U16 Boys 2-1 Carrigaline Hibs 7th September 2014

Bandon got their home campaign off to a great start with a vital 3 points against a well organised Carrigaline team.  This win came in the wake of a tough point away from home the previous week to Fermoy. On a beautiful autumn morning the scene was set for a great game. Both teams were well prepared going into the game. The game started and you could see both sides wanted to play good attractive football on a not so attractive pitch. Carrigaline dominated the opening twenty minutes with Bandon showing signs of being slightly off the pace while coming to terms of Carrigaline’s 4-5-1 formation. A lot of possession was exchanged around the middle of the pitch, Callanan and Fernandez spread the ball well for Bandon while Manning was a consistent threat when he got on the ball with some great pace and was always looking to get at the solid Carrigaline defence.  The first goal of the game came from the away team as Bandon were caught on a quick counter attack and a tremendous through ball split the Bandon defence, while Carrigaline took their only decent chance of the half. Bandon reacted to this goal, by solidifying their defence and Collins showed great heart with some excellent interceptions and fair but tough challenges which set the marker for O’Mahony, Fitton and Wall who weren’t long reacting with some challenges of their own.  Bandon slowly started putting their foot on the gas and were starting to push Carrigaline into their own half. Bandon increased the tempo which led to Bandon being rewarded with numerous free kicks, one of which resulted in a controversial off-side goal by Fernandez. Bandon were finally rewarded for their persistence and it came from another free kick where Manning was taken down, Callanan whipped a beautiful ball into the box where Fitton got on the end of to put it past the advancing Carrigaline keeper. Bandon were back in the game as they went into the half time break.

The second half saw both sides playing an excellent tempo of football and Bandon looked dangerous on the attack with the introduction of the lively Lowney. From the whistle he was a great outlet for the Bandon attack. Daly came more and more into the game as he received more balls to his feet and was unlucky not to hit the target 10 minutes into the half with a well worked move down Bandon’s left wing. The next goal was going to be vital as both teams were cancelling each other out all over the pitch. On the hour mark Callanan took matters into his own hand by building up numerous attacks over a five minute period with O’Driscoll and Lowney down the right and Manning, Wall and Daly down the left while Fernandez unfortunately had to go off injured young O’Donoghue was given the responsibility to control the midfield and he took to that task with some great energy. Lowney and Daly were again unlucky not to score only to be denied by some great blocks. The Carrigaline defence eventually cleared the ball to Bandon’s right full Collins who put the ball back into the mixer first time where Manning came onto the ball and hit a first time volley across the goal to give Bandon the lead with 20 minutes to go.  Carrigaline pressed and were unlucky not to score only for the inform Bandon keeper McCarthy who didn’t have much to do but when he was called upon, he responded. It was a great 3 points for Bandon as they hope to pick up 3 more this Sunday away to Temple at 10.30.

Man Of the Match: Jeremy Collins – He put in a blinder for the last 15 minutes defensively with some excellent interceptions in Bandon’s final third to halt Carrigaline from threatening the Bandon goal, a great assist for the winner and a solid right back performance edged Collins to the Man of the Match award.