Junior Final Match Report – Right to Dream 3 v 0 Co Londonderry

Jul 29, 2016 | Junior Section

Right to Dream are Super Cup NI Junior Section champions after a superb performance culminated in a 3-0 win over County Londonderry. A brace from Emmanuel Bam and a late solo effort from Kelvin Ofori sealing the win for the African side.

Right to Dream dominated the first half and went close to scoring on eight minutes when striker Kelvin Ofori struck the crossbar from the edge of the box after an excellent team move. Ofori was proving to be in the thick of the action and turned provider a minute later when he pulled the ball back across the box only for teammate Mohammed Diomande to miskick when in acres of space to score.

Kamal Deen was proving to be a real handful in midfield for the African side and danced through the County Londonderry defence on 11 minutes only for his effort to deflect wide and out for a corner. Winger Oliver Tollbel threatened in similar style on 18 after an exquisite through ball from the centre but his placed shot forced a good save out of Rory Palmer in the Londonderry goal.

Kamal Deen threatened once more for Right to Dream on the stroke of half time but his shot was just off target. Heading into the break, the sense was that it would only be a matter of time before the African visitors opened the scoring and Londonderry needed to regroup if they were to mount a better challenge in the second half.

This soon proved true as barely a minute after the restart, Right to Dream took the lead when Jack McClean committed a foul in the box which was duly despatched from the penalty spot by captain Emmanuel Bam.

Bam threatened to double his side’s advantage just minutes later but this he shot just wide on the half volley after an excellent cut-back cross from the left. This mattered little however as he completed his brace on 42 minutes, calmly slotting home after the mother of all goalmouth scrambles which saw Londonderry goalkeeper Rory Palmer and defender Luke McKendry perform miraculous clearances off the line but to no avail.

Bam came within a whisker of making it a hat trick on 46 minutes when he hit the post on the stretch as the County Londonderry defence found him increasingly difficult to handle. The big striker then spurned a glorious opportunity on 49 when he missed what was practically an open goal on the rebound after a fine stop from Rory Palmer to deny Kelvin Ofori. You sensed the hat trick just wasn’t going to come for Bam with one minute remaining when he scooped the ball into the keepers arms from just two yards out but take nothing away from the African striker whose performance all evening was top notch.

Kelvin Ofori deservedly got himself on the scoresheet in injury time with a fine solo effort after a run from midfield to make the score 3-0 and round off what was a comprehensive and deserved victory for Right to Dream. Commiserations to County Londonderry who did little wrong but were simply beaten by the better team on the day.

Match Report by Jordan Miller. (@jordan_859)