Colaiste Choilm capture their first boys Munster Title
Colaiste Choilm 4 – 1 Limerick CBS
The First Year team beat Limerick CBS 4-1 in Charleville last Friday and remain undefeated this season. The match kicked off half an hour late and in the early exchanges neither side dominated. After ten minutes a bitterly disappointed Morgan O’Mahony was forced to leave the field with a head injury. However, as the half progressed Colaiste Choilm started to take control of the game and create ever more chances. Michael Olatanbosun was in total command at the heart of the defence and with Kieran Murray orchestrating the midfield battle, the Ballincollig School repeatedly set up fresh attacks. Yet, despite the pressure, the teams went into the break all square.
From the restart, and now playing with the wind, Colaiste Choilm were able to pile the pressure onto the Limerick defence. A free kick from the half way line was spilled by the keeper and Dylan Kirstein, on for the injured O’Mahony, was quickest to react and pounced on the loose ball to open the scoring. Limerick responded strongly but when Ryan Keane won possession back, a swift move by Darragh Lucey down the left was cut short by a foul on the edge of the box. Brian O’Donovan executed the set piece perfectly sending a curling strike into the top right hand corner and double Colaiste Choilm’s lead.
Soon after the restart, a rare mistake by the Colaiste Choilm defence saw Limerick break for goal. John McCarthy reacted quickly and bravely spreading himself at the striker’s feet to deny Limerick but unfortunately the rebound fell straight to another Limerick striker who side footed into the open goal. Colaiste Choilm weathered the storm that ensued and having denied Limerick any clear opportunities to level the match regained the initiative and put together some fine moves.
Daniel O’Connor, who had move onto the middle, saw more of the ball and sent Daniel O’Sullivan through. The striker calmly stroked the ball past the Limerick keeper to extend the lead to 3-1. Colaiste Choilm really opened up in the last ten minutes. Mark Prendergast dominated the right side of the field both in defence and creating attacking opportunities. From one of these, Carel Tiofack, who had delivered a captain’s performance throughout the match, picked up the ball on the edge of the box and fired home the fourth to cap a marvellous team performance.
In his victory speech Carel was quick to thank Limerick for the part they played in a match that was a credit to the spirit of the beautiful game. He also thanked team manager, Kieran Daly, and coach, Daniel Murphy for all their work in the year. As the Cup was raised to a huge cheer from the travelling support, Colaiste Choilm began to look forward to the national semi-finals. It’s gonna take some team to spoil this party…