Hard-earned draw
Glynn Barntown withstand pressure
GLYNN BARNTOWN withstood plenty of Gorey Celtic pressure and came away from Umbro Park with a hard-earned draw in this Wexford and District Schoolboys Soccer Under-13 Division 1 clash on Saturday.
These two sides looked pretty evenly matched on paper coming into the game, with just one point separating them in the table.
While Gorey were on top here, there can be no denying that the visitors deserved their draw after 60 minutes of non-stop battling.
Usually a stellar defensive showing starts with the goalkeeper, and Fionn Nolan was superb for Glynn Barntown.
It wasn’t that he had a number of tricky saves to make, it was the fact that everything he did was with the utmost composure.
That level of confidence feeds into a defence and the visitors protected Nolan’s net with guts throughout.
Further forward they looked to hit Rory Gallagher and, in particular, Tristan Cuddihy quickly and a few times it almost paid dividends.
Their problem was that Gorey also boasted a talented rearguard. Cormac Fleming was at the heart of it but that composure spread through the team and they played some impressive football.
Looking to keep it on the ground, Celtic probed through midfield.
Artemy Pershenkov dictacted plenty but Bradley James and Tadhg Byrne did stellar work out wide too, meaning they had danger coming from all angles.
The hosts played with the substantial breeze in the first-half and pressured the Glynn Barntown goal in the opening quarter.
Byrne had one of those chances when he sliced wide in the sixth minute, and Pershenkov clipped the crossbar a short time later.
Glynn Barntown were left to live off scraps in the first-half. Cuddihy did win a left wing free which Gorey defended with enthusiasm, and the Celtic rearguard had to be alert to nick the ball away from the visiting attacker when he almost broke into the clear just before the interval.
After repelling the danger against the breeze, Glynn Barntown had renewed hope for the second-half.
However, it was Celtic who got on the front foot initially, with Cormac Goodwin twice narrowly missing the target before Nolan stopped a Pershenkov shot.
Glynn Barntown had their spell midway through the half, but Max Butler failed to hit the target in the 40th minute and nobody could take advantage of a tantalising Cathal Sinnott corner a short while later.
Gorey Celtic did press forward in the last ten minutes looking for a winner.
Cormac Goodwin’s shot flew behind and Ethan Goodwin saw his strike deflected narrowly over the crossbar as the visitors held on for a point.
Gorey Celtic: Naoise Byrne; Conor Redmond, Cormac Fleming (capt.), Louis O’Halloran; Bradley James, Dara Kelly, Jamie Butler, Artemy Pershenkov, Tadhg Byrne; Filip Klempka, Cormac Goodwin. Subs. (rolling) - Jack Smyth, Ethan Goodwin, Craig Bailey.
Glynn Barntown: Fionn Nolan; Craig Laffan, Oscar Ramsey, Luke Harris-Katras; Max Butler (capt.), Andrew O’Brien, Colin Carley, Tom Cooney, Cathal Sinnott; Tristan Cuddihy, Rory Gallagher. Subs. (rolling) - Eoin Reeves, also Luke Renwick.
Referee: Karol Farnyik.