The last week or two have been rough …. Unplayable pitches, Eunice, Dudley, Franklin & now war and we’re all feeling so helpless so just to take your minds off war for a bit, you can read a snippet of yesterday’s soccer action.
Yesterday’s matches will be remembered for the weather; it was like playing in gale force winds. So hats off to all players who togged. First up yesterday morning were our U12 boys at home to Loughrea. It was great to see our pitch hold up for the game; perhaps the strong cold breeze a help in that regard.
Colemanstown United U12 Boys 2 – 2 Loughrea
A game of 2 halves in Colemanstown as the wind blew from left to right and made it a difficult 1st half for our boys. After the first 10 minutes it was clear that this game needed to be played on the ground and with the introduction of Keelyn Kirby from the bench ensured we got some good link up play with Darren Quirke & Thomas Screene in midfield and Dermot Parker in attack to score our first. Unfortunately the lead was short lived and some slow defending allowed Loughrea to equalise as their number 10 slotted the ball home past John Parker in goal.
The boys regrouped once again and almost an identical build up saw Keelyn Kirby score his second of the morning as he finished from close range. Yet again, the lead was short-lived and this time the threat came from the Loughrea midfield where a turn-over in play found our midfield out of position and struggled to get back to prevent a piledriver aided by the wind to smash the net behind John Parker. The half ended 2-2 and the crowd felt that Colemanstown had all the hard work done to go out in the second half to win the game.
The next 30 minutes saw the entire game played in the Loughrea half and coach Ita Kenny wanted to start taking up the cones on that side of the pitch to allow her to get away quickly for her next pitch-side appointment! At this stage the introduction of Adam Kenny and Caolan O’Neill ensured that a high intensity game was maintained with a mix of wide play on the wings combined with piercing runs from Caolan through the middle. On 2 occasions Caolan must have felt there was a glass wall in front of the goals as 3 separate shots just couldn’t find the net. He took paint off the goalpost with his first effort and his 3rd effort deflected off the Loughrea No.5 and hit the goalkeeper in the head. Keelyn Kirby was in disbelief that he couldn’t find his hat-trick as the Loughrea defence scampered to block multiple efforts. Dermot Parker felt the ground was soft enough to attempt a bicycle kick and only the goalkeeper positioned well kept it out as Dermot looked on from the ground. At this stage our back 3 were getting very little ball and the introduction of Daniel Booth and Finian Walsh in a reshuffle at the back didn’t interrupt the Colemanstown pressure and allowed fresh legs to keep finding a winner. Unbelievably that goal never came for Colemanstown which saw a scoreless 2nd half leaving our boys wondering what use the wind was at their backs.
At the final whistle this game will have felt like 2 points dropped instead of a point collected however when the boys regroup on Tuesday evening they will see that Loughrea were a physically big and strong team and were difficult to play through. If the game was played on a faster surface on a calm day, the outcome would surely have been alot different.
2-2 the final score in Colemanstown in the first league game since the Christmas break. Match report by Robbie Parker
Our U14B Boys team were away to Cregmore in their latest league encounter. Fielding with the bare 11 players & with the wind at their backs in the 1st half they scored 3 well-worked goals through Tadhg Hart and a brace from Francis Weldon but it was the hosts who saw things out calmly. The midfield duo of Erin Black & Tadhg Hart showed great ability to find spaces and pick out good passes for strikers Aaron Lindsay – Bane & Niamh Kennedy to run on to. Cregmore weren’t too long finding their rhythm but there were some great clearances from Tyler Collins, Sean Keating, Tommie Muldoon & Niall Grady with the latter two making some super clearances up the wings which thwarted many Cregmore attacks while the last line of defence, net minder Dylan King had a busy day with some super saves.
Francis Weldon opened his account in the first half when he was perfectly positioned to hammer home a rebounded effort from Tadhg Hart. Niamh Kennedy & Aaron Lindsay – Bane also created good first half chances but the wind played puck & they just wouldn’t go in.
Francis Weldon claimed his brace soon after the restart. A loose ball from a corner was picked up by Tyler Collins who got on his bike, worked his way forward before passing to Weldon who finished well from close range. Colemanstown’s 3rd came through Tadhg Hart who got on the end of the ball on the half way line, ran up the left wing, cut in across the box & let a screamer fly into the top corner. Libby Kennedy also had a good 2nd half effort which went wide.
In the end Cregmore saw the game out as they played into the breeze. Well done lads & ladies. A tough day out in difficult conditions. Thanks to young Niamh & Libby Kennedy for the match notes.
Colemanstown U14A 4 – 0 Kilshanvey.
Colemanstown U14A Boys took on Kilshanvey in Kilshanvey on a wildly windy Saturday morning. Having won the toss the visitors elected to play with a strong breeze at their backs. Colemanstown started strongly with midfield of Tomas Rogerson, Cillian Roche, Matthew Keane and Daniel Lydon challenging for every kick out to keep play in the Kilshanvey half as much as possible. Colemanstown mounted the pressure on the home goal with several shots but with the swirling wind it was difficult to tell where the shots would end up, some above the goal and others hitting the post and crossbar. Deadlock was broken 15 minutes in with a lovely strike from Cillian Roche to find the back of the net.
Ryan Concannon and Ronan Screene worked hard upfront to keep the ball close to the Kilshanvey box and Tomas Rogerson capitalised on the pressure with his shot hitting the crossbar and blasting into the net to make it 2-0 not long after the first. Kilshanvey started to play their passing game, heading for the Colemanstown goal but the defensive line up of Cathal Keane, Joshua Buckley, Jamie Burke and Alex Kelly were well up for the challenges posed with some excellent tackles and passes back to midfield. Joshua McDonnell in goal had little to challenge him but made some excellent passes out when called upon. Some positional changes in the first half moved Conor Walsh into defence, Joshua Buckley into midfield and Daniel Lydon up front. Shortly after Daniel Lydon was first to the ball after the Kilshanvey keeper spilled it and in a lovely move Daniel rounded the keeper and thundered the ball into the net to make it 3-0 at the break.
The lads knew it would be a tougher second half playing into the wind. Tactical changes in play to beat the wind meant the visitors played all their passing game on the ground. Their passing was superb for the second half, lovely to watch. Although Kilshanvey were using the wind to chase for goals, Colemanstown were well up for the challenge and held on to the ball well. The visitors had several more goal chances in the second half, with Matthew Keane’s goal ruled out for offside. Ryan Concannon and Ronan Screene saw their shots saved and hitting the crossbar again. Alex Kelly made an excellent run from defence and his thundering shot also hit the crossbar. The only goal of the second half came from a lovely chip by Conor Walsh to lob the keeper and hit the net making it 4-0 ten minutes from the end. The visitors worked hard in difficult conditions, and more importantly worked superbly as a team, showing for each other with superb passing play all over the pitch. The win leaves them second from top with 2 games in hand.
Squad: Joshua McDonnell, Alex Kelly, Jamie Burke, Joshua Buckley, Cathal Keane, Matthew Keane, Tomas Rogerson, Cillian Roche, Conor Walsh, Daniel Lydon, Ryan Concannon, Ronan Screene
Manager: Orla McCaffrey. Match report by Orla McCaffrey