Saturday 20th September
vs. TMS 2-7
Team: Ciarán; Elliot, Caleb (capt.), Tom, Josh; Louis;
Mark, Dylan, Ollie, Adam; Joe. Subs: Cormac.
Injury (Sam out and Joe’s participation limited), absence
(Jacob) and their continued habit of over-committing in midfield saw them pay
dearly at the hands of TMS.
They were behind after only two minutes – either a genius
touch with the outside of the right foot, or a fluke, to lift it over Ciarán from
the most acute of angles – as the left flank was easily exposed.
Mark almost set Dylan free and Louis shot from long range
minutes later as they pushed out. Dylan’s pace was keeping the TMS defence busy
but there was little coming from it and Caleb needed to be alert to snuff out a
break after 10 minutes. They went two down a couple of minutes later as Tom
failed to take his chance to clear and was turned far too easily, leaving Ciarán
no chance with the shot.
The match was being played in an eerily quiet atmosphere,
the lack of voices from the boys reflecting the lack of confidence in their
play. At least Ciarán was alert, palming away Tom’s wayward header and then
diving at the tall TMS forward’s feet, but he was powerless to prevent the
third goal in the 25th minute, as the right back had far too much
time on the overlap to pick out his team mate with a cross he just tapped in.
Joe and Dylan hassled the TMS defence into errors in the
31st minute, with their keeper making a one-handed save but the
first time chance for Dylan might have brought greater reward. Instead, it was
the boys who allowed TMS to work the ball across the box two minutes before the
break to rifle home the fourth.
Cormac came on for the hamstrung Joe for the second half
but it was Elliot who once again stopped the early surge from TMS with a
trademark tackle. It was a perfectly timed intervention but it gained them no
credit in luck: after 40 minutes a long range shot ricocheted off Caleb’s head
and landed at the feet of a TMS forward who shot past the helpless Ciarán.
When they allowed TMS a sixth, two touches from a throw
opening up the defence, with almost half an hour left it looked like being a
very long second period. Instead, they took advantage of changes in the TMS
line-up to save some face. Adam broke down the left and the TMS defender needed
to be strong to close him down, but it was an improvement and, from the throw,
they got a goal back as Mark’s cross was hooked over the keeper.
They continued to pull the TMS defence out to the flanks,
stretching them left and right, and a surge into the box from Mark in the 51st
minute set up a double chance for Cormac but the keeper was equal to both
shots.
After 56 minutes TMS nearly scored again: Ciarán pulled
off a good save as TMS advanced once more on their right, with Elliot following
up to head the ball brilliantly off the line and the keeper pushed another shot
onto the post from an oblique angle 10 minutes from the end.
Louis blazed over after 61 minutes after Mark had created
the opening but got his reward two minutes later, latching onto the rebound
from his own shot to score his first of the season.
Mark was quick again with a throw two minutes from the
end only for Adam to pull his shot wide under pressure. TMS had responded to
the goals by bringing their strikers back on and, after Ciarán had rushed out
with a tackle to stop one break, he was left to pick the ball out of the net
one more time seconds from the end as the TMS striker rode too many half-hearted
tackles to eventually find the space to shoot.
It has been a chastening week for the boys after a bright
start to the season, from which they will hopefully learn and improve. The
defence, not blameless, still looked under-protected but Elliot and, in this game,
Ciarán did all that was asked of them. Mark put in a skilful, hard-working performance
but, for his energy in the second half fight back, Louis took the Man of the Match
award.
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