Colemanstown United; 2 West United B; 1. Another worthwhile read on yesterday’s match report from Ronnie Geraghty.
On a day when nothing went according to plan Colemanstown’s lads dug deep and showed real character to fight back from behind and come away with all 3 points as their strong home form continues. The game started scrappy and disjointed as a physical West United imposed their mark from the outset and had the better of the early exchanges. It took just 15 minutes for the visitors to take the lead as Colemanstown conceded their first home goal of the season when the West striker raced clear and shanked an effort that looped luckily over John Gormally in goal.
Colemanstown began to come into the game on the back of that early wake-up call as Padraig Quirke and Ray Moran got a foothold in midfield before Ray was unceremoniously scythed down as he looked to break past the West rearguard. The yellow card that followed looked a little unforgiving for a tackle that saw Ray unable to continue but hopefully not sidelined for too long while the remainder of the half required hard work and determination from Colemanstown to keep the city side at bay. The half time break was a welcome one and gave the lads a chance to regroup and realign as Stephen Burke came in at centre back to allow Jason Finn move into midfield in an attempt to get a platform to launch a fightback.
The lads came out and instantly and showed great fight and character. Jason Finn found Gareth Lally on the right wing who cut inside the last defender only to see his effort strike the upright while Dylan Grady’s effort from the rebound was blocked by one of West’s defenders. With their tails up the lads were first to every breaking ball while the back four of Jack Kennedy, Conor Jackson, Stephen Burke and Ronan Carr were repelling the West attack with a renewed vigour. Twenty minutes into the 2nd half and great work by Dylan Grady on the right won a corner. The West defence hadn’t even time to get set up when the quick thinking Alo Finn swung the corner in towards the back post where Conor Jackson arrived to bullet a header to the corner of the net and level the tie.
A rare West counter attack some five minutes later saw their cross met by the winger stealing in at the back post only for John Gormally to make a vital stop with his legs as the visitors showed they still carried a threat on the break. With a little over ten minutes to go the winner came in similar circumstances to the first when the fresh legs of Sean Walsh worked hard to win another corner on the right and this time the delivery from Alo was met by Ronan Geraghty who reacted fastest to finish neatly at the front post. West tried to push for an equaliser and pushed their centre backs forward and even their keeper as it was Colemanstown’s turn to soak up pressure and try to play on the break.
Thankfully the lads stood strong and defended well with Conor Jackson, Padraig Quirke and Jason Finn all heading clear dangerous crosses from placed balls in the latter stage while John Gormally also needed to be strong under pressure to gather from inside the small rectangle. It was a heartening result from a not so vintage performance despite the vintage jerseys of the Gerry Moran era that were on show due to a clash with the visiting West side but despite the visitors clear physical advantage the lads got the 3 points that their attitude deserved from two set pieces as they take a break from league action to focus on cup competitions.
Those FAI cup and Connacht cup competitions seen the lads rewarded/burdened with two trips to Connemara where they will firstly face West Coast United on October 21st for a place in the final qualifying round in Galway for the FAI Junior cup before they travel to Achill to play Achill Rovers in the First Round of the Connacht cup on October 28th. Thankfully there is no first team game next weekend which may give the bodies a chance to recover in time for our cup assignments.
Man of the match – Padraig Quirke – Covered every blade of grass and started numerous attacks with his interceptions.
Squad: John Gormally, Jack Kennedy, Conor Jackson, Jason Finn, Ronan Carr, Ronan Geraghty, Ray Moran, Padraig Quirke. Tomas Carr, Alan Finn, Dylan Grady.
Subs: Stephen Burke, Gareth Lally, Sean Walsh, Shane Lally, Jarlath Healy