The dust had barely settled on last weeks quarter final victory over Botanic as Falcon Juniors stood in our way with a place in The Committee Cup final on Sunday up for grabs. This was a game that had absolutely everything and was one hell of a cup tie. We suffered a late setback when Pablo had to withdraw due to hayfever which gave Zach another opportunity in the number 10 role with Paddy moving back to a defensive midfield role alongside Johnny. The game started as expected very tense with both sides looking to weigh each other up. Ross had a great chance to open the scoring but put his effort wide it was a big opportunity wasted but their weakness had been exposed. 17 minutes in and it was Falcon's who struck first we switched off from a corner which was whipped in and smashed in the near post. Our response was good however when Ross and Ethan combined our little number 19 struck a low shot which was parried out and tapped home by Jude Carroll to make it 1-1. Their threat was the pace of their centre forward and we struggled to get anywhere near him, within two minutes he'd scored twice to give them a 3-1 lead.
Half time came and we had to regroup, Ross scored five minutes in to the 2nd period which restored our belief however it was the pace on the counter attack which killed us yet again and with twenty minutes remaining we were 5-2 down. Jude Carter was moved into a more central position and this paid dividends as we had more energy and creativity in midfield. It was a rollercoaster finish and the whole park was in for a treat with further goals from Jude Carroll and Jay set up a grandstand finish. With 1 minute remaining we won a free kick on the edge of the box which Jude Carter lined up to take, he fired the ball across the face of goal and it found its way to Paddy who smashed a great volley into the roof of the net which meant once again our fate would be determined by penalty kicks. Falcon's won the toss and scored first, Paddy high on confidence after his late equaliser made no mistake to make it 1-1, then Harry saved their second pen, Johnny and Ross both scored which meant if Zach could convert it would give us a massive advantage. His walk up to the spot cut a nervous figure and he fired his pen over the bar which levelled things up again. It was never in doubt as their fifth taker was the centre forward who had kept his cool to slot from 12 yards in the second half and he made no mistake again. It meant Jay needed to score to take it to sudden death, his penalty lacked conviction though and was kept out by their keeper meaning that the run was over. It was massively frustrating and a hard one to take given that we'd defeated arguably the strongest team in the quarter finals and had come from 5-2 down to give us a hell of a chance however the luck had unfortunately ran out. It brought the curtain down on what has been a long and tough season, what we will have now though is experience and the hunger to channel the hurt and disappointment into coming back stronger for next season.
