Colemanstown Ladies 2 – 0 St. Cuans
14 Colemanstown ladies turned out for last night’s crunch match at home against St Cuans knowing that a win would assist greatly in keeping up the pace with the top 2 teams Kilkerrin and Ballaghaderreen. Colemanstown kept the pressure on St Cuans for the entire duration of the match with absolutely no let up. Colemanstown welcomed new signing in the shape of Sammi Chang who played a great game when introduced midway through the first half but it was Colemanstown who dominated from the start. Sinead McManus tormented the visitors defence but got caught by the offside trap a few times. Sarah Kearney must be commended for a few long range shots from outside the box that just lacked that bit of accuracy. Colemanstown won corner after corner at one stage but just failed to get the ball into the box as it kept drifting wide. Just as the Colemanstown mentors thought it could be one of those evenings Sinead McManus was dragged down outside the box just before the halftime break and Aoife Donohoe stepped forward to take the free and only she knew what she was going to do from 25 yards out as she let fly and swept the ball straight into the top corner. What a goal …. This exceptional strike put Colemanstown 1-0 up at the break.
In the second half, Colemanstown ladies maintained their momentum as debutant Sammi Chang tormented the St Cuans defence with darting runs down the right side of the pitch and delivered quality ball to Sinead McManus and Rebecca Clancy up front who kept the St Cuans keeper very busy as she pulled off some great saves. Rachel O’Brien also took a few pops from distance but saw her efforts saved by the keeper. In the 2nd half Sammi Chang was redeployed up front alongside Sinead McManus and the duo worked a charm. Sammi sent Sinead on a run almost immediately after the switch and Sinead McManus finished the game off as a contest sweeping the ball sweetly into the bottom corner to put Colemanstown into a comfortable 2-0 lead. Just minutes later, St Cuans capitalised on a break for the first time on the Colemanstown defence and only for the quick reactions of Ashley Roberts in goal as she quickly advanced off her line to smother the ball as two St Cuans players were straight through on goal. Ashley Roberts didn’t have much to do during the game but when called on she was brilliant. With that, the game petered out as it ended 2-0 to Colemanstown and another great performance by the ladies in green. That win sees us in a good place and keeps us towards the top of the table. It’s old rivals Shiven Rovers away in the next round of this RDFL Pre- season tournament as both sides lock horns again. Game scheduled for around the 24th July as date and time will be confirmed when available. Match report by Philip Dee.
Squad: Ashley Roberts, Claire Keane, Aoife Donoghue, Shauna Hynes, Sarah Kearney, Jessica Doherty, Rachel O’Brien, Sarah Keane, Katie Williams, Rebecca Clancy, Sinead McManus, Claire Hannon, Yvonne Keary, Sammi Chang.