OLV35S 2(M.Hanrahan, R.Connolly) Portrane Afc b 2 OLV35S win 5-4 on penalties.

OLV squad ;
Garreth Mahon, Terry Byrne, James Coates (c),Stuart Parker, Emmet Fitzpatrick, Paddy Mcevoy, Rory Connolly, Pat Heary, Garreth Boyle, Martin Hanrahan, Stewart O'Reilly, Jonny Dutton, Ian Clifford, Derek Dunne.

Manager ; John Lowndes.

OLV moved into the last 8 of the Grimes Cup after a tough game against Portrane was decided by a penalty shootout.
      We made very hard work of this game and it should have never went to penalties as we were much stronger than Portrane and wasted numerous chances to score in the opening minutes of the game but it was the away teams attackers that were more clinical in front of goal and they took the lead midway through the half when our makeshift defence failed to get the ball clear and we were punished by Portrane's number 9 who was very lively all morning and finished well, the lead didn't last long however as some good passing on our right hand side saw Stewy O'Reilly send a cracking ball across the 6yard box which was bundled over the line by Martin Hanrahan, we went on to score again soon after when Rory Connolly ran at the Portrane defence and absolutely lashed the ball into the back of the net to put us 2-1 up,we should have went on to score a couple more goals and see out the game but the killer ball was never really played in the right areas and we stayed just to one goal to the good up until the last ten minutes when Portrane were allowed to play right through our centre and despite keeper Mahons best efforts we found ourselves level, the game played out with the dreaded penalty shootout looming and although we were in total control we were unable to find another goal,our record in recent penalty shootouts isn't great and we could have been nervous but Terry Byrne, Martin Hanrahan,Skipper James Coates , Derek Dunne and finally Stewy O'Reilly all stepped up to score perfect spot-kicks which left the pressure on Portrane's final kick taker to put his effort over the bar.
Well done to everyone involved in yesterday's game and commiserations to Portrane as we know very well the pain of losing a shootout.