NAFL Division 1B
Colin Valley 3 Aquinas 2
MID-TABLE Colin Valley inflicted a painful defeat on rivals Aquinas at Good Shepherd Road last weekend.
Since losing twice to Rosemount before Christmas, the team from Poleglass have decisively won three games in-a-row.
Their win on Saturday was not as clear cut as their others but it was enough to deny their South Belfast rivals 10 league wins in-a-row.
Only one team deserved the points on Saturday but right up to the final whistle, deep into injury-time, the visitors had chance after chance to steal the draw. With 97 minutes played, Colin Valley defended on their goal line to hold onto a deserved victory.
The win meant a great deal to the home side. Their celebrations at the end were an indication of how much they had put into the game.
A minute’s silence for Aquinas player Fionntan McGarvey was respectively observed by both sides prior to kick-off.
Aquinas players observe a minute’s silence for Fionntan McGarvey
In blustery conditions, Aquinas had to weather quite a storm away to Colin Valley who threw everything they had at the visitors.
The home side played with three forward players and encouraged their full-backs to push high up the pitch with Sean Morelli, Core Walsh and Charlie Walsh dominating in the middle in the early stages.
It was obvious early on how important Kevin Wilson was going to be for Colin Valley all afternoon. They constantly looked for his runs and consistently he linked up with Walsh and Darren Ferguson to push Aquinas onto the back foot.
Their expansive and pacey movement of the ball stretched the visitors in the first 15 minutes.
In the strong breeze the home side forced three consecutive corners that although easily dealt with showed the pressure the South Belfast side were under.
It took quite a while for the Aquinas centre-backs to work out how to manage the overloads out wide in this system but once they did the visitors imposed themselves on the game a little more.
Niall Atkins and Garrett Cullin increasingly controlled the midfield, forcing Colin valley to sit a little deeper to counter the pace and threat of Martin Ramsey and Sean Wilson in the Aquinas attack.
It was the Aquinas backline that uncharacteristically collapsed on Saturday.
When Ferguson was played in following another passage of play starting with Wilson, his shot was saved by Jack McCrea at close range. As the ’keeper went to ground with the ball, Core Walsh closed him down and managed to get a toe on the ball and push it beyond the goalkeeper for the opening goal.
Despite protests from the Aquinas players, the referee saw nothing wrong with the challenge and the goal and waved them away.
Aquinas had chances to level the game
The exposed defence had been on the back foot for much of the half and the goal had been coming. The visitors reacted immediately and their goal to level the game was just as controversial.
Dan McDonald’s perfectly weighted pass from midfield between the Colin Valley centre-backs found the run of Wilson who tucked his shot under the body of Gerald Duff who came rushing off his line while Conor Shaw and Colin Valley Captain Stephen Morelli were closing him down.
His composure under that pressure offered his side a way back into the game. The referee again had to settle some furious players who felt Wilson had been offside.
With the half-time whistle coming, Aquinas suffered probably their biggest setback on the day when in-form midfielder Atkinson went down and looked unable to continue in the game. For the time being, he struggled on and with Cullin winning everything in the middle of the pitch it looked like the visitors had enough to get them to half time.
Both sides were unlucky not to grab the lead just before the whistle: Walsh struck a great shot low and wide left of the Aquinas goal and from a Ben Leonard free-kick, Ramsey put the ball in the home side’s goal only for it to be deemed offside.
Two minutes into injury-time and Ramsey was unfortunate not to tap one in following an Aquinas counter attack up the right wing.
The ball into Wison allowed him to drive to the by-line where he cut the ball back to his strike partner who was just beaten to it by the ’keeper.
Despite the blistering pace of the opening 20 minutes and the dominance of Colin Valley in that period, it was Aquinas who ended the half the strongest.
Unfortunately, Atkinson was unable to play on and he was replaced by Dermot McInerny.
The second half continued in the same manner as the home side were slow to start and with only a minute played, Wilson thought he had scored in a goalmouth scramble, but the ’keeper had done enough to stop the ball fully crossing the line in the melee of legs and bodies.
The Colin Valley winner
Aquinas’s composed start to the half came to a crashing end when McDonald lost possession of the ball in midfield under pressure from Walsh who never stopped running hard all afternoon. Three passes later it was in the net and visitors looked flat.
The backline was again caught out of shape and flat footed in the quick transition from having the ball to not having it.
The constant pressure on the ball from Colin Valley when they didn’t have possession was not matched by their opponents.
Despite a double substitution, bringing Paddy Lowe and Kev Keenan into the game, Aquinas still couldn’t find the equaliser.
With 70 minutes played, the game became a lot more physical as Mark Boylan and Caolan Lynch were both brought down with crunching tackles.
The visitors were having to fight for every inch in the game now as the hosts did whatever it took to hold that lead.
With 10 minutes of ordinary time to go, the home side seized the initiative with a great goal from Michael McClory. He picked the ball up wide left and drove into the penalty area before gliding through three Aquinas players with ease before placing the ball in the bottom right corner to make it 3-1.
Again, the South Belfast side rallied themselves and for the remainder of the match, Colin Valley hung onto their lead.
Had Aquinas scored from any of their chances with time on the clock this game could have gone either way.
Ramsey header makes it 3-2
Unbelievably, Aquinas did score. From a long ball lumped up field they broke away. Wilson got the ball wide right in their opponents’ half and floated the ball in for Ramsey to head it in. In the 91st minute the lead was narrowed to 3-2.
The consolation goal looked like that might be it as the striker grabbed the ball and ran to the centre circle.
Deep into added time, the Colin Valley sideline was screaming for the referee to end the game as they were under serious pressure.
Aquinas played ball after ball into the area forcing corners and goalmouth scrambles.
In the 97th minute the ball landed under Keenan’s feet in the box with the goal at his mercy he managed to get a shot away only to see Duff make a save right on the line.
As the ball was cleared the final whistle blew.
Colin Valley deserved their celebrations at the end. They were the better team on the day. In a game that was about intensity and desire the Poleglass side taught Aquinas a bitter lesson.
