Colemanstown ‘A’ took on an unbeaten Renmore side yesterday in conditions we had become more accustomed to earlier this summer with the mercury touching 23°C as Danny Corbetts whistle got proceedings underway.
The early exchanges were lively and saw half chances exchanged at either end with our lads playing open positive football with an exceptional workrate and intensity. After the game settled into its natural rhythm Colemanstown began to assert and their hard work paid off after 25 mins when Ray Moran pressed in midfield and smartly won the ball before threading the ball through for John O’Brien. Johno still had alot to do but he showed great pace to go by the Renmore centre back before firing an unstoppable shot across the keeper and into the far corner. Colemanstown continued on the front foot and forced two corners in quick succession thanks to more hard work from Shane Lally and Dylan Grady who were working tirelessly in a front 3 either side of John O’Brien.
Renmore weathered the storm and had their own period of pressure that saw Edo Flannery needed on two separate occasions as he brilliantly held a cross under pressure before making light of a well struck free from just outside the penalty area. The back 4 were solid throughout with fullbacks Jack Kennedy and Stehen Walsh defending solidly and leading the attack at every given opportunity while our centre back pairing of Conor Jackson and Jason Finn looked confident and assured despite the many physical threats amongst the Renmore ranks.
As the second half began the lads could have been forgiven for being a little edgy following on from the events in Headford only 3 days previous. However, their character was impeccable and the confidence and assured defending of Finn and Jackson gave Colemanstown a platform from which they never looked like conceding! The midfield had now started to dominate with Ray Moran, Alan Finn and Padraig Quirke tirelessly patrolling and snuffing out threats while also leading the charge as Colemanstown looked to counter and put the game to bed. With 20 minutes to go one of those counter attacks saw a neat exchange down the right wing between Sephen Walsh and Sean Walsh before Sean’s clever ball found the feet of John O’Brien who was hacked down as he attempted to breach the last line of defence.
As captain Alan Finn placed the ball down for himself all of 35 yards from goal I’m sure Renmore were reasonably comfortable with their set up. However, their keeper could only watch as Alo unleashed a thunderous drive that hit the underside of the bar, bounced on the line and flew back up into the roof of the net to huge cheers from the great home support. The relief was palpable and with 10 mins to go victory was sealed when Jason Finn cut out yet another Renmore attack before finding Ronan Geraghty whose throughball unleashed John O’Brien in a 50/50 race with the Renmore keeper who had come haring off his line in an attempt to clear. Johno calmly stepped around the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net for his 2nd of the day. It was the goal his play had deserved as he was another whose workrate epitomizes the potential in this group of players.
This was a great team performance and anyone who had seen our first two games knew that this win was not far away.
Special mention to co-manager David Gilligan who had earlier overseen his U15 side win 3-0 away to Colga FC before hastily making his way to Colemanstown just in time for kick off! Wins like these make the hard work a little easier Gilly!
Man of the match: John O’Brien – thankfully there were many candidates yesterday but Johno gave an all round masterclass in centre forward play with exceptional hold up play, constant workrate and two well taken goals.
Team: Edmund Flannery, Stephen Walsh, Jason Finn, Conor Jackson, Jack Kennedy, Ray Moran, Padraig Quirke, Alan Finn (C), Shane Lally, John O’Brien, Dylan Grady. Subs used: Sean Walsh, Ronan Geraghty, Tomas Carr.
Next ‘A’ team game away to Tuam Celtic on Friday 7th September at 8pm.