Junior A vs Na Fianna

After frantic efforts to assemble a squad for the game club members and players came up trumps.

At the outset the team expresses its gratitude to Liam Carter for encouraging Ciaran O’Reilly to play, Peter Hanrahan for Fiachra Madden and Jerry Corcoran for Chris Lambert, Karl Reddy and James Enright. It was a massive effort for which we are extremely grateful. Also thanks goes to Patrick Greville and Cormac O’Farrell.

Despite the late finalisation of the squad there was still plenty of talent on display. The game opened with some loose play by both teams which ultimately saw Chris Lambert bearing in one on one with the keeper. A low drive by Chris was well saved and fell to an incoming defender to clear. The game was barely two minutes old. First blood was eventually drawn by Lar who pointed a 45 into a stiff breeze. Another Boden break saw Gillo drive a low shot narrowly wide in the fifth minute. Boden’s first goal came a minute later when Eamonn O’Reilly  finished sweetly to the back of the net after good build up play with the final pass being provided by the the mercurial Ciaran O’Reilly having received the ball from Cian Lynch. In fact it was typical of the good team play by Boden in the half. Na Fianna finally found their rhythm and rattled off three points before goaling in the 10th minute. At this stage we were struggling in the middle sector but regrouped to score a point from 30m credited to Eamonn. After 2 more points by the hosts Lar stepped up for his second of the day. In the 19th minute Chris Lambert stormed through to score a point following good team play from Rob, Ciaran and Lar. Further points from Eamonn and Keith reduced the deficit to the minimum. However the last 8 minutes of the half saw our hosts convert six unanswered points. Our back line of Rory, Karl and Fiachra were trying manfully to hold back the tide, ably abetted by Ste in goal. Importantly they managed to restrict the number of shots on goal by Na Fianna. James was introduced to shore up the defence and covered a lot of ground tracking a sprightly opponent.

At the break it was 1-13 to 1-6.

The second half started brightly but Na Fianna we’re first on the boards with a point. Soon after Chris was again one on one and the keeper saved smartly. However we didn’t have to wait long for the Ciaran O’Reilly goal who coming in from the right drove the ball low and hard to the keeper’s left. The game was wide open with both sides prepared to run at each other. David Leech and Keith covered a huge amount of ground in both defence and attack. Ruairi Kirwan stood manfoat the center of the defence and always seemed to have time in the ball despite intense pressure. Cian and James worked diligently to keep our hosts at bay. Karl was solid, almost imperious, in his command of the small square; he was supported honestly by Rory and Fiachra in the corners. Towards the end of the game was replaced by Ian Lynch who fought a line battle up front. Our movement up front was still causing the trouble with almost telepathic communications between the O’Reillys. Lar continued to bring the ball forward ably supported by the tireless running of Keith and Leechie. Gillo won hard ball and held it awaiting support. With the game opening up we scored and conceded 2 late goals, the first of ours was scored by Eamonn with a low drive from the left to the far corner with another O’Reilly assist. The second was punched home by Keith after great work by Cian and Ciaran and finally by Gillo who prevented the ball from going wide. In the end the second half was a much closer affair and had we taken our goal chances throughout the game the result would certainly have been different.

While it’s disappointing to lose the quality of the football was really good from both teams. It was great to see Rob Donohue finally grace the football field for the first time this year.