The Buttevant players and supporters celebrate after winning the County Cup following a 3-1 penalty shoot-out victory over CFC Banteer at the Cross on Monday night.
Barry Peelo.
On Monday night June 6th the boys from Buttevant Soccer Club took the field at Turners Cross hoping to put last year’s defeat behind them.
The lads started brightly and took the game to Banteer from the start. Playing great football, tearing the Banteer defence apart wth attack after attack, but no goal coming. Would this dominance pay or would it be déjà vu? It was the same story in the second half, with Banteer having one shot on goal in the whole 90 minutes. Extra time was looming and the supporters were starting to wonder if this game was going to slip from our grasp.
We kept the same momentum in extra time and yet again no goals were registered, so it went to penalties. This seems like a lottery when a team has dominated the game. Banteer missed the first, we missed our first, Ronan Donovan brought off a great save, John O’Connell scored, Ronan saved again, Jimmy Curtin scored, Banteer scored so it was up to Neil O’Callaghan. The pressure was on – but he scored! The Buttevant supporters invaded the pitch and the cup is back with Buttevant.
Dan O’Connell received the cup to great cheers from the supporters. The last captain to lift this cup for Buttevant was Johnny Ring in 1984. Neil O’Callaghan was awarded man of the match, a deserved reward for the boy who has put in a valiant effort this year. Hopefully we will springboard this to league success in the coming years. We would like to thank all the people who followed us throughout the year and thanks for all the best wishes. Thank you to the management team of Liam Crowley, Willie Sweeter and Andy Murphy who missed the final.