FT Kilkishen 3 Tulla Utd 0
The Tulla U11 Blue Team put up a great showing of skill, determination and heart in a gripping U11 Shield Final in the County Grounds on Sunday Evening. The game started with Tulla on the front foot with some half chances from Theo Kavanagh , Steven Kelly and Gareth McDonnell, with some great work down the wings from CJ O'Doherty . Kilkishen gradually edged their way into the game, but some great defending from Conan O'Mullane, Rory Strich and Lorcan Williams kept them at bay. Ben Fahy made a point blank save to keep Kilkishen out, but soon after the Kilkishen boys struck from a great header from a well delivered corner. Tulla re-grouped and again went on the front foot, the introduction of Charlie Moroney, Zak Lattimore, Aaron Gissane and Igor Schulze added some extra zip and energy to the attack in what was an extremely hot evening, with a CJ O'Doherty just flashing past the post from a long range effort. The run up to half time saw Tulla again with more of the play, with some brilliant defending and transitions to attack from Tulla's Lorcan Williams. Again Tulla had some half chances before the break, but at half time the game was still there for the taking. The second half started in a similar fashion with Tulla looking for the equaliser, a free kick From Theo Kavanagh went just outside the post and some fine interlinking between Igor Schulze and Tiernan O'Neill put the Kilkishen defence under serious pressure. At this stage with the clock running down, Tulla pushed more players forward looking for the equaliser, but were caught with the sucker punch when Kilkishens no.14 ran through to clinch their second. Tom Hayes nearly pulled one back for Tulla with a shot that scraped the top of the crossbar, but with the minutes running down, Kilkishen confirmed the result with a third goal. An enthralling game finished, and in the end the score probably didnt reflect how close the two teams were. Congratulations to Kilkishen and to the Tulla Blue squad and coaches for their hard work all season - it was a great acheivement to get this far. The National Cup in a few weeks now awaits the Tulla Boys
