Our U15 team played a super game in their latest league encounter against Salthill Devon ‘B’ in Drom under lights on Friday night. Salthill started well and rattled the crossbar from distance in the early stages. It didn’t take long though for Gary Broderick who was without his regular assistant Joe Finnerty who was celebrating the birth of little Robyn, to get his charges buoyed up. The back 4 took charge as Josh Buckley, Diarmuid Ryan, Cillian Roche & young Matthew Keane were to the fore in the early exchanges. Colemanstown’s first goal arrived on 10mins. A corner swung in by David Walsh was met by the head of the smallest lad in the box – Ross Lally who rose the height of the towering Diarmuid Ryan to nod home a powerful goal – well worth missing a Santa visit for – this goal will live long in his memory as it stunned the travelling fans into a few moments of wow. Unfortunately Ross had to retire soon after that due to injury which saw the introduction of debutants Michael Fallon at left back & Donnacha Walsh at centre mid. Then Dylan Murphy’s delivery found another newcomer – Shane Duffy who bursting with pace just failed to find the target.
Centre back Cillian Roche added to his goal tally, maintaining his record of scoring in every match this season, as the ball took a nasty bounce but Roche hit it cleanly from distance and his screamer sailed over the keepers head into the top corner. Colemanstown didn’t fail on taking any golden opportunities as Cathal Kennedy, now playing on the right wing, burst the pace, beating his man and as the keeper advanced off his line, Kennedy’s dinky side step saw him dummy the keeper & tap into an empty net. For all Colemanstown’s dominance in the first half, they were pegged back on 27mins when Salthill were awarded a penalty which they dispatched well leaving Fionn Flattery with no chance.
However, the expanse of the pitch suited Colemanstown who responded in remarkable fashion after the tip-off and with the creative talents of Kyle Madden, Dylan Murphy & Michael Fallon in midfield, the 4th goal arrived through Paddy Flynn, similar in style to his goal against Castlerea in the National Cup. A perfect run on the right flank saw him unleash an unstoppable effort from the edge of the 18’ box. A 5th goal arrived just before the break as Shane Duffy whose pace caused consternation in Salthill’s defence all night, but this time he was pulled down on the edge of the box and David Walsh cracked home the resultant free kick to give Gary Broderick’s lads a bit of breathing room.
A reshuffle of the team at half time saw another debutant Tiernan Lohan introduced at left midfield & Sean Connolly at left back. Diarmuid Ryan made a near perfect sliding tackle at the opportune time to keep Salthill at bay while at midfield many challenges were won as most of the play took place in the middle third of the pitch. Colemanstown’s best chance of adding to their goal tally arrived through Tiernan Lohan who ran up the right wing, and as he cut in across the box, he was tackled as he was about to boot and a penalty looked ominous but the ref waved play on. Darren Moran & Ronan Screene were introduced as the striking duo up front to see out the game. No further goals arrived as both defences stood firm. However, it was a hugely enjoyable night’s soccer for the travelling Colemanstown supporters with 5 goal scorers in a devastating first half, although still some fine-tuning to be done. Well done lads on a great team effort and everyone wishes Joe Finnerty and Orla the sincerest congratulations on the arrival of baby Robyn.