Ging dominates as Coolboy cruise
COOLBOY RANGERS ARKLOW UNITED 7 2
COOLBOY RANGERS welcomed Arklow United to the community grounds in Coolafancy last Saturday afternoon for what turned out to be a highly entertaining encounter between two committed and talented teams.
The score line might suggest a completely one-sided clash but this wasn’t the case for much of the game, with United pressing hard at every opportunity but meeting a quality goalkeeper in Caoimhin Rawson and a strong defence marshalled by Adam Hadden and Ryan Guilfoyle.
Coolboy’s physical prowess was very noticeable in this game. The spine of their team is populated with fine, big footballers who can play the game at the feet and in the air.
Up front they caused serious problems for United who fought hard to protect their goal but Cian McLoughlin and Leigh Nolan’s efforts, to name just a few, would come up short on numerous occasions in the face of the Coolboy assault on their goals.
It was early days when Adam Hadden got up to head home from a corner to open the scoring on a beautiful day in Coolafancy, where the views of the surrounding landscape can offer a welcome alternative should you tire of the football in front of you.
Coolboy doubled their advantage on 18 minutes when Matthew Ging converted on the end of a corner from Hadden and Coolboy pressed home their advantage with a goal from Christopher Montegaue to make it 3-1 after 24 minutes.
Despite the three goals that went in past him, United’s keeper Liam Somers didn’t drop the head in the slightest and proved well capable over the course of the game with some fine takes and stops on his line.
Arklow’s efforts finally earned some reward after 39 minutes when Josh Whitmore walloped home after a stunning ball from Ollie Palach to Dylan O’Reilly who found Whitmore and the rest was history. This was timely boost for the Arklow United side who took the half-time break feeling slightly more hopeful than they might have a few minutes beforehand.
Their ambition took a hard slap not long after the restart when Owen Young scored a screamer but the goal of the game came from Adam Keogh who sensationally lobbed Caoimhin Rawson in the Coolboy goal to make it 4-2 after four minutes of the second half. It really was an excellent goal.
Four minutes later, the game was sewed up by Coolboy when Matthew Ging launched a fierce missile of a shot from way out the field and it flew in to the top corner of Liam Somers’s net giving the United goalkeeper absolutely no chance of getting a hand to it.
United continued to battle gallantly and they held Cooboy out for as long as they could but eventually Ging was on hand to secure his hat-trick with a cheeky lift over Somers’s hands for a stunner on 17 minutes while Montegue wrapped up the scoring to leave it at 7-2 in favour of the Coolboy Rangers side.
A deserved victory for Coolboy but they were made to work by a battling Arklow United team whose loyal supporters never stopped encouraging them from the start to the end.
Quality showings from Rawson in the Coolboy goal, John and Owen Young, Diarmuid Lambert (who was cheered on constantly by his younger brother throughout the game. Really lovely to see!), Cormac Redmond, Daniel Hedderman, Matthew Ging and Eoin Kavanagh.
1. Caoimhin Rawson, 2. John Young, 3. Adam Hadden, 4. Ryan Guilfoyle, 5. Diarmuid Lambert, 6. Cormac Redmond, 7. Owen Young, 8. Daniel Hedderman, 9. Matthew Ging, 10. Kevin Kennedy, 11. Eoin Kavanagh. Sub: 12. Christopher Montegue.
1. Liam Somers, 2. Ethan Curran, 3. Cian McLoughlin, 4. Leigh Nolan, 5. Conor O’Brien, 6. Ollie Palach, 7. Philip Erasmus, 8. Daniel Budzik, 9. Dylan O’Reilly, 10. Josh Whitmore, 11. Dylan Moriarty. Subs:
12. Cian Reilly, 13. Dylan Smith, 14. Adam Keogh, 15. Leon Barnes, 16. Luke Lennon.
Mattie Dowling