Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Soccer: Dynamos caught napping

KO Cup Semi-Final
Tralee Dynamos 1 QPR 1

EXTRACT FROM THE KINGDOM NEWSPAPER

PREMIER League high flyers and recent Castle Bar League Cup winners Tralee Dynamos put in a shocking poor performance on Wednesday evening at Mounthawk Park in the semi-final of the Greyhound Bar KO Cup when they almost came a cropper against division one side, QPR.
The game was played in driving rain but overall the game did not suffer with the contrast in styles being noteworthy. Dynamos passed the ball at every opportunity and sometimes into trouble while QPR used the long ball out of defense and in the conditions, it looked to be more effective.
Dynamos had the lions share of the play in the opening half, being very dangerous down the right where Damien Quirke and James Sugrue threatened but the crosses were not going in often enough and into the danger zone.

Dynamos had a chance in the fourth minute when Sugrue’s cross was headed goalwards by a QPR defender and keeper O’Sullivan did very well to tip the ball over the crossbar. Dynamos continued to press in the opening thirty minutes but to be honest other then some fancy flicks and a few dangerous crosses, they rarely looked like scoring. QPR could have scored in their first real attack in the 27th minute when Stephen Lehane sent a through that caught Dynamos napping and Derek O’Shea had to come along way off his line to fly kick the ball away from the in rushing Sean O’Keeffe.

O’Keeffe then struck a shot, following a corner that was not cleared, just over the top in the 38th minute while minutes later, Dynamos should have taken the lead when James Sugrue nutmeged Don Casey before crossing but Tim Lynch took it off the line and a couple of more Dynamos attack yielded nothing as the sides retired scoreless.

The rains came down the second half and Dynamos got very sloppy at the back, but still played the passing game, everyway but forward it seemed. Dynamos had chances but could not put them away until they took the lead from a well worked move in the 68th minute when Damien Quirke crossed to Maurice O’Rahilly who nodded the ball into the path of James Wall who made it five goals in five games.

Would the floodgates open, not at all as QPR counter attacked and more sloppy defending saw Lehane produce a fine run and cross that sub, Daniel O’Leary, poked home. QPR then lost Daniel O’Leary with serious leg injury and Dynamos wasted a couple of free kicks and corners before QPR almost stole the game in injury time when Stephen Lehane’s corner was taken off the line by Darren Crotty.

So a replay it is and QPR will feel that Dynamos can be beaten but the Tralee side will have to return to basics and get the ball more quickly to their strikers.

Tralee Dynamos: D O’Shea, D Quirke, D Crotty, M O’Rahilly, A Quirke, J Sugrue, D Conway, K McCannon, T Diggins, D Diggins, J Wall.Subs:A McHugh for D Diggins (inj), B Stack for D Conway, J McIntyre for T Diggins. Robert Birdsall, Wayne Conway

QPR: G O’Sullivan, T Lynch, A O’Leary, D O’Sullivan, D Casey, I O’Leary, E Lawlor, P Murphy, S Lehane, S O’Keeffe, A Donnelly. Subs: D O’Leary for S O’Leary.