Colemanstown ‘B’ missed their chance to climb further up the table as they suffered a 2-1 loss at home to table toppers Oughterard on Saturday. But they made Oughterard work hard for their win. Two lax pieces of defending early in the first half; the first on 10mins when our defence who were ever so resolute for most of the game failed on this occasion to clear from a corner and Oughterard’s unmarked striker at the back post found the net. Their second came 10mins later when Tom Broderick fumbled the ball which spilled to the striker who was gifted their second. These two goals predominately allowed Oughterard to claim victory — their second win over Colemanstown this season. But that said, Colemanstown played against a stiff breeze for the first half which made conditions difficult and would have been happy to go in 2-0 down at the break. That’s until Rob Lally had his say 5 mins before the break when he scored his 6th goal in as many matches after he got onto a breaking ball in midfield, beat the defender and advancing keeper to slot underneath the keepers legs for a great individual goal. This gave our management trio Gary Broderick, Ross Sullivan & Barry Forde some comfort at half time and the hope of a fifth win on the trot as an upset looked imminent especially in the knowledge of a strong breeze in the second half. Colemanstown had by far the better of the second half chances which came fast & furious. At one stage three consecutive corners taken by Conor O’Grady & Martin Walsh skint the crossbar as there was no one lurking to either get a head or boot to the cross. With about 7 mins remaining Martin Walsh’s corner hit the crossbar; the rebound fell to Sean Walsh who hit the post. Despite going close on so many occasions the home side continued to press hard for the equaliser right up until the closing stages in a second half full of action & chances galore. As Colemanstown peppered the Oughterard goal with plenty of ball, Martin Walsh was the last one to try his luck and almost snatched a late equaliser but he also rattled the crossbar with the keeper well beaten. The final whistle was sweet music to the ears of the Oughterard lads who are under pressure to maintain pole position in the table. 2-1 it finished after the ref played 7 mins of additional time but this result is only a minor hiccup and this team should be back on track for their next outing.
Our reserve team also suffered a loss this evening to table toppers Athenry who almost look certain at this stage to win the Reserve league. Cian O’Toole, Alan Walsh & Matt Moran got plenty of game time. It was nip and tuck for most of the game until Athenry pulled away in the last 10mins or so with 2 well taken goals. Colemanstown threatened with crosses but Athenry were resolute in their defending as their back four were well on top for the entire game. Final score: 3-0 to Athenry.