Senior Football match reports
08/04/10 St Agnes 1-08 Pearses 6-09
Last Thursday, Pearses started their league campaign with a tough away game at Woodlands against a very capable St. Agne's squad. After the first game of the season was rained out, Pearses boasted a strong starting line up which included the returning Conor McGhee, who missed must of the previos season, and Rory O'Neill from injuries. Another boost for the team was the return from injury of last years Players Player of the Year, Anthony Finn, who was appointed captain by manager, Rick Henry, shortly before kick-off.
The game started in earnest with Pearses taking the lead, Ryan Gillespie taking advantage of sloppy defending to find Piaras Donaghy at the far post, who, in turn, fed an unmarked Conor Mulholland who made no mistake with his finish. Pearses then conceded two scores before scoring a second goal, coming this time from Piaras Donaghy. Great displays in midfield by Peter McNulty and Darragh Cooper as well as Conor McGhee and Tomas O'Neill at half back gave Pearses a great platform to launch attacks from, whilst minors Aidan McCavana and John Gillespie worked hard to spirit the ball into opposition territory for the grateful frontmen. This was followed by a quick change by the gaffer, Brendan Henry, rearranging the midfield which spurred on Pearses who were winning nearly every ball in the middle. Conor Mulholland found the net again whilst John Gillespie, Conor Mulholland and Darragh Cooper, with 2 points, put Pearses in at the break with a comfortable 4-5 to 0-4 lead.
The second half followed the same script. Pearses extended their lead scoring another goal, which effectively killed off the game, Piaras Donaghy scoring after his 45 dropped short, through the unfortunate goalkeepers hands. This led to an all-out assault by the Andersonstown men, who did score a couple of unanswered points, but left gaping holes at the back, taken advantage of by substitute, Declan Johnston, who scored a point with his first kick of the ball, before then adding a goal to his tally. The match then became a bit niggly with Pearses defence and St. Agnes' ragged and frustrated attack nearly coming to blows on several occasions. Pearses then conceded a late goal, which helped the West Belfast team make the scoreline slightly more respectable.
The final score of 6-9 to 1-8 doesn't truly reflect how one-sided this match was in reality. Several of the St. Agnes' scores came directly from poor defending by the Pearses men, whilst the away team missed a raft of easily convertable chances, the total running into the double digits. (NB I missed one of them not having a go at anyone). However, this was a strong start to the League campaign, and with O'Donnells at MacRory Park next for the Pearses, the players will need to remain focussed and work hard in order begin a winning streak.
Man of the Match: Darragh Cooper
7/3/10 Aldergrove 2nds 4-07 Pearses 0-10
Pearses seniors played their first match of the season last Sunday with a challenge match away to Aldergrove 2nds. On a beautiful morning for a football match a squad of 22 travelled down to crumlin to play a team 3 divisions above them. For the first 10 minutes it was all Pearses who spurned 3 good opportunities for scores that their dominance deserved, before Aldergrove broke quickly to score a fine goal for the first score of the game.
This goal seemed to waken up the Aldergrove team who started to raid forward with the aid of 4 Senior squad members but Pearses continued to battle hard and more than held their own finally getting on the scoreboard with a free from Piaras Donaghy. As Pearses continued to try to push forward some players forgot their defensive duties and Aldergrove scored their second break away goal. Another point from Donaghy before half time reduced the score to 2-03 to 0-02 at the break.
Aldergrove lost their 4 senior players as they headed to Lambh Dearg for the Ulster Intermediate league and this combined with Pearses now playing down the hill led to a bit of a resurgence in the second half despite having lost Declan Johnston, Michael Connolly and Paddy Dorian to injury and Connor Magee to family commitments at half time. Three points from the boot of Donaghy, John Gillespie and Hugh Connolly quickly reduced the gap, but lessons hadn’t been learned from the first half as Aldergrove scored 2 quick fire goals on the break to re-establish their lead.
Pearses continued to press and with frees being won by Conor Henry and Aodhan McCavana, Donaghy continued to slot them over for fun. The score could have been reduced further but for a bad miss from Conor Henry after good build up work with his brother Brendan.
In the end Aldergrove only had one more score then Pearses but as they say goals win games. There were a lot of positives for the North Belfast lads to take away and this is a good start to the season. New manager Rick Henry has a lot of potential to work with as the team travel to Derry next weekend for a challenge match with Doire Colmcille at Celtic Park.