Colemanstown Ladies travelled to Boyle Celtic on Sunday for a Cup match hoping to make a giant killing against a strong physical Boyle outfit. Colemanstown arrived with 12 players against a strong 17 Boyle squad but the ladies took to the pitch in great spirits. They played superbly for the first 5 minutes until Boyle found their feet and took control of the game. On the quarter hour mark, the Boyle striker broke through the defence and slid the ball into the bottom right corner away from the dive of Ashley Roberts in goal. Straight from the kick-off Rachel O’Brien and Serena Hansberry exchanged passes and Rachel went through to fire in a long distance shot but was saved by the Boyle keeper. Sarah Kearney also had a few long distance shots which were also saved well by the keeper who was well alert. With 10 mins to go before half time the Boyle striker pulled the trigger and the ball went lofting through the air and dipped under Ashley’s crossbar to make it 2-0. Colemanstown ladies tried their best to get to the half time whistle at 2-0 but there were a few nasty twists to come. Lucy Kenny had a driving run down the left side of the pitch and was on the receiving end of a nasty tackle which resulted in her having to retire early through injury which was a big loss. This resulted in a few positional changes with Laura Keane introduced, Rebecca Clancy moved to the left wing & Laura Keane redeployed up front. The ladies dug in but Boyle still managed to get through again as the Colemanstown management and players were screaming for offside but the plea fell on deaf ears and the ref awarded the goal just before halftime to leave it 3-0 to the hosts at the break.
The second half started better for Colemanstown with a few passing moves down the right side with Sarah Kearney trying to get Laura Keane through on goal but the Boyle defence were having none of it. 10 mins into the second half Boyle made a few changes and broke through the Colemanstown defence again to score a 4th goal but they were saving the best for last as a Boyle midfielder won the ball and from almost half way out the pitch unleashed a wonder shot that travelled the whole distance to the top corner of Ashley Roberts goal – not a thing anybody could do about it – definitely a contender for goal of the season. A few minutes later the ref blew the whistle as it ended 4-0. It was a tough evening under lights at Boyle Celtic for the Colemanstown ladies as 2 players were playing their second ever soccer match – Laura Keane and Sarah Molloy and they both did really well. Colemanstown ladies next match is a Shield semi-final against neighbours St. Cuans in Colemanstown on Sunday next. Match report by Philip Dee
Squad: Ashley Roberts, Jessica Doherty, Clare Keane, Katie Delanery, Rori Doherty, Lucy Kenny, Serena Hansberry, Rachel O’Brien, Sarah Kearney, Sarah Molloy, Rebecca Clancy, Laura Keane.