With Storm Amy causing havoc across the county, the opening round Connacht Cup tie between Colemanstown & Corrib Celtic was switched to Colemanstown’s Astro pitch to ensure the game went ahead. Colemanstown put in a spirited display against their Premier Division opponents & managed to hold Corrib Celtic scoreless at the interval. The home side worked hard defensively with Sean Hardiman & Richie Lally marshalling the defence superbly, while Aironas Kantauskas & Tiárnán Proulx impressed in the centre of midfield. Colemanstown carved out some good first half opportunities, with Ciaran Mulhern & Sean Hardiman both went close, but the deadlock remained unbroken at half time.
The 2nd half began in similar fashion, but Corrib Celtic made the breakthrough just 5mins after the restart. A second, somewhat scrappy goal followed around the 65min mark after a goalmouth scramble, leaving Colemanstown with an uphill battle. Although Colemanstown pushed forward in spells, they struggled to find their rhythm & failed to reproduce the intensity or cohesion shown in recent league outings. Late on, Cavan Attwood had a half chance to pull one back, but Corrib Celtic’s defence stood firm to see out the win & progress to the next round. It proved to be a tough, physical encounter. Thady Moran & Richie Lally both picked up knocks in the process. While Colemanstown will be disappointed not to have reached their recent performance levels, they can take heart from several individual displays & the effort shown against strong opposition. Match Report: Martina Donnellan