Our Men’s A team got their league campaign fully up and running with a 4-0 home win vs Merlin Woods on Saturday. The lads started the game well on top and dominated possession in the early stages. A few chances were created with Gary Lally, Padraig Quirke and Kevin Barrett all going close. Alan Naughton then made a blistering run down the left wing and cut the ball back to Gary Lally in the box who was fouled and a penalty was awarded. However, the Merlin keeper made a fine save to keep the game scoreless.
Then a few minutes later, Damien Wynne whipped in a corner for Sean Hardiman to bury his header into the net. A deserved lead going in at half time.
In the second half the team started well again and played some really good football to open up the opposition. Jason Finn found Gary Lally who played a sharp 1-2 with Kevin Barrett on the edge of the box to get through on goal, Gary’s effort came off the post but Geordan Kenny was in position to finish the rebound. Two quickly became three with Geordan Kenny running on to a through ball from Damien Wynne and Geordan clinically finished first time into the far corner for his second.
Gary Lally then made it four with a very composed finish, a goal he deserved for his workrate and effort throughout.
The team kept pushing for more with Jack Bellew, on his full debut, a constant force on the left side, all game long. Dylan Grady delivered some fine crosses from the right side in the second half that were calling out for a finish. Padraig Quirke and Thady Moran absolutely ran the show in the midfield battle. Sean Hardiman and Jason Finn were rock solid at the heart of the defence and keeper Tom Broderick earned another clean sheet. Harry Mitchell and Ciaran Keating, both from the club’s U17 team, came on in the second half with Harry going close to scoring on a few occasions. Danny Masterson and Mossy Carr both had very positive impacts when they were introduced too.
Overall a very positive result and good performance from the team. Match report by David Mullins