Match Report Saturday 27th October 2007 -Under 17’s v Albion Star at YMCA - St Mary's Win 5 - 1
St Mary's entered this match with a number of injuries to some regular starting players but this was an opportunity for those who have not played as often to get in. The first minutes saw a confident beginning to the game and on 5 minutes it was no surprise when good work by Michael Fearon and John Meighan on the right allowed Daniel McCreesh to skip past his marker and cross in for Michael O'Reilly to head home.
A strong hold on the match though did not result in any more goals and indeed against the run of play a long ball by Albion Star into the St Mary's penalty area saw Michael Fearon ( goalkeeper ) take the ball off the toes of the inrushing forward. However, the referee judged that the joint challenge by Michael and Declan Hackett was a foul on the Albion Star forward and duly awarded a penalty that was confidently stroked home leaving the teams tied at 1-1.
This unsettled St Mary's for a spell but finally on 30 minutes good work by Daniel Lunney slipped a ball through to Michael O'Reilly who sped into the area and made no mistake putting the chance away leaving the half time score 2-1.
Second half again saw St Mary's in confident control. Michael Donaghy was strong at the back and Kevin Meighan was getting plenty of space on the left wing. On 45 minutes and then 55 minutes Daniel McCreesh was in the right place on both occasions to make the score 4 -1. Then the goal of the game came on 60 minutes when John Meighan sweetly hit a left footed volley from 25 yards out to hit the very top left hand corner before the goalkeeper even saw it.
A comfortable victory with the squad showing great depth with all playing their part to ensure St Mary's remain top of the league.
Team:
Michael Fearon, Michael Fearon, Daniel Lunney ( sub Michael Kane ), Michael Donaghy, Declan Hackett, Chris Boy ( Captain ) (sub Chris Barr ), Hugh Campbell, John Meighan, Michael O'Reilly ( sub James Cachart ), Daniel McCreesh, Kevin Meighan ( sub Chris Walsh )