Ardscoil na Mara v Waterpark
The weatherman promised that the mist would be gone by eleven. It wasn’t. This did not stop our
young warriors from putting on a sparkling performance. As kick off occurred, the mist lifted slightly
and Waterpark knew they were in for a tough competition. Our line up saw a mix of new and
established faces. Everybody put in a fantastic shift. We had an early chance, as Esdras ran up the
wing on crossed from the right on to the boot of Nathan who put it just wide of the post. The
opposition attempted to intimidate with some very physical challenges but we held our nerve. We
went one up when a quality cross from Sean Fitz was headed beautifully into the net by a leaping
Esdras. The ref blew his whistle, goal disallowed due to a push. Despite several excellent runs and
some lovely passing, we remained at stalemate for what felt like an eternity. Waterpark had a free
and corner close to the half time whistle but Ciaran was not under any pressure between the sticks.
Nil all at half time, saw a few tactical changes by the coach. These soon paid their dues when a
minute into the second half Esdras again drove forward, slipping the ball past the keeper and time
stood still as the ball rolled slowly and teasingly across the line. This goal put a fire under us and we
woke up. Tommy Smyth had a couple of shots, one just wide of the post. Alex Sheehan, determined
to find the net, took a powerful shot, only to see it hit the toe of a defender and ripple to roof of the
net. Alex made sure his stamp was on the next goal, heading a cross beyond the reach of the
keeper. Esdras had an almost carbon copy of his first goal two minutes later to add to his tally. Sean
O Donoghue ensured he shared in the spoils with a wonder strike to make it five and game over. The
performance saw another excellent shift from Alex Gillane, Emmet Kirk and Jack Ahern. As the final
whistle blew, the mist evaporated and the sun came out. We march on to the next round.