half time. Juan De Villa was bundled over in the box whilst trying to capitalise on an ARC Rovers defensive mistake from the ARC backline. Gabriel Cerini stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake to double his team’s advantage.
That was all for a fairly tame half as Helio Inter went into the break with what looked like a comfortable lead, but that would soon be disproven.
ARC Rovers regrouped and came out for the second half a much better side, and it showed as they grabbed a goal back in the fourty-ninth minute. A corner from Adam Carroll swung onto the keeper caused a problem for Helio Inter. Padraig Cotter arrived to the cross just before the keeper and redirected the ball into the back of the net.
Cotter would get another eight minutes later to tie things up. A long goal kick from Aaron Hosford landed in the path of Timothy Twomey in behind the Inter defence. He played it across to Cotter who emphatically tucked the ball past the keeper to bring things even.
ARC were able to complete the turnaround fully in the sixty-first minute. Adam Carroll slipped a ball in behind intended for the run of Tyrese Raheem. Ruben Sarasa got there first but sliced his clearance over the head of his onrushing keeper, leaving it to Raheem to latch onto and put it away to give ARC the lead.
Sarasa managed to make up for this mistake though as he bagged his second in the seventy-fourth minute. Gabriel Peña da Silva received the ball on the left hand side and whipped a beautiful ball to the back post. It fell to Sarasa, who took it down and fired an effort into the top right corner as the game was level again.
The lead was grabbed once again three minutes later, and it was by ARC Rovers once more. Padraig Cotter capitalised on a defensive mistake whilst playing out from the back, and slid the ball through for Tyrese Raheem. The forward stretched to get on the end of the ball and poked it into the bottom left corner to notch his second of the game.
The drama was far from over though as the game was equalled again in the eighty-ninth minute. Juan De Villa received the ball with his back to goal twenty yards out. He turned and danced past two ARC Rovers defenders before slotting a cool finish away to give his side a late leveller.
There was to be one final turn in the game, and it went the way of Helio Inter in the first minute of additional time. A brilliant midfield move from Helio Inter led the ball to being moved out left. A classy trivela cross from Alejandro Perez Miguez found De Villa at the back post who powered the ball home to grab a dramatic late winner to send his side into the CBL Shield semi-final in what was an unreal game of football.
Helio Inter: M. Barcena Gomez, M. Peña da Silva, M. Galicia Barajas, S. Castano Cailla, J. De Villa, J. Martins, A. Perez Miguez, J. Vidal Madrigal, R. Sarasa, G. Peña da Silva, G. Cerini, J. Oliveira Guerra, S. Lopez Martin, H. Sheedy, A. Benali, J. Suarez Bustamante, P. Dinamarca Labra.
ARC Rovers: A. Hosford, C. Ryan, S. Herlihy, A. O’Connor, B. Kelly, M. Guinnane, P. Cotter, D. Cruise O’Shea, T. Twomey, A. Carroll, T. Raheem, T. Carroll, J. D’Arcy, D. Cummins, A. Maher, J. Moynihan, S. Murphy, A. Kelly.
