Pearses 2-4; Oranmore-Maree 5-6: Gareth and Johnny Lally’s young U12 footballers were no match at all for a strong Oranmore-Maree team in the first round of the U12 football championship played in Ballymacward this morning.
This is the first time in quite a while that Pearses have fielded a football team at underage level. Pearses were trailing from within minutes of the throw-in and it was 4-1 to the visitors before David Walsh got Pearses off the mark with a point from play from the left side of the field.
Oranmore scored another 1-3 without reply; their first point took a deflection off a Pearses hand, then converted a free and another from play before scoring yet another goal which also took a deflection on the way in. This effectively put the game to bed before the break. The score could have been exacerbated even more only for the vigilance of Diarmuid Ryan who cleared the ball off the Pearses goal line with a point blank save on the stroke of half-time.
In the 2nd half a quickly taken free from Harry Mitchell resulted in David Walsh pointing from play. As the game wore on the Pearses lads got more into it. Harry Mitchells free lobbed about 5 players on the Oranmore-Maree goal line to find the net. Oranmore-Maree added 2 more points to their tally in quick succession and in the process snuffed out any hint of a Pearses recovery before David Walsh’s effort on the run bounced over the crossbar.
Pearses best move of the game resulted in their 2nd goal when Jonah Donnellan fed Harry Mitchell, who turned his man and his low hard drill found the net. David Walsh converted a 21’ free taken off the ground when the mentors on the sideline were laying claims for a penalty which fell on deaf ears. In the end as the young Pearses lads shipped a heavy beating, it still wasn’t a bad result for their first day out in competitive football against a strong Oranmore-Maree football side.
Scorers: Harry Mitchell 2-0; David Walsh 0-4.
Panel: James Queeney, Daniel Melia, Dara Scarry, Diarmuid Ryan. Padraic Kelly, Conor Walsh, David Walsh, Conor Hillary, Dillon Roche, Ross Lally, Harry Mitchell, Ross Laheen, Patrick O’Neill, Jonah Donnellan, Ciárán Hogan, Anthony Feeney, Dylan King, Matthew Finnerty, Tommy Nutley, Jamie Nutley, Keith Kitt, Cathal Hynes. Everyone got a taste of football on the day.
Report by Martina Donnellan