Leicester City have shown us the importance of sneaking 1-0 wins this season and so our u14’s emulated them in their latest league encounter and by doing so sought revenge on their first leg league defeat against Cois Farraige with a late 1-0 win at home yesterday. This was a top class performance in a big challenge against the current league leaders which our boys met head on and relished for the entire game; none more so than our 3 centre backs Jason Keane, Ethan Lally & Josh Brennan who were particularly outstanding for the entire game. Jack Bellew on the left & Shane Burke on the right surged the wings when they needed to and fell right back into position in defence at the opportune time and fulfilled their role perfectly in the corners. Mika Harnun was deployed as a sitting midfielder assisting in defence when required while Adam Wynne and Shane Loughrey were tremendous in central midfield. Alan Naughton, top scorer to date notched his 10th goal of the season but this was probably the most important of them. It came 5mins from the end and might have been a fortuitous goal but those things don’t matter a damn once the ball finds the net. The result may have been a bit different though only for the brilliance of Daniel Glynn in goal who made a pivotal stop midway through the second half as his one handed save saw the ball deflect off the crossbar as the ball looked destined for the top of the net. The intensity of the game was ferocious all through as Colemanstown had to work hard to curb the flight of the visitor’s two towering centre backs and another towering midfielder. Whilst the Connemara side showed huge physicality, Colemanstown showed great technical ability on the ball. However, there were very few goal chances for Colemanstown in the first half as our boys found it difficult to penetrate a resolute, tough, physical Cois Farraige defence while Daniel Glynn had to make two good first half saves to keep the visitors out. A total reshuffle of the Colemanstown team at half time saw Ian Geraghty introduced and he was used to great effect in holding up the ball and supporting Thady Moran & Alan Naughton up front. Colemanstown got more into the game, creating a few corners while Adam Wynne went close with a free kick. Then came Naughton’s goal with 5mins remaining; a long ball over the top which he ran on to and as he hit the ball powerfully from almost the end line it appeared to deflect off the keeper and into the net. Evan Waldron was then introduced and basically sat on the visitor’s towering midfielder for the last 5mins curbing his superiority on the ball. Colemanstown kept the ball brilliantly in the late stages to maintain possession in Cois Farraige’s half of the field and showed their mettle in defending well to earn all 3 points. This was an unbelievably brilliant performance and a thoroughly deserved outcome for our boys. There’s absolutely no doubt about it, but they deserved to topple the league leaders and this latest victory shows their true ability in competing for honours in future.
Meanwhile our reserve team put in a great shift on Thursday evening in a 2-2 draw with neighbours St. Bernards. Jayo Finn & Ronan Geraghty provided the goals on this occasion. Our 10man reserve team on Saturday put in another emphatic away shift against Oranmore/Maree but lost out in the end 3-2; the goals provided by Shane Bailey & Ronan Geraghty. They could have easily earned a draw, had they a bit of fortune, given that Shane Bailey hit the post; Gary Lally hit the crossbar & the ball was cleared off the line from a Bailey header on another occasion.