Another warm evening ensued in St Albans where St Colmcille’s took on St Vincents of Luton. Throw in at 7:30 (ish) and a late substitution of referee, which saw Pat Walsh take on the responsibility.
Right from the throw in St Colmcilles showed a hunger comparable to the fella on Easter Sunday who gave up chocolate for Lent. A few quick points, followed by and excellent goal put Colmcilles off on the best start they could have hoped for. Keeping the pressure on throughout, the middle of the pitch seemed dominated by the hosts, who used it as their distribution point for setting out their attack.
Vincents regularly threatened the Colmcilles defence however they found it difficult to pick out the two danger-men in each corner. Tactile marking and some excellent working of the ball back out of the defence ensured a diligent descent on their back line. Hand passing proved key to the hosts throughout the first half, as well as only losing of their kick-outs versus five of the visitors
Some injuries were picked up in the first half where Colmcilles needed to make two substitutions. Declan O’Neill was rested for a niggling calf injury. Conor Carney was victim to a stray elbow which consequently broke his nose. He’s recovering well although his Instagram account has lost 30% of his followers…
On the subject of injuries, Tom Maloney also suffered an ankle injury during the warm up… trying to volley the ball
At half time the score was 4-08 to 0-01. Another change was made for Colmcilles where Shane Gill was rested with a suspected dislocated thumb. The restart was won by the visitors who showed a revitalised effort and led to them competing more for the ball. Undeterred by this, the hosts continued their dominance and railed in some excellent scores, both above and below the crossbar. A hand pass over the bar was even attempted by Mark Hayes, only to be denied by the big white post on the right…
Three of our most experienced players, Conor Taggart, Paul Dolan and Neil Gallagher (wearing different branded boots on each foot) took to the field. Whilst all received plenty of the ball, it was Neily who managed to book himself a point. No doubt we’ll be informed of this for months to come.
Perhaps fatigue set in with the hosts which saw Vincent’s capitalise on and kick over four scores.
Again determined to build on the tally of the first half, goals came from Chris Griffin, Brendan Jordan and Michael Logue along with some super points from many of the others. Colmcilles had scores from an impressive eleven different players on the night.
Final Score
St Colmcilles – 7-17
St Vincents – 0-5
St Colmcilles 