What a great morning for our youngsters in Deacy Park this morning as the rescheduled U11 Power Cup took place. Mervue B were our first opposition on a beautiful warm sunshiny morning with conditions perfect thanks to Noel Connolly who had the pitch in perfect condition after a deluge of rain the day before. A Mervue side will always be strong and well organised so our lads knew this would be a difficult task. However from the word go we took the game to the opposition and were getting that bit closer to the mark as the game ticked on. Colemanstown broke the deadlock midway through the first half as the ball was crossed into the danger area from the right by the hard working Tommy Mellody and following a goalmouth scramble Ciaran Keating got on the end of it to finish it off. Minutes later Keating again had an effort with a piledriver from the edge of the box which fizzed past the post. Jonah Donnellan also had a decent chance from distance before the break but the keeper saved well. 2mins after the restart, Adam Cleary squared the ball into the box and David Walsh made no mistake for Colemanstown to go 2-1 up. Our midfield duo combinations of David Walsh, Tommy Mellody and Conor Laffey helped pile on the pressure with some lovely dribbling and passing, supplying plenty of ball to our striker combinations of Adam Cleary, Ciaran Keating and Diarmuid Ryan. Midway through the 2nd half after a period of sustained pressure from Colemanstown, our third goal came. Ciaran Keating crossed a lovely ball into Anthony Feeney who drew a great save from the keeper turning the ball around the post for a corner which was swiftly floated in by Jonah Donnellan for Tommy Mellody who punched again for another goal and then punched the air in delight. Right at the finish Anthony Feeney had another opportunistic effort but the keeper got his hands to it while it took a deflection off the post on the way. Cian Ruane capably dealt with everything that came his way while young Ross Lally at 8years old & Jonah Donnellan were steadfast in defence helping to keep Mervue attacks at goal to a minimum. 3-0 final score and so after a brief break on to the second round against Salthill Devon A.
This was also going to be a tough test especially playing an A team, who again looked strong & extremely well organised as a Salthill outfit always do. Two evenly matched sides lined out but yet we found ourselves a goal down after 2mins when Cian Ruane made a splendid save in goal but as the ball spilled and was half cleared it fell to a Salthill player who drove in a bullet into the top corner which Cian Ruane could do absolutely nothing about. Salthill’s lead was short lived however, as Adam Cleary won a free kick in the middle of the field which was taken by Jonah Donnellan who found Thomas Mellody and his inch perfect cross fell to Adam Cleary and there was nothing the Mervue custodian could do to keep it out as he squared up matters at a goal a piece. Cian Ruane was called into action again moments later but he did well to grasp a low hard shot. Then Colemanstown had a few decent efforts through Jonah Donnellan, David Walsh, Thomas Mellody & Anthony Feeney while Diarmuid Ryan saw his shot come off the post when cm’s would have made the difference. Colemanstown had a let off as Salthill came close hitting the side net and then Tommy Mellody played a beauty through the middle for Adam Cleary to run on to, and as he raced through on goal he was taken down rugby style to be awarded a free kick when a penalty looked more definite. The resultant free kick was taken by Cleary himself and as the wall did its job the ball was cleared, their striker broke on to the clearance and a great run from the Salthill striker finished in a whopper of a goal before our defence could even catch up with play with just 2 mins to go on the clock. It was a cruel way to go out especially given that we had a strong claim for a penalty rather than a free kick just seconds earlier. This made for an exciting finish where everyone played their hearts out to help salvage a draw but it was not to be. Our young lads should hold their heads high; they put in 2 promising displays, played some great passing football and an overall mighty effort and made Salthill live on the edge for the entire game. Panel: Cian Ruane, Ross Lally, Jonah Donnellan, David Walsh, Conor Laffey, Thomas Mellody, Anthony Feeney, Ciaran Keating, Diarmuid Ryan, Adam Cleary. Thanks to the players, their parents and supporters and to our youngest supporter 3 week old Ryan Parker who managed to sleep through all the excitement. Massive thanks to our 4 coaches, Robbie Parker, Lee Murphy, Ronan Carr & Jayo Finn who looked very dapper on the sideline togged in their club colours. They looked more like models hired by Galway’s best modelling agency to promote Colemanstown’s new sports gear. David Gilligan look out they could be new orders on the way! Congrats to Robbie & Maeve Parker on the birth of little Ryan. May he bring great joy to your home and even more football!! Congrats also to Michael Hardiman & Delores on the birth of baby Eoin a few weeks ago. Our U15 game vs Kinvara yesterday evening and our B team game at home to Cregmore today were cancelled due to all this lovely rain which made the pitch unplayable. It is expected that we should be able to fulfil the A team’s Round 2 Michael Byrne Cup fixture against Loughrea at home tomorrow at 11am – their first home game of the new season.
