Published: Wednesday, 21st January, 2009 12:00pm

Town crash out after extra time

Carrick Rovers 3 Cavan Town 2

Carrick Rovers from Monaghan were hosts to an in-form Cavan town side on a damp miserable Sunday afternoon in the Kilmessan shield and after extra time they advanced to next round after a real thriller.

Cavan town wasted no time in finding their stride and showed the conditions would not phase them and within three minutes Shane Byrne and Barney Morris played excellent one touch football down the right side and Morris got within 20 yards and was fouled. Michael Smith stepped up to hoist a dangerous ball into the Carrick area and the breaking ball fell to Michael Doheny who struck first time and had the visitors one up on premiership side Carrick,

The home side needed to step up to the visitors and did so on 18 minutes when the were awarded a penalty and they gladly took the opportunity and left it 1-1. To their credit, Cavan Town, up the hill and against the wind, went ahead on 41 minutes through Gareth Flynn with an unstoppable left foot volley from distance, very well worked again with Barny Morris leaving the Carrick back four scratching their heads.

The second half started with an explosion of pace from Carrick and within five minutes they played a free kick into the Cavan area and the on coming Cavan keeper James Heffernan failed to clear as the Carrick centre forward rose higher and gently flicked his header to the Cavan net, 2-2 with 40 minutes still to play.

For the next half hour it was a very competitive contest with both midfields playing hard but fair football. Cautious defending from Cavan through Michael Doheny and Shane Byrene kept the draw until the end of 90 minutes.

Finbar Donohoe and Brendan Smith in midfield were a dominating force for Cavan town but Cavan just failed to convert numerous chances from Mark ferncombe and Brian Dolan. Frustration was evident on the visitors as the game went to extra time, the next 20 minutes were a hard fought effort by both sides who on the day were very evenly matched but the home side got the break after been awarded a free kick on the 18 yard line and they struck with great precision to the Cavan net.

The visitors went a three men defence and pushed three up front but unfortunately just couldn"t get past a resilient defence. Despite going down in a thriller, Cavan Town can take great heart from this game, showing fantastic guts against MDL Premier Division opposition.

CAVAN TOWN: James Heffernan, Shane Byrne, Michael Doheny, Michael Smith, Greg Meehan Gareth Flynn, Barny Morris, Finbar Donohoe, Brendan Smith (capt.) , Mark Ferncombe, Brian Dolan.

SUBS: Pauric Molloy, Shane Cawley, Vinnie Wimsey

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