Galbally United come from behind to win Paddy Purtill Cup final

Paddy Purtill Cup Final

Cashel Town 1 Galbally United 3

Galbally United had to come from behind to beat a game Cashel Town side and justify their favourites tag in an excellent Paddy Purtill final at Aisling Park in Cullen last Saturday evening.

The underdogs couldn’t have asked for a better start, when they took the lead in only the third minute after they were awarded a free kick outside the area, that was superbly despatched to the net by Alex O’Sullivan, to the delight of the Cashel Town supporters.

But the lead lasted only eight minutes, when Galbally United got level thanks to an equaliser from Josh Dineen, who headed home a Bernard O’Brien corner kick.

This heralded a period of domination and they took the front in the 20th minute, after Peter Morrissey expertly controlled a long ball out of defence, and set up Ger Quinlan who fired to the net from outside the area.

The game see sawed over and back after this, and the next clear chance fell to Cashel, ten minutes from the break, when Murty Browne fired just wide after some good play in the middle of the pitch.

But the real turning point of the game came six minutes from half-time when Galbally extended their lead to 3-1, thanks to a very good finish by John English, who was set up by Cathal O’Mahoney who picked him out from the right wing.

Cashel Town had to make a good start to the second period, and almost did when in the first minute, Alex O’Sullivan slammed an effort from all of 35 yards out that cannoned off the post and flew away to safety, much to the relief of the Galbally United supporters.

And Cashel Town continued to apply pressure especially through numerous excellent set play deliveries by veteran Ian Hahessy.

But the county Limerick side soaked up the pressure and if anything could have added to their tally from some deadly counter attacking forays into the Cashel Town half, notably when both Josh Dineen and Peter Morrissey came close to scoring.

In the end, there were no more goals in the half, and Galbally United captain Pa Murphy raised the cup at the end, sparking great celebrations among everyone involved with the team.