Colemanstown A 0 – 3 Salthill Devon
On Friday evening, our A team travelled to Drom to take on table toppers, Salthill Devon in a dogfight and gave it hammer and tongs. As expected, Salthill enjoyed the lions share of possession, but Colemanstown soaked up much of the pressure in a great spell of football thanks to an excellent defensive set up involving Ronan Carr, Sean Hardiman, Jason Finn & Damo Wynne. Mossy Carr saw his first half effort saved while Kegs’ attempted chip of the keeper failed to pay off. Salthill scored a fortuitous first half goal when Alan Junior made a fine stop, got back on his feet to save the rebound but on the 3rd attempt Salthill squeezed it through on 25mins. Up to that point our midfielders worked their socks off as Richie Lally, Padraig Quirke & Gareth Lally were busy up and down the field tracking back on occasions to help out the defence.
A reshuffle of the team at half time saw the injured Ronan Carr, replaced by Tom Flan. Geordan Kenny settled into left back and Kegs on the left wing to accommodate the mentor’s game plan. Flan had a couple of goal chances, 1 just wide, the other saved. As Colemanstown threw everything into grasping an equaliser, Salthill took advantage of the defensive set up, broke on the counter attack with 10mins to go when a shot into the box deflected past Junior to make it 2-0. Salthill made sure of the 3 points on 90mins when they scored again to make their dominance count on the scoreboard which was probably a touch harsh on the visitors.
That said, it was a brave performance by the Colemanstown lads. With the focus now on the relegation battle, all relegation contenders have a big job on hand with 4 teams expected to be relegated. Next up for Colemanstown is a home clash against Galway Hibs.
Colemanstown United U12 Boys 3 – 2 Salthill Devon
The talk amongst the Colemanstown boys in the warmup to this game on Saturday last, was the small pitch and at 1 stage they thought about bringing it to the attention of the referee. From the first whistle, it became obvious why the pitch was kept small as the hosts crowded midfield and kicked every ball long from the foot of their keeper. It was the visitors Colemanstown however that opened the scoring with a quality ball by Thomas Screene released Keelyn Kirby to slot the ball home in the first 5 minutes. We only had to wait another 5 minutes for the Colemanstown lead to be doubled when Thomas Screene released a powerful shot past the goalkeeper from 20 yards out. At this stage our back 3 of Adam Devaney, Robbie Lydon and Cathal Maybin were in control from any build-up play from Devon but needed to be aware of long balls over the top and long range shots. John Parker in goal was called into action in the first 20 minutes to pull some balls from underneath his cross bar, but Saturday was going to be a day where you felt it was going to take something special to beat John.
As the first half wore on, Darren Quirke, Dermot Parker and Riain Donohue were in complete control in midfield and enjoyed watching their wizardry turning into chances up front. Adam Kenny and Finian Walsh were introduced into midfield ahead of half time and business continued as usual. Daniel Booth slotted in to defence and the boys maintained a strong shape as we closed out the half. The second half saw more of the same and our 3rd goal first started with a silky pass from Daniel Booth who found himself setting up Thomas Screene from a quick corner. Thomas attacked the Salthill defence and was taken down as he entered the penalty area. Thomas picked up the ball and brought it to the penalty spot and slotted the ball to the net. 3-0 to Colemanstown and the bench was emptied with Scott Donoghue, Elliott Bradley, Liam O’Connor and Jack Mannion sprung, but the work wasn’t done. Fortunes changed after a beautiful flicked header to the net by Keelyn Kirby was judged off-side by the ref and misfortune at the other end where a ball hit Darren Quirke in the hand inside the box gave Salthill a glimmer of hope to grab something from the game. John Parker guessed the right corner to go, but was just beyond his fingertips and in at the butt of the post. John was called into action again and needed to again dive low to his right to keep out Salthill and at this stage Colemanstown were in defensive mode for the last 10 minutes. Robbie Lydon was at the heart of every defensive duty and broke up every effort coming down through the middle of the field. Salthill were to have one last strike and not even the in-form John Parker could keep the ball out. 3-2 the final score in Drom where wins are hard to find at any level. Match report by Robbie Parker
Colemanstown U14B Boys 0 – 4 Barna/ Furbo
Bearna na Forbacha were our hosts on Saturday in ideal sun and match perfect conditions in Bearna. With nearly a full fit squad at our disposal on the day – just missing Erin Black, wishing him a speedy recovery; we were thinking we may get something from this game. Bearna with home advantage took the game to us early on but the goal keeping of Dylan King, the back four of Tiernan Malone, Seán Keating, Lucy Roberts and Niall Grady stood tall and cleared everything that came their way.
The midfield of Tommie Muldoon, James Somers, Tyler Collins and Libby Kennedy put their bodies on the line when needed. The front 2 of Tadhg hart and Niamh Kennedy also did the utmost to keep Bearna at bay. On 20 mins Bearna broke the deadlock from a corner set piece. Colemanstown were limited to efforts in front of goal due to Bearna’s stubbon defence. The only real chance was from a Tyler Collins free kick which sailed over the bar. Half time, 1 up to the hosts
We made a few changes at half time as the heat was taking its toll on our young players. Francis Weldon, Aaron Lindsay Bane and Caolean Caulfield were introduced for Niall Grady, Libby and Niamh Kennedy who were all re-introduced again to the game later on for Tadhg Hart, James Somers and Tommie Muldoon. Bearna added a further 4 goals in the second half as they just wore down this young team. Thank you to Dermot and Bearna for a very enjoyable game and all the best for the remainder of the season. Thank you to the parents of Colemanstown who travelled to Bearna to support your sons and daughters. Match report by Declan Greaney