St Bernard's 1 Galway Bohs 8
Bohs U18s secured their passage into Round 3 of the Connacht Cup with an impressive defeat of St Bernard's in Abbeyknockmoy on Sunday. The game had the makings of a real banana skin as they faced their Championship rivals on a very soft pitch with high winds and heavy rain meaning our lads would have to be on their game to get a result. In fairness to them, they worked hard from the first whistle and took a deserved lead when Rowan Murphy headed home a lovely cross Daviti Tsikarishvili which was the culmination of a free flowing move from defence. A constant threat up front, Rowan bravely added his second from close range but that was sadly the end of his involvement as he injured himself in the process of giving Bohs a 2-0 lead. A double substitution was made and one of those, Noah Ward, wasn't long on the pitch before making it 3-0 which was the score at the interval.
On the right wing, Noah and Lazare Clairon Hardy linked up brilliantly at times but not to be outdone on the left wing, Daviti rifled home from the edge of the box to add a fourth and ensure a comfortable last half hour for the sideline. To their credit, St Bernard's kept battling away and grabbed a deserved goal to make it 4-1 but it wasn't long before our super sub striker, Jed Shaughnessy, put the game to bed with two quickfire goals which prompted chants of "we want three" from Manus Lynch and Aaran Keane on the bench. Jed came agonisingly close to grabbing a second half hat-trick but was denied in spectacular fashion by a fingertip save from the keeper that rebounded onto the crossbar and away to safety.
A couple of late goals from Noah secured his hat-trick and rounded off a facile victory in difficult conditions to put the lads in the hat for the last 16 draw.
It's virtually impossible to single out anybody after such a rout but Rowan, Jed and Noah obviously grabbed the headlines with 7 goals between them. However, for my money, Ryszard Marazewski was the standout player on the pitch with his workrate, decision making and composure on the ball. As always, Lazare was a class act in everything he did while Aaron McDonough and Adam Gulec didn't put a foot wrong between them and were a formidable partnership at the heart of the Bohs defence. Captain Finn McCarthy was a real leader in midfield controlling and dominating the battle for possession while Ronan Lynch caught the eye off the bench with a composed performance full of quality link up play. Tougher challenges definitely lie ahead but all 16 lads deserve great credit for such a professional performance in difficult conditions. We have St Bernard's again in the league in Miller's in two weeks time when I'm sure they will be a different proposition, then round 3 of the Connacht Cup at the end of November followed by a home tie against Salthill Devon in the League Cup in the middle of December. Exciting times ahead for this exciting squad 🔴⚪🔴⚪
Noah Ward ⚽⚽⚽
Jed Shaughnessy ⚽⚽
Rowan Murphy ⚽⚽
Daviti Tsikarishvili âš½
Bohs U18s secured their passage into Round 3 of the Connacht Cup with an impressive defeat of St Bernard's in Abbeyknockmoy on Sunday. The game had the makings of a real banana skin as they faced their Championship rivals on a very soft pitch with high winds and heavy rain meaning our lads would have to be on their game to get a result. In fairness to them, they worked hard from the first whistle and took a deserved lead when Rowan Murphy headed home a lovely cross Daviti Tsikarishvili which was the culmination of a free flowing move from defence. A constant threat up front, Rowan bravely added his second from close range but that was sadly the end of his involvement as he injured himself in the process of giving Bohs a 2-0 lead. A double substitution was made and one of those, Noah Ward, wasn't long on the pitch before making it 3-0 which was the score at the interval.
On the right wing, Noah and Lazare Clairon Hardy linked up brilliantly at times but not to be outdone on the left wing, Daviti rifled home from the edge of the box to add a fourth and ensure a comfortable last half hour for the sideline. To their credit, St Bernard's kept battling away and grabbed a deserved goal to make it 4-1 but it wasn't long before our super sub striker, Jed Shaughnessy, put the game to bed with two quickfire goals which prompted chants of "we want three" from Manus Lynch and Aaran Keane on the bench. Jed came agonisingly close to grabbing a second half hat-trick but was denied in spectacular fashion by a fingertip save from the keeper that rebounded onto the crossbar and away to safety.
A couple of late goals from Noah secured his hat-trick and rounded off a facile victory in difficult conditions to put the lads in the hat for the last 16 draw.
It's virtually impossible to single out anybody after such a rout but Rowan, Jed and Noah obviously grabbed the headlines with 7 goals between them. However, for my money, Ryszard Marazewski was the standout player on the pitch with his workrate, decision making and composure on the ball. As always, Lazare was a class act in everything he did while Aaron McDonough and Adam Gulec didn't put a foot wrong between them and were a formidable partnership at the heart of the Bohs defence. Captain Finn McCarthy was a real leader in midfield controlling and dominating the battle for possession while Ronan Lynch caught the eye off the bench with a composed performance full of quality link up play. Tougher challenges definitely lie ahead but all 16 lads deserve great credit for such a professional performance in difficult conditions. We have St Bernard's again in the league in Miller's in two weeks time when I'm sure they will be a different proposition, then round 3 of the Connacht Cup at the end of November followed by a home tie against Salthill Devon in the League Cup in the middle of December. Exciting times ahead for this exciting squad 🔴⚪🔴⚪
Noah Ward ⚽⚽⚽
Jed Shaughnessy ⚽⚽
Rowan Murphy ⚽⚽
Daviti Tsikarishvili âš½
