Bohemians U19 0 - 1 Dundalk U19

A fabulous strike by Karl Martin just past the hour mark saw Dundalk make it into the Enda McGuill U19 Memorial Cup final as they deservedly defeated Bohemians 1-0 at Dalymount Park on Tuesday night. 

Chances were limited in the first half, although the home side should have been in front at the break, but the officials failed to see that the ball had crossed the line following a corner. The visitors hit the post in the second half before Martin drilled home from the edge of the box, and it could have been more than that but Bob McKenna hit the post and substitute Kurt Murphy saw his shot pushed away late on.

On a bitterly cold night, it was Dundalk, in front of the watching Paul Doolin, that made the brighter start, and they had a chance in the opening seconds. McKenna broke down the right and crossed for Garreth Brady but his effort was blocked away, as Bohs survived.

On five minutes, it was the visitors who raided forward again, this time Ben McLaughlin, playing at left-back, latching onto a layoff from Brady and firing over from 30-yards. A quiet spell followed, with home ‘keeper Greg Murray pushing a sliced clearance away, after the opening had come for Dundalk through good attacking down the right by Glen Trainor.

Bohs’ chances were limited in the opening exchanges, but they had a good chance to break the deadlock before the midway point of the first half, with Philip McCabe’s shot from a dangerous position in the box getting a deflection to bring it wide.

Past the half-hour mark, Dundalk forced four corners, the last one from Brady finding the head of Trainor whose saw his effort well held by Murray. Shortly after, Dundalk had a massive let-off when a Bohs corner swung inwards, with visiting No1 Finian Farrelly under pressure, with the ball going at least a yard over the line but the officials someone failed to see it.

After a quiet start to the second half, Dundalk went close on 56 minutes. Brady’s initial in-swinging corner was pushed behind from underneath his bar by Murray, before the second corner was met by Trainor, whose header came back off the post. The follow-up from Brady, from the right of the box, went over. But Dundalk did hit the front on 63 minutes. After the ball bounced around the box, it came out to Martin who saw his first shot blocked before he hammered the follow-up low to the bottom corner.

After Bohs had pressed for an equaliser without really troubling Farrelly, Dundalk went within inches of making it 2-0 on 82 minutes when Peter Thomas did well in midfield and supplied a superb through-ball for McKenna to latch onto, the striker taking his shot early but seeing it come back off the post. Martin tried to follow up, but Murray got down to save. On the 90, substitute Kurt Murphy saw a 20-yard shot pushed away, but it mattered little as Dundalk saw out almost four minutes of injury-time to confirm their place in the decider.

Bohemians: Greg Murray, Luke Byrne, Philip McCabe, Paddy Seery, Ryan Thorpe, Daniel Byrne, Michael Scott (Jack Watson 54), Donal Coughlan (Gary Caffrey 79), Conor O’Brien, Dan Mahon, Correy Davidson.
Unused Subs: Seán Dunne (GK), Cian Gordon, Dan Higgins, Lee Lismore, Mark Radford.

Dundalk: Finian Farrelly, Glen Trainor (Kurt Murphy 90), Cian Byrne ©, Peter Thomas, Ben McLaughlin, Chris Reilly, Karl Martin, Darragh Keena, Mark Leavy, Garreth Brady, Bob McKenna.
Goal: K Martin (63).
Booked: B McKenna (69), K Martin (83).
Unused Subs: Michael Osobe, Gerard McSorley, Conor Macken, Carlos Donovan, Conor McDonald.

Referee: Rhona Daly (Dublin).

With thanks to Keith Wallace of DundalkFC.com