League v Innishvilla in Ballyadam Park on Monday 28th August 2017
Carrigtwohill United 2 Innishvilla 3
Scorers: Anesh Swani, Robert Adam
It was back to business for the Carrigtwohill Under-16 side who played out a thrilling opening league match at home to Innishvilla on Monday last. Both teams were newly promoted to Division 2 and had played out an epic 3-3 draw at the end of last season when two injury time goals were scored.
The Carrigtwohill squad had a familiar feel to it, with team captain Alex Canty at centre back but a number of positional changes in midfield and the attack. This was a match that was to ebb and flow between both teams – Carrigtwohill dominated the first 25 minutes and could have opened the scoring on a number of occasions with Abdul Mohamad and Evan Donnelly both coming close, but it was the visitors who were to strike first when a lofted ball into the box was not dealt with leaving the attacker to prod the ball home. The concession of the goal seemed to rock Carrigtwohill who didn’t seem to be able to hold the ball at all and it was Innishvilla who made all the running for the remaining 15 minutes.
Half-time was an opportunity to take stock and re-organise – it was a case of getting back to basics and to be fair that is what happened and Carrigtwohill levelled the match when a goal from Anesh Swani from the edge of the box found the top left hand corner of the net – a wonder strike !
It was now end to end action, and Innishvilla struck once more – 2-1 and 20 minutes left to play. Again, it was a case of keep plugging away and the chances will come, as after some clever work on the left wing, Robert Adam found himself loose in the penalty box and nailed into the bottom left corner – 2-2 and 15 minutes to play. There were some superb performances on the day, Abdul on the right wing, Ebe Imoh imperilous in defence Bartek Stepaniuk in goals and Ronan Ymedi in central midfield who had an especially good second half. With end to end action for the remainder of the match, it was Innisvilla who struck to score the winner and take the spoils when the Carrigtwohill defence failed to deal with relatively soft cross. The manner in which the goals were conceded was disappointing from a defensive view so work to be done in training but overall a superb team effort against strong opposition
Player of the Match; Abdul Mohammad