Basking in the afterglow of their memorable 2-1 Connacht Cup win over Boyle Celtic last weekend, Colemanstown were pragmatic when it counted as second half goals from Ray Moran, Paddy Mullins & Johnny Mullins blew table toppers West Utd away at South Park yesterday in front of a large vocal crowd. West dominated the early exchanges with most of the possession but yet had no clear cut shot at goal. Colemanstown failed to get any real rhythm going early on, as they struggled for a bit to get a stranglehold on the game. Then against the run of play on 20mins Colemanstown were awarded a penalty after Ray Moran was taken down but the ref quickly changed his mind and awarded a free kick instead. West’s wall did it’s job and the game remained scoreless. On the 25min mark Tom Flan had a sublime effort in his attempted chip of the keeper but the West No.1 stretched well to get his fingertips to it. West went a goal up through Jimmy Jennings from a corner on the half hour mark as Colemanstown created a little bit of pressure but failed to create anything to note from some Alan Finn & Damo Wynne corners. Gerry Moran deployed some astute changes at half time playing Tom Flan as a central striker in a 3 pronged attack with Kegs & Ray Moran out wide. This made a huge impact pinning the opposition back and thereby created more possession and opportunities for Colemanstown as they fought fire with fire and started to trouble West Utd. Their notable change of attitude was marvellous and similar to their last outing as they never showed signs of panic. 15mins after the restart Ray Moran was rewarded with his 8th goal of the season. A perfectly controlled pass across the box from Kegs was almost met by the head of Jayo Finn but it fell nicely to the boot of Moran who struck it low past the hapless keeper. 10mins later a Damo Wynne corner from the left evaded everyone and Paddy Mullins found himself with acres of space and with a free header just picked his spot. At this stage veteran Ollie Crowe had to retire early due to a knee injury and Kegs was re-deployed at centre back and young Johnny Mullins introduced. West blazed over the bar from 15 yards and as they searched for an equaliser but they continued to hit the combined wall of Alan Finn & Jayo Finn going forward, the latter a tower of strength and lifted the team with his mentality and mindset alone. Johnny Mullins worked hard on his introduction winning a few corners and harrying players. The diminutive (in stature, but certainly not in willpower or speed) Stephen Walsh who was introduced late in the game played a major role in goal No 3 as he won the ball well in the centre circle and played a peach of a cross to Johnny Mullins who took one touch and slotted home to elicited gasps from the Colemanstown contingent. This sealed the points in a marvellous 3-1 victory and it appears they have derailed West Utd’s league title bid while a win on Wednesday night at home against Mervue Utd will almost certainly guarantee top flight football next season.
Meanwhile our u13’s were unlucky to lose 2-0 to Cois Farraige who made the long trip out to Colemanstown this evening. Many of these lads had played 5 games since Thursday having won the u14 hurling Feile in Athenry yesterday and we congratulate them on this fine accolade. The tired legs were in evidence as they were that bit slower and lethargic but nevertheless it has been a fine season for David Gillgan’s men only losing 2 league games. They play their final game of the season at home on Thurs at 7:30 against table toppers Cregmore/Claregalway.