You wouldn’t leave a dog out in that weather, yet…
Academy
U7s CSL Non Competitive League
Ballincollig v Blarney
Last Saturday, April 24th, Ballincollig had their first home fixture in the Regional Park against Blarney United. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best as the rain had started to fall even before kickoff.
It was pretty much an even contest in the first period with both sides having some good possession. The main threats for Ballincollig came from Luke O’Sullivan and Robbie Walsh in midfield with Bryan Smith up front. On occasions Ballincollig had to defend for their lives, and did so brilliantly. On one such occasion they broke forward, with Justin Eguaibor playing it to Adam Summers, who beat two Blarney players and then set Brian and Robbie up for a neat one-two, which unfortunately the Blarney defence cut out. It was a great passing move. Ballincollig had a number of chances but were very unlucky not to find the back of the net. In defence Craig Keane was outstanding with tackle after tackle, and Scott Kelly made a great save to keep Blarney at bay. So at the end of first period it was honours even.
The second period of play saw the rain getting much heavier with conditions under foot getting worse, but Ballincollig still showed some nice touches. Mark Oldham now in defence was sweeping out and linked up nicely with Luke and Robbie to create a number of good chances. James Faherty, in midfield, was getting stuck in helping to break up the Blarney attacks and Robbie started to show his skills as he repeatedly tormented the Blarney midfield and defence, but Ballincollig were still unable find that elusive opener. Instead it was Blarney who opened the scoring when they got through for a one-on-one with our keeper. Ballincollig immediately attacked with Mark setting up Luke only to see the Blarney keeper make a great save stopping his shot going into the bottom right hand corner. Again though it was Blarney who proved the more clinical as they counterattacked down the right wing and despite Scott closing the angle well and getting a hand to the ball the shot was too strong and Blarney now had their second.
The third period got underway and for most of it Ballincollig had to drop back into their own half to defend. Darragh Moriarty was now leading the line, up front alone, and he showed some nice dribbling to help relieve the pressure. Unfortunately a combination of the weather and Ballincollig falling back deeper and deeper allowed Blarney to turn possession into scores and they grabbed a few more in the last eight minutes of the game. The score didn’t reflect all the effort the lads put in and the miserable weather just compounded things.
This week Ballincollig will be at home again on Tuesday evening, April 27th, at 7pm against Wilton in the Regional Park, and away against Corinthian Boys of Douglas on Saturday, May 1st, at 10:30am.
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