We beat Rathcoole on an impressive score line of 4-0 yesterday evening in the St Michaels Cup. We started very well; with almost our first attack, we were awarded a penalty when Michael Murphy was tripped inside the box after making a great run from midfield. Tadgh Collins stepped up and confidently slotted home our opener. Just five minutes later we were up two, when Finbarr Corcoran split the Rathcoole defence with a fantastic long pass to find Brian Murphy who squared the ball to Michael Murphy and he was again hacked down inside the box giving us our second penalty. Collins converted again with a cracking strike to the top of the net to make it two. Late in the first half Rathcoole looked to have pulled a goal back when a lobbed shot had our keeper beaten heading for an empty net but for centre half John Lehane showing a tremendous turn of pace to get back and clear the ball of the line.
The second half was a scrappier affair with both teams struggling to make any clear cut chances early on. After getting our passing game up and running again we eventually got our third goal when Collins cut through the Rathcoole defence before crossing the ball to Michael Murphy who found the net to make it three! Rathcoole had a great chance to open their account when they were awarded a penalty late in the second half, but Peter Oziat pulled off a fantastic save for us keeping our clean sheet intact. We finished the game as a contest when Danny O Riordan was quickest to react to a Tadgh Collins shot that rebounded off the crossbar, Danny curled a stunning strike to the bottom right hand corner of the Rathcoole net to cap off a fine individual performance by him on the day!
This was our first clean sheet of the year, thanks to a fantastic defensive effort throughout, led superbly on the day by the new youthful centre half pairing of Shane Collins and John Lehane.
Best on the day were John Lehane, Danny O Riordan, Michael Murphy and Tadgh Collins.
Team: Piotr Oziast, Finbarr Corcoran, Eamon O Keeffe, Shane Collins, John Lehane, Paul Dawson, Brian Murphy, Danny O Riordan, Michael Murphy, Chris Cleary, Tadhg Collins
Subs: Donal O Sullivan (60th min), Eric Hickey (70th min), John Cullinane (80th min)
Stunning result. “the new youthful centre half pairing” Taidgh taking the spotters! Do I detect a shift to a director of football role for the legendary centre half and peno taker??