Western Hygiene Supplies Art Friel Championship: Colemanstown United 1–2 Bearna Na Forbacha. Colemanstown United were extremely unfortunate to come away empty-handed on Friday night, going down 2–1 in a pulsating game at Colemanstown.
Despite the result, it was another excellent performance from Colemanstown, who dominated large periods of the game, created numerous chances and played some really good football throughout.
Colemanstown put their stamp on the game from the opening minutes, moving the ball really well and creating opportunities. Shane Quirke and Tomás Flannery both went close early on, but the Bearna goalkeeper was equal to their efforts. After 30 minutes, Sean Hardiman produced a superb long-range effort which looked destined for the corner, only for the Bearna goalkeeper to produce another fantastic save.
Against the run of play, Bearna took the lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half when a set-piece took a deflection off a Colemanstown player and ended up in the back of the net. Colemanstown almost responded immediately when the ball broke loose inside the Bearna box, but a brilliant block from the defender denied Kyle Madden and kept the visitors ahead. Then, with just five minutes remaining before the break, Bearna struck again. Their winger slipped a pass through to their striker, who finished from an acute angle to make it 2–0. It was a harsh scoreline at half-time, with Colemanstown having dominated much of the opening 45 minutes.
The second half followed a very similar pattern, with Colemanstown pushing Bearna deep into their own half and continuing to look for a way back into the game. Just five minutes after the restart, Tomás Flannery was played through brilliantly by Ray Moran, but once again the goalkeeper produced an outstanding save to keep his side two goals ahead.
Colemanstown continued to pile on the pressure and, 10 minutes later, were finally rewarded. Tomás Carr was brought down inside the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot. Tomás Flannery stepped up and calmly converted the penalty to make it 2–1. From there, Colemanstown completely dominated the final half hour and peppered the Bearna goal, but just couldn’t find the elusive equaliser.
With 15 minutes remaining, David Walsh delivered a dangerous long-range free-kick which the Bearna goalkeeper fumbled. Kyle Madden was first to the loose ball and appeared to have a chance to level things, but he was adjudged to have fouled the goalkeeper, with Tomás Flannery subsequently putting the ball in the net from the resulting scramble. The decision certainly went against Colemanstown, but the visitors survived. Another Tomás Flannery free-kick almost produced an equaliser when Matthew Keane was inches away from getting onto another fumble from the goalkeeper.
Then, with just two minutes remaining, Flannery stepped up once again. His unbelievable 30-yard free-kick beat the goalkeeper but smashed off the crossbar, summing up Colemanstown’s night perfectly. It simply wasn’t to be. Despite suffering a second consecutive defeat, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance. The lads played some excellent football, dominated large periods of the game and created more than enough opportunities to take something from it.
After winning their opening two games, Colemanstown have now suffered two narrow defeats, but the performances continue to show that this group are playing some really good football. With a bit more luck in front of goal, the results will surely turn. Attention now turns to Sunday and a first-round cup tie away to Abbey United (Sligo) where the lads will look to put things right and progress to the next round.