Colemanstown U18s 2- 3 Knocknacarra
Our U18’s left themselves a bit too much to do in their latest league game yesterday evening when they fell 3-0 behind to Knocknacarra under lights in Kiltulla Astro with all 5 goals coming in the 2nd half. 0-0 at the break, with Jason Rabbitte testing the keeper early on; Ciaran Mulhern had a nice curling effort which the keeper had to stretch well to gather; Harry Mitchell twice fired across the face of goal; the keeper tipped over the crossbar from a Mulhern header & Jack Dillon should have found the target with a one-on- one effort just before the break. In that half, Luke Wilbur was busy enough in the Colemanstown goal as 2 evenly matched teams played some great passing & enjoyable football in a fast paced game.
From the off in the 2nd half, Aironas fired a free kick straight at the keeper. Then some poor defensive work lead to 2 quickfire goals from Knocknacarra putting them firmly in control. They added a 3rd which was fumbled over the line from close range on 75mins and it looked like curtains for the Colemanstown lads. However, a Jason Rabbitte header from an Aironas corner with 6 mins remaining sparked Colemanstown back into life as Tommy Mellody & Harry Mitchell worked hard to win the corner. Aironas again played a big part to get Colemanstown back to 3-2 as Mulhern’s header found the net. This left the lads about 2mins to find an equaliser but despite a couple of hairy moments, Knocknacarra held on to claim all 3 points.
Squad: Luke Wilbur, Ciaran Keating, Jonah Donnellan, Cian Ruane, Dean Connaire, Aironas Kantauskas, Tommy Mellody, Jason Rabbitte, Ciaran Mulhern, Jack Dillon, Harry Mitchell, Aaron Comer, Eanna Burke, Fionn Flattery.
Colemanstown U17s 2- 2 Moyne Villa
Our U17’s came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Moyne Villa in a tough mid-week encounter, played in absolutely amazing facilities in Headford. The 2nd half in particular was packed with good quality, high-tempo, end-to-end football. Moyne Villa started strong as Fionn Flattery had to dive to his near post to make a good stop; the hosts hit the crossbar from a header and then hit the post before Colemanstown even settled into the game. Then Colemanstown began to play a good passing game. Moyne Villa’s central midfielder put them ahead with a splendid strike from distance on the half hour mark which left Fionn with no chance. The best chance of the opening half fell to Jonah Donnellan with a powerful shot which the keeper blocked and then had to be alert with a subsequent save as the ball was scrambling for the goal-line. The Colemanstown lads also worked hard to win a few corners which yielded little. 1-0 to Moyne Villa at half time.
The 2nd half opened with equal domination from both sides. Colemanstown equalised 20mins into the 2nd half as Tiarnan Lohan was moved to midfield with just 3 defenders: Josh Buckley, Diarmuid Ryan & Sean Connolly. Immediately Lohan was effective. The influential Tiarnan Proulx played a ball across the box which was controlled by Conor van Oosterhout & squared across to Lohan who scored from close range. Diarmuid Ryan then hit the post from an Aironas header as the hosts re-applied the pressure. They restored their advantage with a wonderful solo goal as their goal scorer ran down the wing, cut in across the end line & drilled the ball into the far bottom corner from an acute angle. Lohan again was determined to shift the momentum late in the game with just 2mins to play. Tiarnan Lohan skipped through the centre, was taken down inches outside the box. Jonah Donnellan took the free which the keeper parried, and Tomas Rogerson followed up the bobbling ball to finish from close range. There was little time for more play as both sides had to settle for a point, although the home fans & management sensed they let this one slip.
Squad: Fionn Flattery, Kyle Madden, Diarmuid Ryan, Tiarnan Lohan, David Walsh, Shane Duffy, Aironas Kantauskas, Jonah Donnellan, Ross Lally, Tiarnan Proulx, David Geraghty, Tomas Rogerson, Josh Buckley, Conor van Oosterhout, Sean Connolly, Donnacha Walsh, Jamie Nutley, Ronan Screene.