Ahane 2-10 St.Colmans 1-5
Ahane Minor footballers got their championship off to a flying start with a well deserved victory against St. Colmans (combination of Askeaton-Ballysteen and St.Kierans) in this second round fixture. At half-time our lads lead 1-6 to 0-4 and in the second half they continued to dominate to win on a final score 2-10 to 1-5. Click ‘more tag’ for full report.Ahane took the lead within 13 seconds when Dan Morrissey won possession from the throw-in, launched an attack and Liam Quinn converted to open our account. From the kick-out Seamus Hartnett won the break, passed to Liam Quinn who found Stephen Droog in space to lash over another point. Ahane continued to dominate in this early period and Liam Quinn converted a 21m free after Sean Moran was fouled in possession. St. Colman’s then responded with two attacks that yielded two wides, one from play and one from a poorly taken free. Ahane surged back up the field from the kick out and fired wide before Williams Shanahan and Dave Marsden combined to set Sean Moran up for a well taken point to open a four point advantage. On the quarter hour William Shanahan soared to field a long kick-out, soloed straight down the middle of the park a good 5om before cleverly offloading to Liam Quinn who hit an unstoppable shot to the net . Trailing 1-4 to zip this clearly spurned Colman’s into action. A fifty meter free was deflected over the Ahane bar by Michael Ryan to open their account. Two minutes later they added a second point and for the last ten minutes of the half they pretty much dominated but Ahane defence made them work very hard for possession and position. Any time Ahane got the ball into attack they looked dangerous. Liam Quinn converted another free when Colmans fouled the ball on the 20m line. From the kick out Colmans attacked and converted a 13m free when their full forward was fouled. Ahane launched another attack and Liam Quinn struck a shot that looked destined for the net but went narrowly wide. Colmans then wnet back down the field and converted a free. In injury time Dan Morrissey was fouled and Liam Quinn stepped up to leave the score at half time 1-6 to 0-4.
Ahane opened the second half like they did the first Stephen Droog linking well to put Liam Quinn clear to extend Ahanes lead to six points. Colman’s rallied and began to show glimpses of the quality they have with a fine point. Barry Neville opened his account with a well taken point. He then combined well with Dan Morrissey to set Liam Quinn free to add another minor. Dean Lillis then broke free, ran at the heart of the Colman’s defence but had his goal bound shot deflected to none other than Liam Quinn who crashed it to the top corner of the net to put an end to Colman’s aspirations of getting a result from this game. To their credit they rallied and added a late goal but not before Barry Neville added another minor. Final score Ahane 2-10 St. Colmans 1-5.
For Ahane this was a very workmanlike performance, Gavin Byrnes had a good game in goals and his kick outs were flawless. Both corner backs Ryan and Brian excelled and Richard was a solid anchor at full back. Michael Ryan led by example at center back and Alan Cuneen and Seamus Hartnett on the wings covered acres of ground and tackled very well. Dan Morrissey and William Shanahan dominated the middle and got in some telling tackles, set up some great attacks and their distribution was excellent. Deam Lillis worked tirelessly at center forwad, took Colmans center back out of the game and defended as much as he attacked. Sean Moran played well on the wing and was well supported by Dave Marsden in the corner. Liam Quinn excelled throughout and was a constant thorn in the Colmans defence. Paul Fanning did well in the corner and Stephen Droog was a good target man at full forward and varied his play very well. All substitutes were used and played their part.
Overall a great start to the campaign and when injuries clear up for some of the Ahane players not available for selection there will be increased competition for places. Ahanes next football outing is in July after the Leaving Cert away to Fr. Casey’s. I’d like to wish the best of luck to those taking exams. Let’s keep football going in this club; the players and potential is there!!
Line out: Gavin Byrnes, Ryan McCauley , Richard Ryan, Brian O’Keeffe, Alan Cuneen, Michael Ryan, Seamus Hartnett, Dan Morrissey (0-1), William Shanahan, Liam Quinn (2-5; 0-3 from frees) , Dean Lillis, Sean Moran (0-1) , Dave Marsden, Stephen Droog (0-1) and Paul Fanning. Subs used Barry Neville (0-2) for Paul Fanning, John Hourigan for Dave Marsden, Iain Mooney for Dean Lillis, Gary O’Keeffe for Sean Moran, Michael Kennedy for Stephen Droog. Eanna Kennedy (coach)
Homework Exercise – Training the Head!
Learn off the following affirmation by writing the statement below 3 times during the next week or so. Then as part of your training repeat it to your self a few times per week but in particular a few days preceding any match.
Affirmation statement – “I WILL PERSIST AND CONQUER”
Basically we need you lads to think positive and declare statements such as this to yourself. This helps to build and maintain your confidence throughout the season. Try this technique. It will work for you; not just for the football challenges ahead but in pretty much any activity/challenge you’ve been set. If you wish choose your own affirmation. See you at training to review this.
