Monasterevin made the trip to Whitegates today to take on our boys in green in the U12 Sketchers SFAI cup this afternoon. The Kildare outfit had won all their opening four league games so our players knew they were in for a huge challenge. Both teams went at it from the first whistle with Alessio Cappola breaking down the left wing to win a free kick near the corner flag in the opening minutes. Isla Hindle stepped up and whipped in a beautiful ball for Cappola to head home after he timed his run perfectly to beat his marker and put Rovers 1-0 up. A few minutes later captain Kevin Yan burst through the Monasterevin defence but was met by the on rushing Monasterevin keeper who excellently saved Yan’s shot. The ball fell to Daniel Clarke who, without hesitation, beautifully lobbed the ball over the keepers head and into the net to give Rovers a two goal lead. Monasterevin started to press and kept poking away at trying to break down the Rovers rear-guard but Rovers were holding firm. Rovers went 3-0 up when Hank Murnane peeled away from his marker and headed home from a well delivered corner by Cappola. Mikey O’Neill made it 4-0 when he slotted home into the bottom right hand corner of the net after an excellent through ball from Yan. 4-0 at half time but Rovers knew that Monasterevin weren’t top of their league for no reason. They came out fighting in the second half and there was very little between the two teams. Monasterevin were pressing hard midway through the second half and after a series of three consecutive corners, they got their reward when a ball deflected off the Rovers defender and into the net to make it 4-1 with ten minutes remaining. Cool heads on green shoulders saw out the final minutes of the match with the Monasterevin keeper making some fine saves to keep Rovers score at four. 4-1 at full time and a great advertisement for schoolboy football had come to an end. It’s a trip to Tullamore in the next round for our boys in green and we thank Monasterevin for a great game of football and wish them the very best for the rest of their season.