The St. Ailbe’s U15 Boy’s Soccer team took to the Saint Michael’s pitch on Monday the 7thof April as our own pitch was unplayable because of construction for the first round of the South East Munster Championships. The St. Ailbe’s team consisted of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year players with the majority in 1st year. This was the first competitive game of the year. Mr. McGrath started a team of mostly 1st years who were unexperienced but had shown great potential in training.
The game started with St. Ailbe’s taking the tap off. We were caught on the back foot from the get go as Borrisoleigh forced Kasim, our goalie to make a brilliant save. Chances by Philip O’Sullivan, Christopher Malone and Dylan Swords proved unsuccessful. Eventually their perseverance paid off and were awarded with a penalty when Philip O’Sullivan was taken down in the box. Dylan Swords slotted home to put St. Ailbe’s in the lead. Philip O’Sullivan was starting to dominate the game from mid-field and soon got his reward with a stunning goal. Philip then showed even more class as he ran the field to set up Christopher Malone for our third and final goal.
St. Ailbe’s emerged victorious with a score line of 3-0. This was our first soccer win in 3 years, so there were great celebrations. Christopher Malone was awarded Man of the Match. This team now look forward to the next match in this competition and will be training hard until then.
by Robert Childs
