Sunday Football action: Nov 3rd ‘24: U13 & U14 Girls; U17 Boys 

U13 Girls Div1 Loughrea 0 -4 Colemanstown.  Missing 9 of the panel with 6 players tied up with camogie finals, our U13 Girls completely overwhelmed Loughrea in their latest league encounter away on Sunday morning. They earned a comprehensive 4-0 win & completely dominated the game from the outset. The girls also won the camogie too by the way…adding even more smiles to the faces…. Colemanstown started brightly with Laura Hayes & Sorcha nic an Iomaire having sighters on goal in the opening 15mins, but the Loughrea custodian was in top class form & hard to beat. The breakthrough came though on 20mins when a super left footed effort from Sorcha Nic an Iomaire from 25yards sailed perfectly under the crossbar to give the young girls in green the lead. The back 4 of Amy Morrissey, Laoise Naughton, Aislinn Murray & Lauryn Murphy were solid all through with Lauryn departing at half time to participate in the camogie. Young Emily Tuohy re-started the 2nd half in her place at left back while Laura Hayes brought super bite to the game with her powerful pace & wonderful footwork as she dribbled with ease past many opponents. Colemanstown pounced early in the 2nd half in a swift counter, when Laura Hayes found herself in a one-on-one situation, calmly rounded the keeper before she picked her spot to finish well just 4mins after the restart. Kate Geary scored No 3 midway through the half, when she got on the ball on the left wing, muscled her way through to a shooting position & drilled her effort low & hard, firmly into the bottom corner. Laura Hayes capped off an unforgettable morning when showing great quality, she cut in from the left, in along the endline, tapped the ball across the box where the keeper got the slightest of touches & the ball broke to Siana O’Grady who finished from close range in the last kick of the game. Emma Burke, Kayla Maloney, Lauren O’Grady & Aoife Mulcahy also brought great attacking options during the game. This 4-0 win elevates the girls to 2nd in the table behind table toppers Merlin Woods whom they play away in their next league outing on Nov 17th. Match Report: Martina Donnellan 

Squad: Lilly Burke, Aislinn Murray, Laoise Naughton, Amy Morrissey, Lauryn Murphy, Sorcha nic an Iomaire, Siana O Grady, Kate Geary, Lauren O Grady, Kayla Maloney , Laura Hayes, Ava Forde, Emma Burke, Aoife Mulcahy, Emily Tuohy. 

U14 Girls SFAI Trophy. Colga FC 3 – 1 Colemanstown.  In their SFAI Trophy 1st round match, Colemanstown United’s Under-14 girls put up a strong fight but ultimately lost 3-1 to Premier team Colga on a mild Sunday afternoon in Kilcolgan. Colemanstown held their own for the majority of this game remaining competitive up until the final 10 minutes. The game started off with some fine football from boths sides on Colgas AstroTurf surface. Muireann Roache and Shauna McDonagh were enjoying plenty of time on the ball in midfield and linking up well with Maddie Rohan and Leah Hansberry on the wings. Colga opened the scoring on 25 minutes with a well taken goal following a corner kick. The visiting side had a couple of chances to equalises before half time with Emma Collins and Emily Rohan shooting narrowly wide. Going in at half time 1 nil down, Colemanstown came out strong knowing they were well in this game. Lucy Butler’s long kick-outs caused all sorts of trouble for Colga’s defense but the visiting side couldn’t capitalise. The equaliser came 15 minutes into the 2nd half through some skillful left-wing play by Leah Hansbury who picked up the ball in midfield and threaded through a pin-point pass to Emily Rohan who expertly finished to the net. Colga found another gear with 10 minutes remaining putting severe pressure on our back four of Grace Connolly, Tia Loughnane, Niamh Naughton and Aoife Walsh, Lisa Curran, Aoife Morris, Evelyn McDonnell and Grace Jordan were all introduced to provide some fresh legs but 2 goals with 5 minutes remaining from the hosts sealed the win in this cup decider . The scoreline didn’t do us justice in the end but the girls will take a lot from this game as they resume their league campaign in the coming weeks. Get well soon to Kate Mitchell who limped off early in the game with an ankle sprain, hope she gets back on the playing pitch soon. Match report: Niall Rohan 

U17 Boys Div1 Colemanstown 3- 4 Cregmore/Claregalway B. Colemanstown U17 Boys started this latest home league game strongly. Darren Moran came closest to providing a dream start for Colemanstown early in the first-half when his effort from just inside the box came off the post as Colemanstown were finding their feet. The resultant clearance from the visitors led to the ball being worked down the other end of the pitch with great pace; a shot at goal was splendidly saved by Sean Cooke who turned the ball out for a corner. The resultant corner was swung into the area; the ball bounced in the box nicely for Cregmore’s striker to execute the finish brilliantly for the opener – 1-0 to the visitors. At this stage Conor Walsh was substituted due to injury which saw a reshuffle of the team. Nathan Mannion was redeployed at centre back. Eibhear Colleran to left back & Jamie Lally was introduced to left mid. Colemanstown remained cool though & maintained their composure with lovely  passing play throughout the pitch. Following a spell of great passing & possession football, Jamie Lally showed great skill on the left to get around 2 players feeding Adam Doyle who connected with a sweet strike from outside the box into the top right corner. 1-1 at the break following an end-to-end first half. Cregmore scored quickly after the re-start to make it 2-1.  Colemanstown failed to be rattled though & kept their composure. A fantastic build up hauled Colemanstown back level in a passage of play involving Adam Doyle, Ryan Gavin and Shane Quirke who fed Rogie & he unleashed a lovely strike to restore parity at 2-2. Conor Walsh was fit for re-introduction in this humdinger. Colemanstown kept the pressure up creating plenty of chances which were snuffed out by the Cregmore defence. Then in a remarkable twist Cregmore scored 2 goals in the space of a few minutes to effectively double their lead at 4-2. Colemanstown refused to lie though & were like lads possessed, creating wave after wave of attacking play in search of goals. With a few minutes remaining Josh Buckley delivered a lovely long pass to Darren Moran in the box who took a perfect first touch and placed it in the net to bring the game to 4-3. Colemanstown did everything in their power to seek an equaliser, showing great composure and a very high work rate with an outstanding display of passing and movement which led to several opportunities to grab a last gasp equaliser. Darren Moran for the 2nd time, found the woodwork; this time the ball thundered off the crossbar; a Nathan Mannion header was saved by the keeper, & Shane Quirke and Tomas Rogerson efforts were just off target. In the end the final whistle came too early as Colemanstown continued to treat all present to a spectacle right up until the end & were unfortunate not to grab an equaliser which their efforts richly deserved. Final score: Colemanstown 3 – 4 Cregmore/ Claregalway.   Match report: Orla McCaffrey. 

Squad: Sean Cooke, Tyler Collins, Conor Walsh, Josh Buckley, Nathan Mannion, Eibhear Colleran, Adam Doyle, Ryan Gavin, Tomas Rogerson, Darren Moran, Shane Quirke, Jamie Lally, Joshua McDonnell, Ronan Screene, Dylan King, Niall Grady, Shane Dempsey.