Our ‘A’ teams Connacht Cup classic was witnessed by the paltriest attendance from Colemanstown, 1 supporter who travelled to Ballisodare the day before in fact, to see Colemanstown take on the Sligo side in Round 2 of the Connacht Cup played yesterday. With almost all matches cancelled due to a blanket ban by the Galway FA, thanks to the inclement wet weather conditions, it was only matches scheduled for all-weather surfaces which progressed. In fairness, it didn’t take too long for Colemanstown to acclimatise to the astro surface as both teams had an equal share of possession and dominance. Colemanstown however, got off to the worst possible start conceding a goal early on as Niall Gelston failed to get a hand on a low hard shot which went beneath his legs. Not for the first time this season though, Colemanstown showed their fighting spirit once again as Kevin Reilly was upended and Paddy Mullins converted the resultant penalty to level matters. Minutes later Colemanstown went ahead with a well worked goal. Damo Wynne weaved past a couple of defenders, passed to Alo Finn who floated in a cross for Kevin Reilly to convert at the back post to earn his first goal this season for Colemanstown. 2-1 at half time. Soon after the restart, Ballisodare restored parity when their striker chipped Gelston from a good distance out. It was hard to separate the sides for the remainder of this fast moving 2nd half until Ray Moran had a great chance with minutes left on the clock. He throttled half the length of the field, skipped by a hatful of defenders before firing his shot goal wards only to see his effort saved by the Ballisodare keeper. In the dying seconds, the home side found the winner in a dramatic finale with a scrappy goal which could have been cleared as easily as it went in. It was a cruel loss inflicted on this hard working, fully spirited Colemanstown team which certainly deserved a further crack in extra time. But it was not to be as they bow out of the Connacht Cup in a cruel way. Thanks to Ballisodare Utd for the great spread and hospitality after the game.
Meanwhile, our understrength Reserves travelled to Carraroe on Saturday to take on McDara and suffered their second loss of the Reserve league campaign. Fielding with only 10 players on astro, they made a right good game of it. It took until the quarter hour mark for them to adapt to life on astro and by then it was McDara’s opening and decisive goal which woke them up when McDara’s striker found himself one-on-one with Joe Flannery but scooped the ball over his head while our defenders had little time to get back and clear from the goal line. Colemanstown had a few long range first half efforts from Adrian Queeney & Gerry Grady but amounted to little. In the 2nd half Sean Walsh got through from the right side but opted for the near post when the far post might have been the better option while Padraig Quirke also had his effort saved. Colemanstown had a few 2nd half corners which were well defended and in the end the tired legs and lethargic bodies could do no more in their bid to seek the all important equaliser. Heads up for the next day lads and hopefully back to winning ways for both our ‘A’ team & Reserves.