After our opening loss of the season at home to Killorglin, it was important that we got some points on the board in our next match. This seemed a tall order away to the highly fancied Listowel Celtic.
We started the first half brightly with two great chances. The first fell to Mervyn Shalemba after some great work by Tide Uisinubi and Darragh Moriarty on the right wing to put Mervyn through, but for him just to fire narrowly over the bar. The second chance came again from a through ball played this time by the hardworking Colin Walsh. It was Eoin Higgins who shot just wide from this chance.
We didn’t have to wait long though for the opener as it came from a defence splitting pass from Eoin Higgins on the halfway line to send his striking partner one on one with the keeper. This time Mervyn made no mistake and coolly put the ball in the back of the net. 0-1
Mervyn was on fire now and causing Listowel all sort of problems. This all came from a very solid performance by our back four and a hard working midfield.
Again it was Mervyn that was involved in our second goal. Running at Celtics back four saw them conceed a free kick on the edge of their own box. Up stepped Colin Walsh to score a goal that would look good even on Ronaldos C.V. 0-2. Shortly after this we had to replace Mervyn as when winning us the free kick he got injured. Mervyn was replaced by Conor O’ Sullivan who went on and caused real problems for Listowel with his pace and movement.
We looked to be well on top now heading for half time !. But within five minutes we conceeded two goals to Listowel. Both came from us not clearing our lines early enough and not closing down Listowel on the edge of our box.
The lads showed great character by sticking to the game play, moving the ball fast, early and on the ground. This paid of for us with Colin Walsh putting Liam Tobin in for a goal with a great pass just on the stroke of half time. 2-3
We started the second half with confidence. But again we left Listowel back into the game as we had chances to clear the ball but dwelled on it for too long. 3-3
The game now swung back and forth with both teams having chances. We though, had the two best chances. The first fell to Nathan Gleeson, after a great run down the left by Liam Tobin to the end line and he put the ball back across the square where Nathan met it in full flight. Everyone was waiting for the ball to hit the back of the net but Listowels’ keeper somehow managed to keep it out. The next fell to Andrew Sucaci who had come on for Eoin Higgins . Andrews first touch of the ball was a shot which hit the underside of the crossbar coming down and somehow was cleared off the line by Listowel. By this point both Greg Scanlon and Gavin Doody had both come on and both showed what quality which is in this squad with their contribution. Greg replacing Tide and Gavin replaced Devon.
The final score 3-3 could not really show the quality of the match. The referee after the game commented on the match saying “it was some match for under twelves”.
Squad on the Day: Gavin Doody, Devon Burns, Junior Ankomah, Cian Purcell, Greg Scanlon, Richard O’ Gara, Colin Walsh, Mervyn Shalemba, Tide Uisinubi, Darragh Moriarty, Liam Tobin, Conor O’ Sullivan, Nathan Gleeson, Eoin Higgins, Andrew Sucaci.
Best on the Day: Tide Uisinubi, Richard O’ Gara, Mervyn Shalemba, Nathan Gleeson,
Man of the Match: Colin Walsh, , passed and moved the ball with precision, controlled midfield throughout the game, super tackling.
