Colemanstown U16 Boys 7 – 0 Manulla B. Our 16 boys were jubilant yesterday evening in Colemanstown when they inflicted a 7-0 loss on Manulla B to now advance to the QF of the Connacht shield. Right at the death as Conor Walsh scored the 7th & the ref blew the final whistle, one of the Manulla players knew they weren’t going back to Mayo without hitting the net so he took flight with the ball on his toe and with a brigade of players behind him, fired into an empty net. His subsequent sliding celebration to the corner flag saw the rest of his team mates descend on him and all the Colemanstown lads too, amid scenes of wild jubilation, friendliness & healthy rivalry between these 2 sides. It was no doubt, lovely to see.
The first 15 minutes saw plenty of opportunities for the home side with several corners that didn’t come to fruition. Cathal Keane’s solid work in midfield led to a through ball for Darren Moran who went on a run, got around the advancing keeper towards the empty net when the Manulla centre back came from no where to send the ball out for a corner. Colemanstown continued to pile on the pressure and found themselves 1-0 up on 16 mins when the ball took a deflection off one of the Manulla defenders for a fortunate OG for Colemanstown. Then as Colemanstown came more into it, Josh Buckley saw his piledriver from 25yards go just wide on 27mins. Then three goals in quick succession around the half hour mark led to this thrashing as Manulla caved in. On 29 mins Mathew Keane scored our 2nd following a corner taken by himself and following up on play, he finished with a simple tap in from a goalmouth scramble. Tyler Collins then from under the stand, tested the back pedalling keeper whose 1 handed save kept the ball out but Darren Moran was on hand to finish the rebound from close range. Moments later Matthew Keane went on the rampage through the middle, skipped by a few defenders, saw his goal bound effort saved by the advancing keeper but Eibhear Colleran applied the finish to the keepers spilled ball to make it 4-0 at the break.
Colemanstown maintained their momentum into the second half as following a lovely through ball from Ronan Screene, Tomas Rogerson fired over. The rearguard of Nathan Mannion, Conor Walsh, Joshua McDonnell & Tyler Collins quickly quenched any threat in attack. Shane Quirke wasn’t too long on the field when he latched onto a lovely through ball, skipped through the centre, only to be taken down & immediately the ref pointed to the penalty spot. Quirke himself took the peno which he dispatched well. Conor Walsh was unlucky with a free kick from under the stand almost on the half way line which just evaded the top right corner post while Shane Dempsey on his debut got on the end of a poor Manulla clearance but his effort was clutched well by the keeper. Quirke claimed his brace following a fumbled Manulla clearance and he lobbed the keeper from 20 yards. The fresh legs of Dylan King, Tommy Muldoon, Sean Keating & Niall Grady sustained Colemanstown’s momentum while Rogie saw the last part of the game out in goals for Sean Cooke who has seen much busier games. Just before the final whistle, Conor Walsh scored our 7th when he did well to win the ball back & his cracking effort from a good distance found the net to make it a 7-0 blowout. There isn’t much words really. It was a spectacular match & a great result for Orla McCaffrey & Damien Mannion’s charges. Thanks to the parents who put on a super spread for the visitors after the game.
Squad: Sean Cooke, Tyler Collins, Conor Walsh, Nathan Mannion, Joshua McDonnell, Cathal Keane, Joshua Buckley, Matthew Keane, Darren Moran, Tomas Rogerson, Eibhear Colleran, Ronan Screene, Shane Dempsey, Tommie Muldoon, Shane Quirke, Dylan King, Niall Grady, Sean Keating