Reporting by Ben Colgan and Sam McEvoy
ColáisteChoilm 1st year soccer players beat Marist College on penalties to win West Leinster Final. The game was played in Moate Business College Astroturf in slippery conditions and the game kicked off at half 12.
The first half kicked off with ColáisteChoilm on top, with many crosses going to the back post straight away. It was only a matter of time until CC scored. It eventually came with Jack Dunne scoring the 1st goal of the final after valiant defending from Marist. Aaron Mooney made a fine stop minutes after to prevent Marist from levelling, but soon after they did, with a fine strike. ColáisteChoilmdidn't drop their heads though and went chasing another goal, which they found from Jamie Hoey after some brilliant build up. Marist were piling on the pressure towards the close of the half but CC withheld with the break coming just in time. Half Time score was CC 2 – 1 Marist.
The 2nd half started quite scrappily with a string of passes being hard to complete. It really ramped up however, with Marist scoring 20 minutes from the close. Marist were really piling the pressure on with their corner total now nearing double digits. It showed when they took the lead 10 minutes after their 2nd goal with ColáisteChoilmnow behind. Time was ticking away and we couldn’t score. That is, until Ridha Ali Ahmed scored with mere minutes left causing wild celebrations in the ColaisteChoilm dugout and sending the game to extra time.
Extra time wasn’t as full of action as the real game, but that can be expected. Jamie Hoey’s second goal of the game put CC into the lead just before half time of extra time. Unfortunately, Marist responded deep into the 2nd half of extra time, with the tables reversed and them scoring late on to level it and sending the game to penalties.
Jamie Hoey, Harvey Walsh and Jack Dunne all scored their penalties before Marist’s third penalty hit the post. All ColáisteChoilm needed to do was score 2 more penalties, which Ridha Ali Ahmed and Ben McEvoy did to give ColáisteChoilm the victory and the cup.
Harvey Walsh and Jamie Hoey were causing all sorts of problems for the Marist defenders. Jack Dunne was clinical in front of goal and Aaron Mooney made some fine stops down the other end. Jake Maher played some lovely through balls in for the attackers while the centre backs of Jayden Bracken and Adam Daly were very solid all game.
Starting Lineup*Introduced Subs
Goalkeeper : Aaron Mooney
Right Back : Jake Maher { Man of Match }
Centre Back : Jayden Bracken
Left Back : Conor O’ Brien
Central Defensive Midfielder : George Plunkett
Central Midfielder : Ronan Kinnarney{ C }
Central Midfielder : Finn Kelly
Right Winger : Harvey Walsh