Colemanstown U16s edged to a 7th successive league victory of the season as Gary Broderick & Kerrill Lally’s men remain unbeaten following their latest top of the table clashes over Tuam Celtic & Knocknacarra ‘B’ respectively. A deserved 2-0 win on Sunday over Knocknacarra & a 4-1 midweek win over Tuam Celtic meant the young guns remain top of the table with a perfect unbeaten record. Both games were tough as Colemanstown showed their guile to come out on top.
On Sunday at home to Knocknacarra, Colemanstown got off to a flying start. Tomas Rogerson hit the crossbar & Cillian Roche was over from a header before Tiarnan Lohan opening Colemanstown’s account on 29mins. A throw from Josh Buckley to the feet of Kyle Madden, saw him cross right across the box to Tiarnan Lohan who drilled a low hard effort past the keeper. Roche had a further effort before the break but couldn’t keep his header down as he got on the end of David Walsh’s corner. Half time 1-0.
The back pedalling Fionn Flattery was well alert to two Knocknacarra free kicks quarter hour into the second half as he claimed the ball well. Ross Lally showed super athleticism with a wonder strike – an overhead bicycle kick with his back to goal but unfortunately his sublime strike whacked off the crossbar and back into play. What a pity – it would surely have gone down as the goal of the season had it found the net. David Walsh drew a save from the keeper with his free kick, Roggie was off target with another wonderful strike & Tiarnan Lohan found the side net. Dylan Murphy was quickly involved on his introduction but shot straight at the keeper. Colemanstown sealed the points with 3mins left when David Walsh fired in a free kick which was earned by Shane Duffy; Knocknacarra failed to clear and the ball found its way to the net, thanks to a deflection. Jamie Nutley & Matthew Keane linked up well in the final minutes to set Roggie off again but he was unable to add to the 2-0 final scoreline.
On Thursday evening, we also saw another tight affair, this time against hosts Tuam Celtic under lights. Colemanstown opened the scoring through Tiarnan Lohan, a wonderful header from a Kyle Madden delivery on 30mins. Lohan added a second 6mins from the break after Diarmuid Ryan won the ball superbly at centre back, found Lohan in space and his effort from the left wing from distance sailed all the way to the net. 2-0 at the break.
A quick VAR check sided with referee Eddie Ward as the home side were awarded a spot-kick which sent Fionn Flattery the wrong way to make it 2-1 shortly after the restart & suddenly Tuam were back in contention. Colemanstown moved the game up a gear and added their 3rd from Dylan Murphy. Tiarnan Proulx fresh from his exploits in the Colleges ‘A’ All Ireland semi final win with HRC on Tuesday squared across to Murphy who finished with ease. The visitors saw out the remainder of the contest with relative ease as Tiarnan Proulx capped off a great team display with a 4th goal in similar fashion and style to his earlier assist . David Walsh hit the crossbar from a free kick late on and so the game finished out 4-1 to Colemanstown. Well done lads & management – the only Colemanstown side to boast a perfect start from their 7 league games.