Sunday March 25th
TSDL Premier League Junior A 3-3 Bansha Celtic
Scorers: Frank McKevitt (1) James O'Sullivan (1) Matthew Fogarty (1)
This really was a game of two halves with Peake Villa on top in the first and Bansha fighting back in the 2nd. Totally against the run of play Bansha were first to get on the scoresheet in the 15th minute when Bernard Fitzgerald was put through and slotted home. The lead somehow lasted till the 40th minute with Peake Villa dominating the ball for long spells, the goal when it did come was a soft one when a shot from Frank McKevitt outside the box went in under the keeper. Straight from the kick off a poor back pass was pounced on by James O’Sullivan who passed the ball into an empty net. half-time 2-1 to Villa.
Bansha Celtic started much better in the 2nd half and created some good chances including a close range shot the clattered off the crossbar. But like the first half Peake Villa’s 3rd goal came against the run of play in the 58th minute. From a corner the ball broke at the near post and was scrabbled over the line by Matthew Fogarty. 3-1 to Villa. Villa sat back to defend and allowed Bansha to come back at them. In the 70th minute a cross from the right was headed home by Tony Egan. 3-2 to Villa. The equalizer for Bansha Celtic came in the 83rd minute when another cross was put into the box and on hand was Bernard Fitzgerald to put the ball away. A frantic final 10 minutes followed but the score remained 3 v 3.
TSDL Division 2 League Junior B 5-0 Suirside
Scorers: Kieran Hennessey (4) Davy Bourke (1)
Peak Villa travelled to Suirside this afternoon looking to gain revenge from a Suirside team who knocked Villa out of the Tipperary Cup in extra time recently and also to keep the promotion push going. Villa started very brightly and Stevie Fewer and Davie Mahony were dominating the midfield exchange while Darragh Byrne up front was causing all sorts of problems for the home defence. Villa opened the scoring after good work from Davy Bourke and Darragh Byrne set up Kieran Hennessy who finished to the bottom corner. Soon after good work from Andrew Halloran in midfield led to a magnificent delivery from Mark Lennon to the head of Kieran Hennessy who got his and Villa's second goal to leave villa 2-0 up at half time.
In the second half it continued in the same manner with Villa dominating possession and creating numerous chances with the home keeper making some decent saves. Villa made it 3-0 when after good possession again and some lovely passing movements a ball cleared from the home defence fell to Davy Bourke who hit it first time and finished to the back of net. The home team's heads dropped after this as they were also down to 10 men at this stage and on the rare occasions they ventured forward Cormac Lanigan and Kevin Croke were excellent in central defence. Kieran Hennessy completed his hat-trick soon after to make it 4-0. As it was now all one-way traffic with Darragh Byrne and Davie Mahony again excelling on the field going forward. Villa missed a couple more chances and also had the luxury of missing a penalty with Eoin O'Dwyer missing the target. Great work on the right-hand side from Darragh Byrne, Davy Mahony and Davy Bourke with a flowing passing movement allowed a tap in for Kieran Hennessy to make it 5-0 to Villa.
Villa saw out the last few minutes by missing a few more opportunities to add to scoresheet but the game ended 5-0 with Villa totallly out passing and out classing their hosts in every department on the field. It was a magnificent performance all round from Villa, they played some of their best soccer of the season, giving Shane McGuire in the goal one of his quieter days. Cormac Lanigan and Kevin Croke were excellent in defence, with Stevie Fewer and Davie Mahony controlling midfield area. Darragh Byrne was again excellent on the day but man of the match today has to go to 4 goal hero Kieran Hennessy who takes his tally to 26 (22 in league) for the season.
TSSDL Girls Girls u14 0-3 Killenaule Moyglass
Saturday March 24th
u15 Premier League Peake Villa A 7 - 0 St. Michaels
Scorers: Cathal McElgunn (4) Liam McCormack (2) Tony Galvin (1)
Villa hosted St. Michael's who had to field a very young side of u14 players with a few u15 players. St. Michael's got the first chance on goal when their number 10 timed his run to beat the offside and went one v one with Lorcan Cummins the Villa goalkeeper who was quickly off his line to block the shot on goal. Villa then got their first when Cathal McElgunn reacted the quickest, when Killian Rafter played a ball from mid-field to Tony Galvin, who passed first time a defence splitting pass into the path of Cathal who controlled the ball on the run at goal and slotted it in. 1-0 Villa. Villa then scored two more, the first was a rebound from a Danny Treacy shot on goal fell to Cathal who hit first time from inside the 6 yard box to nab his second, his third quickly followed after some great play down the wings by Gavin Shaughnessy and Darragh Stakelum who crossed into the box to Cathal who hit a left footed shot into the back of the net. Michael's to be fair did not deserve to be down three goals as they created a number of chances themselves but their finishing let them down. 10 minutes left in the half and Liam McCormack was involved with the two more goals, the first he laid on for Cathal to score his fourth and the second he finished to the back of the net himself to make the half-time score 5-0 to Villa.
In the second half Villa continued their scoring with Liam McCormack scoring with a long distance shot from out-side the box that flew into the net at the top right-hand corner. The second was scored from a corner kick which after a number of shots that were blocked the ball broke to Tony who hit a rasper into the back of the net. Full-Time 7-0.
Villa have now collected 8 wins in the league and can secure the league title by winning their next match.
u14 Premier League Gortnahoe 0-2 Peake Villa A
Scorers: Corey Moore (1) Aidan Butler (1)
Peake Villa travelled the short distance to play their first league game in 12 weeks against Gortnahoe who were also the last team they played. Having drawn the first game at home Villa needed to get all three points to maintain their league title challenge. The game was played on a very heavy bumpy pitch which was not going to suit any flowing football from either team. Villa started the strongest and had Gortnahoe pined into their own half. Villa took the lead after 20mins when a long ball from keeper Josh Cody found Corey Moore running onto it to score on the 2nd attempt to give Villa a well deserved lead. Villa were winning most of the battles around the pitch, with Josh Connelly doing a great job to stop Gortnahoe's star player Darragh Queally from having any impact on the game. Villa had a few more chances before the break with Niall Dunne, Brandon Mills, Robbie Stapleton and Ciaran Woodlock all coming close. However, the best chance fell to Sean Gleeson when good work by Robbie put Sean in on goals only for his effort to just slide past the wrong side of the post. The Villa midfield was in fine form with Darragh Minogue, Josh Connelly, Scott Brennan and Daniel 'Rossy' Rossiter all working tiresslly to prevent any Gortnahoe attacks developing before they even started.
Halftime 1-0 to Villa.
The 2nd half started as the first finshed with Gortnahoe being forced to play only long balls over the top which were dealt exceptionally well by the back 5 of Josh Cody, Alex Moloney, Conor Wall, Aidan Butler and Niall Dunne. Villa rotated their 3 subs in and out all day up front which had Gortnahoe struggling to keep the attackers under control. The Villa attack were now getting on top and after forcing a few corners Villa finally got their reward when a well worked corner set play was played in by Scott Brennan with Josh Connelly putting the defender under pressure forcing him to only knock the ball up in the air and quickest to react Aidan Butler headed the ball home to give Villa the 2-0 lead they deserved.
Gortnahoe tried to force the game on Villa but every ball they played into the Villa half was easily dealt with by Conor and Aidan who were exceptional all day. Villa saw out the game in cool fashion with every player giving 100% to keep their unbeaten run going and to remain at the top of the table. Joint Man of the match on the day was Conor Wall & Aidan Butler who controlled the back line so well restricting Gortnahoe to long range efforts, but the big winner today was the squad performance with a super effort by everyone.
u13 Championship Tipperary Cup Mullinahone 5-0 Peake Villa B