Pearses 6-8 Annaghdown 0-0: Report by Martina Donnellan. Pearses U12’s took a while to settle but in the end ran out convincing winners in an assured performance against Annaghdown in Ballymacward yesterday morning. It took 7 mins for Pearses to open their account through Conor Walsh but never looked back thereafter. In their settling period Pearses showed great bravery as James Queeney had to run off a belt in the ankle, Darren Moran was called upon twice to make 2 good saves while Pearses squandered a few early chances. Once they settled, they were in a powerful position and saw out the business of the day in true style.
Conor Hillary, who had a superb game set up Conor Walsh for the opener which just skinned the crossbar. The 2 Conors, Hillary and Walsh set up David Walsh for his first point of the day as he just looked at the target before tapping over with ease. Young Kyle McDonagh provided the delivery across the field for Conor Walsh to latch on to and he makes no mistakes when granted such goal scoring opportunities. Good combined work from Conor Walsh and Diarmuid Ryan resulted in Annaghdown conceding a 65’ which was duly converted by David Walsh. Darren Moran made a great save between the posts for Pearses as Annaghdown worked the ball up the field. Straight from the puck out came the score of the day, involving no fewer than 4 players.
A splendid block down by Padraic Kelly in defence who then gathered the loose ball, tapped it out for James Queeney to run on to; he delivered to the danger area where the ball bounced nicely for Cathal Hynes who sprayed it across to Diarmuid Ryan and he knocked over a beauty – made that bit nicer given the splendid movement shown and willingness to network as a team and find better positioned players.
Ryan raised Pearses second green flag on 16 mins as the resultant puck out was batted down by Padraic Kelly into Diarmuid Ryan whose ground stoke found the net. With our five backs Ciarán Hogan, James Queeney, Cian Burke, Dillon Roche andamp;amp; Patrick O’Neill having busier days to come I’m sure, Conor Walsh andamp;amp; Padraic Kelly set up the next move which finished with a whopper of a goal by David Walsh to make it 3-4 to 0-0 with 18mins gone. Diarmuid added another point in limited space just before the break to put Pearses in a commanding lead at half time: Pearses 3-5; Annaghdown 0-0.
On the resumption, Pearses kicked on again as Diarmuid Ryan raised another green flag after Kyle McDonagh kicked the ball across to him; he picked, turned and clinically finished. He could have added another but his ground stroke ran wide. Next up was Ross Lally for another major as he picked the ball, took the allowed one touch and let fly for Goal No. 5. With little fightback forthcoming from the Annaghdown lads who would more than likely have racked up the same score on Pearses, had it been football – nevertheless Pearses continued the job of racking up the score. Padraic Kelly was rewarded for his hard work and untiring efforts and the 5th Pearses scorer to get on the scoresheet as he fetched a monster line cut from David Walsh to rack up another point. At this stage it was like a stroll in the park for the Pearses lads. Conor Walsh drew a great save from the Annaghdown goalie as they made a rare trip up the field while David Walsh was wide with a 65’, won by Diarmuid Ryan andamp;amp; Conor Hillary was wide from play.
Jamie Nutley originated the move which led to Goal No. 6 as his long clearance down the line found David Walsh who sent in a dangerous ball which was a small bit under-cooked, was batted out by the goalie but the lurking Ross Lally found the net from close range to bring Pearses tally to 6-6. David Walsh then added another point after he gathered a crossfield pass from Conor Hillary who was far from daydreaming. At this stage, Ross Laheen, Sean Kelly, Jack Kenny, Fionn Donohue, Brián Thompson, Niall Grady andamp;amp; Daniel Lydon were all introduced as Tommy Nutley brought his bag of hurls to the goals as Darren Moran had a rare spell outfield. Fionn Donohue showed great vision and composure to avert a goal which looked ominous for the visitors. Jack Kenny capitalised on a poor Annaghdown clearance and he finished clinically with the last point of the day as Pearses didn’t take their foot off the pedal at any stage to finish off an impressive performance as they racked up a scoring tally of 6-8.
Scorers: Diarmuid Ryan 2-2; David Walsh 1-3 (0-1 65’); Ross Lally 2-0; Conor Walsh 1-1; Padraic Kelly 0-1; Jack Kenny 0-1.
Panel: Darren Moran, Ciarán Hogan, James Queeney, Cian Burke, Dillon Roche, Patrick O’Neill, Conor Hilary, Padraic Kelly, Conor Walsh, David Walsh, Kyle McDonagh, Diarmuid Ryan, Cathal Hynes, Tommy Nutley, Ross Lally, Brián Thompson, Fionn Donohue, Niall Grady, Ross Laheen, Daniel Lydon, Jamie Nutley, Sean Kelly, Jack Kenny, Jonah Donnellan.