Jamie Nutley announced himself to Colemanstown’s soccer family by scoring the opening goal in stunning style in Round 2 of the U15 National Cup against Gort in Maree/Oranmore’s wonderful astro turf facility on Saturday morning last. The game was only 7mins old when Dylan Murphy did trojan work tracking back to win an aerial battle, headed back to Cathal Hynes who spread the ball out right to Cathal Kennedy. Kennedy who had not yet swept the early morning (10am) sleepy slumber from his eyes fed an inch perfect pass to Nutley whose picture-perfect volley found the bottom right corner, well out of the keeper’s reach. That early goal ignited Colemanstown as Kyle Madden throttled up along the left wing, took on his player, forcing a corner in the process. The resultant corner whipped in by Ross Lally was missed by inches by Cathal Kennedy. Madden went on a similar trademark run moments later easily beating his man but his effort was marginally off target.
As the game progressed, Gort came more into the game and threatened with numerous corners but Josh Buckley was the heartbeat of the defensive line not letting anything past him while Diarmuid Ryan, Cillian Roche & Sean Connolly were also in fine fettle. Gort applied some pressure late in the first half as they hit the crossbar from play & Fionn Flattery in goal pulled off a superb one-on-one effort. Just before the break Gort levelled matters with a cracking effort from the edge of the box which left Fionn with little chance as Gort finished the half much stronger. 1-1 Half time.
Colemanstown made the most of the break as they rejigged the team. It might have taken a game of cones at half time for the management duo of Joe Finnerty & Gary Broderick to explain in detail to their players what was going wrong…. But games work too & the lads returned for the 2nd half a rejuvenated outfit and their all-round fighting spirit could only be admired.
In the 2nd half Darren Moran was introduced up front, Dylan Murphy redeployed to centre mid & Cathal Kennedy was re-introduced after his alarm clock finally sounded his early morning wake-up call. The team reshuffle worked wonders as players held their positions well & introduced good passing play. Cillian Roche scored yet another wonder strike – this time an outrageous strike from all of 35yards to give Colemanstown a 2-1 cushion. However, Gort came right back into the game as they saw an effort ricochet off the crossbar, Fionn Flattery made a super stop & they hit the post in their threats on goal.
In a bid to stop the threats, Ross Lally was re-positioned to centre back & Roche to centre mid where he anchored the game until the end. Colemanstown’s 3rd goal arrived with 7mins remaining when Cillian Roche won the ball on the left wing, was half fouled in the process, fell to the ground….. up he popped, rounded the right back and the advancing keeper and buried to the bottom right with a super individual trademark goal. From then on, the game belonged to Colemanstown as Gort felt there was no way back. Young Ronan Screene played his part for the latter stages as Darren Moran hit the cross bar yet again and with 2mins remaining Cillian Roche had a chance to keep the match ball as he chose to shoot himself when the better option might have been to pass to the unmarked Moran who was better positioned. You certainly can’t blame Cillian for seeking his hat trick though! 3-1 it finished to a gallant Colemanstown U15 squad. Well done lads & management twins.
Squad: Fionn Flattery, Josh Buckley, Cillian Roche, Diarmuid Ryan, Sean Connolly, Cathal Hynes, Cathal Kennedy, Ross Lally, Kyle Madden, Dylan Murphy, Jamie Nutley, Darren Moran, Ronan Screene.