This was the dramatic equalizer by Pat Meghen (no.8) in the 4th minute of added-time, which forced this match into extra-time. The visitors had opened the scoring in the 60th minute and must have thought they had done enough to win this cup tie. They looked deflated after that last-gasp goal and just 7 minutes into extra time, Andy Hooke scored his first goal for VEC, followed by a 3rd from Andy Howell 6 minutes later, to ensure that VEC advanced to the next round of the LFA Junior Cup, where we will play Quarryvale FC from the AUL.
VEC FC v Celtic Utd.
Having conceded a goal in the 30th minute – against the run of play it has to be said – it took our only sub on the day, Jerry Clancy (no. 12) just 5 minutes after his introduction in the 75th minute to put VEC on level terms with a deserved equaliser, after a battling 2nd half performance from every VEC player. As such, it was difficult to select a m-o-t-m, but captain Neill Love’s commanding performance at the heart of our defense inspired a massive shift from everyone!
VEC FC v Blackforge FC
Having been promoted back into the Premier Division, it was a tall order to meet the current champions in Terenure on a dull Wednesday evening. And so it turned out, as the visitors scored in the 35th minute followed by a second on the stroke of half-time. It was a real uphill battle when they got their third goal just 8 minutes into the second half, and while we failed to seriously threaten their goal, every player gave it their best, particularly Colly Power who was arguably VEC’s m-o-t-m with some great saves. On a side note, It was baffling to see a former professional footballer with 9 international caps, as well as former League of Ireland players playing junior football for Blackforge FC in the UCFL!
VEC FC v St. Mary’s (Sandyford) FC
Swannie scores in the 32nd minute.
VEC FC v Liffey Wanderers
VEC FC v Terenure Rangers
VEC FC v Wayside Celtic FC
VEC FC v Larkview FC
VEC were 1-0 up at half-time from this goal from Joey Byrne in the 20th minute. Larkview equalised 7 minutes into the second half and despite VEC creating a number of decent chances – not converted – the visitors took their breakaway chances around the hour mark, scoring 3 goals in a 22 minute spell. Having lost some key players through injury before that, did not help our cause, as we became a little dis-jointed. Antoine Daubigny pulled one back in injury time, but it was too late.
VEC FC v Boghall Rovers
Boghall unable to field a team: points awarded to VEC.
VEC FC v Harding IF FC 2nds
VEC win the penalty shoot-out 5-4 [Scorers: R. Newe, P. Meghen, Paddy Cook, Jeff De Castro, T. Skaar].
[Where Shield matches are played in a round-robin format and a group match is tied at the end of normal time, penalty kicks shall be taken to determine the “winner”. Each tied team in a drawn game will get one point in its group and the winner of the penalty shoot-out will gain an extra point].