U16 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - Match Report by David Cullen

The EDEN CLAIMS Sponsored U16 footballers travelled to Tullamore on Monday evening for the 2nd round of the championship down 4 or 5 players due to holidays and illness.  This was a big game for the lads on many levels as it was firstly, played in the county grounds O Connor Park, a place where no team wants to be on the wrong end of a result. Secondly, a win would see the young reds secure a second win in the group and sets up a table topping clash for the last game.

 

The reds burst out of the traps in true Edenderry fashion and raced into an early lead with clinical finishing from Jack Foran & the Maher brothers. Tullamore did settle into the game and rattled off a few well-taken points before a questionable penalty was placed into the top corner of Gary Gorman’s net. Jack Brady and Brian Clarke scored two lovely points that done justice to the endless and tireless work of the full forwards. Tullamore got another soft penalty and despite his best efforts Gary went to the right side but the quality of the Tullamore penalty taker seen the net rattled. Despite having dominated the game for long periods of the first half,  we only went in 3 points up on a score line of 3-06 to 3-03.

Our lads knew the second half was going to be a battle to the end and went back out and did exactly what was asked of them from the management team. They started the second half in the same fashion as the first, this was only possible with fantastic work from the fullback line who absorbed a huge amount of pressure but Adao Dafe ,Diarmaid Egan & Steven McNamee stood up to the task and shut the door on more than one occasion.

 

Jack Foran wasn't going to let up and was a thorn in the Tullamore back line. It has to be said that he got the space to exploit the backs because our forwards were working hard making runs and opening up the backline.  We picked off scores and got into a nice lead only to let the opposition back into the game. This was probably down to us getting complacent but our lack of fitness has a big part in letting them score a couple of goals, but when needed the two midfielders Andy Maloney & Eoin Dunne showed their  character, they dug deep and worked beyond their comfort zone with the backs to hold off a late Tullamore charge.

The final score was Edenderry 5-10 to Tullamore 5-07. This win put the lads top of the group and sets us up nicely to play Shamrocks where a win would see them top the group.

Team G Gorman, S McNamee, Adao Dafe, D Egan, D Kane, O O Grady, C Mangan,A Maloney, E Dunne, C Maher, J Foran, T Brereton , B Clarke, J Brady , S Maher,  Subs K McGlynn,
R O Neill, B Reynolds , G Farrell for D Kane 17 mins.