Salthill Devon U11s continued their impressive form of late after an emphatic victory over Hibs/ Foyle in the Premier League in Drom on Thursday evening. The hosts ran out convincing winners in the end thanks to a flurry of late goals, however, the score line does not reflect the competitiveness of the fixture.

Salthill, having come from behind to defeat the same opposition on a 2-1 score line when they clashed at the semi-final stage of the Power Cup earlier in the season knew that Hibs, under the stewardship of decorated coach Joe Reilly, would be gunning for revenge. The tie started at a furious pace with both teams keen to gain an early advantage. The game ebbed and flowed as both sides created chances. Hibs’ danger man Nathan Ward was particularly impressive at this stage as the Salthill rearguard battled to contain him.

The first goal was created by striker Adam Murphy as he skilfully latched onto a long ball from left-full Shane Kelly and rounded the goalkeeper before selflessly squaring the ball to the onrushing Andrei Barcovschi to score at the second attempt. The celebrations were shortlived, however, as the visitors struck for an equaliser soon after. Salthill began to get to grips with Hibs’ formation and created a couple of chances before another excellent pass from Kelly was pounced on by Murphy and he struck a left footed volley first time beyond the ‘keeper for a 2-1 lead. Murphy grabbed his second and Salthill’s third with a well dispatched penalty after strike partner Bronson Kelly had been upended in the box when lining up a shot on goal. Once again Hibs responded by scoring a penalty of their own after Salthill goalkeeper James Hill brought down the onrushing striker and was lucky to only receive a yellow card for his troubles. With the tie approaching half-time and Salthill lucky to not to be at a numerical disadvantage, Salthill created the best move of the half when Kelly, captain Ronan Halloran and Murphy were involved before Robert Finnerty got on the end of Murphy’s cross to blast the ball home with his left foot.

On the resumption Salthill began on the ascendancy and once Murphy had completed his hat trick and Barcovschi added his second in quick succession the game was up for the visitors. It was tough luck on a gallant Hibs team as the goals flooded in but the quality of the Salthill squad was once again in evidence as all the substitutes contributed when introduced. Scorers on the day were hat trick hero and Man-of-the-Match Adam Murphy, Andrei Barcovschi (2), Robert Finnerty, Ronan Halloran, Ben Slater and Paddy Donoghue.