Division 4 League vs Caulry
St. Patricks Day morning saw our mens division 4 team take on Caulry in their second outing of the year so far. A bright fresh day but with a somewhat gusty cross breeze proved a tough hindrance to both teams. Shandonagh started the brightest and with home advantage made full use of their knowledge of the field with the windy conditions proving challenging for Caulry. Brendan McVeigh anchored the defence at full back with his impressive back up each side of Jack O’Brien and Darren McWade. The half backs of Mark Kerrigan, Adam Cronin and Ger Nowak organised very well and kept the communication up in organising the defence and stifling the Caulry attacks. The midfield pairing of Ryan Donnelly and Aaron Flanagan were full of endeavour and running and both these men will be ones to watch for the first team if they keep performing like they are. At right half forward was young Joe Cahill who is finding his feet in adult football and gave us glimpses of what he can bring with some nice touches. Centre half forward Ryan Norris was his usual self and a joy to watch when he gets the opportunity to run at defences. Completing the half forward line was the hard working Jake Costello who regularly covered the ground between the Shandonagh backs and forwards and showed for his teammates. Full forward Cormac Coyne was top scorer for Shandonagh on the day, with his discipline and work rate improving like it is he will be terrorising teams up at division 1 in no time. Domhnaill Mulvihill and Eoin Quinn completed the Shandonagh 15 and made for a very potent and dangerous full forward line for any defence. Shandonagh were the better team by a significant amount for the first half. All 5 points came from the full forward line with some sharp and accurate plays up the field.
Half time score was Shandonagh 0-05, Caulry 0-03
The second half was unfortunately a completely different game. Caulry managed to assert themselves and used the wind advantage to maximum with their scoring. Shandonagh made some great attacks up the field but just broke down when coming near the 21 meter line. The flawless Cian Molloy in goals was caught out for the only mistake he made all game by the deceptive wind conceding a goal. The task was made all the more difficult when Shandonagh were reduced to 14 men for some silly words directed towards the referee in the last quarter. Full time score was Shandonagh 0-05, Caulry 1-09
They say you only win or learn at football and the lads definitely learned the need to come out harder and with more focus for the start of the second half to push on in the future.
Team: Cian Molloy, Darren McWade, Brendan McVeigh, Jack O’Brien, Mark Kerrigan, Adam Cronin, Ger Nowak, Ryan Donnelly, Aaron Flanagan, Joe Cahill, Ryan Norris, Jake Costello, Eoin Quinn, Cormac Coyne, Domhnaill Mulvihill
Subs: Ronan Ward for Joseph Cahill, Aaron Donoghue for Cormac Coyne, David Hallinan for Brendan McVeigh, Roy Smith for Aaron Flanagan
