O’Sullivan: Physical strength was the difference
REACTION
Daire Walsh
IT was another disappointing day for Cork Schoolboys soccer at Jackson Park yesterday afternoon, when Wilton United suffered a 3-0 defeat to an excellent Cherry Orchard side in the U16 SFAI Cup showpiece.
The Lee Road outfit were hoping for better luck than rivals Corinthian Boys (who had lost to St Joseph’s Boys in the U13 decider a day earlier), but speaking in the direct aftermath of the contest, Wilton manager Brendan O’Sullivan identified the physicality of Orchard as a decisive factor in the contest.
“Very disappointing. They were too physically strong for us. The wind as well didn’t help us, we like to get the ball down and past it. We couldn’t do it in the first half when we had the wind. With the second half, the momentum changed,” O’Sullivan stated.
“They’re a very good team. Very, very strong team. We haven’t come up against a team like that before. Their bench, even all the subs that came on, they’re all six foot plus. Every one of them. We just couldn’t handle the physicality.”
However, O’Sullivan was still proud of the effort produced by his squad of players on the day, and was delighted to see them continuing to compete until the very end of the action.
“I’m very proud of my lads. They still played tremendous. They kept fighting until the end, even though it was 3-0 and the game was up. I’m very, very proud of them. They can hold their heads very high. It’s a fantastic achievement to get to a national cup final.
“It’s just disappointing that we didn’t take it one step further, but I’m very proud of the lads. Tremendous character right to the very end.”
Indeed, the deadlock had remained unbroken during the opening period, and O’Sullivan felt that they were still in contention until Dean Dillon opened the scoring from a 49th minute penalty.
“Yeah, I thought we were as good as them until the penalty. Although they were very physically strong, even in the first half, but we had the better chance. We had a header that was inches over the crossbar.
“They had one, a goalmouth scramble, alright. We were level pegging until then. Our game plan was to hit them on the counter attack, and hold it tight for the first five minutes of the second half. Which we did, and the penalty changed everything,” O’Sullivan added.