Bandon put their good start to the league aside to focus on their first cup competition of the year. They maintained their winning streak as they beat College Corinthian’s third team convincingly. It didn’t take Bandon long to get on the score sheet. From the first whistle they pressed Corinthians from the front earning a corner after 2 minutes. Fernandez whipped a teasing ball in which Fitton met with his head. This settled the Bandon team down. Bandon showed their confidence with some great possession. Manning down the left flank was a treat every time he got on the ball, taking his man on and linking up well with Fernandez and Dewey up front for Bandon. It only took Bandon another 4 minutes to double their lead with a strong run through the middle from Lang crossing low and hard which Manning tapped in for his 3rd goal in 3 games. This man is in the best from for Bandon since he has arrived. He is like a young Ryan Giggs (just for Richie). Corinthians where struggling to get into the game and they had their keeper to thank that Bandon didn’t grab another few in quick succession with some great strikes outside the box from Lang and Dewey. You could sense there was another goal coming soon and on the 10th minute a low left foot strike from Dewey from 20 yards flew into the bottom corner, a sweet strike indeed. With Bandon’s high tempo you could see they were out to prove a point to other teams in the league even if they were competing in the cup. 4 nil wasn’t long coming and this time it was Fernandez, this young man deserved his goal as he played a big part in all the other 3 goals. He closed the Corinthians’ defence down and pounced onto a mistake and he slotted the ball in after taking it passed the oncoming Corinthians’ goalkeeper. Corinthians were unable to handle the attacking pace of the Bandon player’s and they were well organised with a great leader in the backline in Fitton. On the half hour mark Bandon made it 5-0 and it was Fernandez who got his second after an excellent through ball set up a one v one for Fernandez with a confident finish into the bottom corner. It now looked like an impossible task for Corinthians to get this one back. For the last 10 minutes in the first half Bandon took their foot off the gas and Corinthians’ done their upmost to get a goal back. They pilled the pressure onto the Bandon defence with a free kick and 3 corners in quick succession. Bandon survived this with some scrappy defending. This led us into half time with Bandon five goals to the good.
The second half began with Bandon making a double substitution saw Manning and Lang off, Callanan and O’ Driscoll on. Bandon maintained good possession throughout the second half. Bandon also made a lot of positional changes to see how players would adapt playing out of their regular positions. Naturally with a score line of 5-0 the high tempo of the first half was never going to be maintained. Bandon slowed the game down while keeping possession working the ball out from the back. McCarthy in goal was looking good with the ball at his feet on Corinthians’ unbelievable playing surface. But it was the home team who scored the first goal of the second half with a screamer from 30 yards. Again Bandon pushed forward but were caught offside and numerous occasions some calls which were questionable. Bandon did manage to finish off with another good goal from Callanan who took on the Corinthians’ defence and a good strike on his left foot into the right hand corner. Collins was very unfortunate not to make it seven. He is known for his defensive duties but found himself up front for the second half on Sunday. The cross came in from the right from Dewey and a bullet of a header came off the crossbar and out for a goal kick from young Collins. Bandon finished the game strong and a solid 6-1 finish.
Man Of The Match: Daniel Fernandez – He put in a solid performance from the start to finish. Picking up two goals on the day and showing he can play at right back as well for the whole second half. A fantastic player he deserves the Man of the Match Award this week.
Match report by Brendan Cullen
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