Tipperary Town side St Michael's march on in Munster Junior Cup

Munster Junior Cup 5th Round

St Michael's 2 Aisling Annacotty 0

St Michael’s dug out a victory against a very good Aisling Annacotty team on a terrible day for football in Cooke Park on Sunday.

Right from the off both teams were struggling to get the ball down and play good football, but the weather meant that there were chances aplenty, as sometimes the conditions made a lottery of the performances.

The Limerick side had the first real chance in the opening minutes when a header by full back Enda Riordan flashed just wide of Adrian Walsh’s goal. Rhys O’Regan was unlucky in the 11th minute when he was slightly off-balance while shooting just wide from a Colin Bargary cross.

But St Michael’s were starting to turn the screw in the middle of the first period and O’Regan went close again just before the half-hour mark, with the Limerick side being saved by a last-ditch clearance to keep the game all square.

They looked like they might get to the break without conceding, but as is often the case the Saints’ big players delivered. With four minutes to go in the half Jimmy Carr made space on the left and his cross saw a sublime finish from Rhys O’Regan to put them ahead.

Aisling started the second half well and Cian Fadden had to clear off the line three minutes in to preserve the home side’s lead.

The next big turning point in the game came when the visitors were reduced to ten men after one of their players was given a second yellow card.

A goal down and a man down against a side as resilient as St Michael’s is not a good thing for any side, and the hosts began to slowly squeeze the life out of the game.

They assured themselves of a berth in the next round when they added a second goal nine minutes from time, when Carr converted an O’Regan cross, mirroring the goal the two were involved in just before the end of the first half.

A frantic finish and about 10 minutes of injury time saw the Limerick side continue to press the home defence but the pressure yielded nothing for them, and Saints booked a quarter final place to go with their last 32 spot in the FAI Junior Cup, keeping the wagons rolling into 2024.