A right old battle took place in soft conditions in Ashgrove this morning with every ball scrapped for throughout. Dunmore were full value for their 1-0 lead but the boys kept prodding away and eventually the pressure paid off with Chucky Norris rifling home a penalty to bring them level. The second half was 50//50 with very little between the teams and the 1-1 draw was probably a fair result.

A large U12D squad made the trip out to Ballinroad for a lively encounter on Saturday morning. The lads started off a little slowly and Ballinroad took advantage and grabbed an early goal, but gradually and surely Mooncoin got themselves back into the game, stuck to the principles and kept playing football.

The defensive team of Cathal, Eoghan, Cormac and Thomas were solid and laid a strong platform as the chances started to come a plenty for Mooncoin in the 2nd half. There was a well taken goal by Conor W. mid way through the 2nd half and from there a number of chances were created. In the last 2 minutes Mooncoin hit the side netting at least 3 times so near and yet so far.

However as the final whistle blew the points were shared. That’s an unbeaten run for the lads in 2020 and a sure sign that they’re settled into the league now.

The lads done really well for the majority of the game against the league leaders with the game in the melting pot at 1-0 with 10 minutes remaining but two late goals for Dungarvan put a flattering look on the final score.

They say lightning never strikes twice but the second Derby game in this league disproves that saying. Once again nothing between the 2 teams apart from a deflected free kick in the final 5 mins of the game, the exact same goal as our last meeting, hard to take after the lads worked so hard through the game. Best on the day for us was Finbarr Purcell.

A heavy pitch made attractive football hard to come by but these two teams done their best in tricky underfoot conditions. Dungarvan were the better side in the first half and displayed their superiority racing in to a two goal lead and could have been more only for Nathan Long stopping Dungarvan on a couple of occasions.
Just on half time a mistake at the back gave Lee Freyne an open goal to make it 2-1.
2nd half started and a reshaped Mooncoin had more chances and possession & got a right hold of the game. Adam Conway hit the crossbar, Alex Bailey hit the post, and it took a Kieran Fagan penalty to equalise after Rizgar was taken down in the box.
Man of the Match was Luke Ramasawmy just ahead of Ryan O Grady & Liam Quinn. A decent performance overall in a very competitive league.

Tomorrow:
U12A home to Piltown
Kick off 11.30
U12B away to Ballinroad
Kick off 12.30
U14 away to Dungarvan
Kick off 2.30
U16 home to Dungarvan
Kick off 2.30

Sunday
4th Division home to Dunmore
Kick off 11am
Youths away to Carrick
Kick off 2pm
U12 Girls home to Dungarvan
Kick off 2pm
Support for all teams would be much appreciated.

Our U10 Purple Girls Squad visited poleberry in cold conditions this morning to face Bohs and put in a solid performance throughout the game which had happy coaches afterwards and raring to get back to the training ground on Wednesday evening. All 10 girls done very well.