First league defeat for Olympic A

First Division

Mountshannon Celtic 3
Shannon Olympic A 2
Shannon Olympic A suffered their first league defeat of the season when they went under to Mountshannon Celtic on Sunday in Scariff.

Played in bright conditions but with the pitch sticky after an earlier downpour, Olympic failed to get a grip on the home side, who were clearly up for the game and they went behind in the 16th minute. A delivery from the Mountshannon Celtic defence wasn’t dealt with and Colin McNamara finished neatly past McGettrick in the Olympic goal.
Olympic, playing against a stiff breeze, were unable to create many chances and seemed happy to get to the break trailing by the minimum.
The away side started the second half much better, aided by the wind and went level in the 49th minute when John Moloney handled the ball on the line and Karl Scott dispatched the resultant penalty.
Olympic suffered another setback in the 56th minute when confusion in their defense caused the ball to ricochet off several players before landing at the feet of Kevin Dooley who drove to the roof of the net, despite the efforts of McGettrick.
Despite there being well over 30 minutes remaining, the away side seemed to lose their composure and started to chase the game. In the 68th minute, they were caught on the break when Paul Dooley broke down the left wing and crossed for the unmarked Colin McNamara to score his second and Mountshannon’s third, with a great header from the edge of the box.
Olympic managed to get a goal back in the 74th minute when Ray Quigley won the ball in his own half and ran into the Mountshannon box to finish well, after great play between Jason Regan and Karl Scott.
Mountshannon managed to hold on until the final whistle and recorded an important win that has tightened up the top of the table.
Mountshannon Celtic: Colm Kavanagh, John Moloney, John O’Brien, Martin McNamara, Pádraig Brody, Kevin Dooley, Paul Dooley, George Waterstone, Colin McNamara, Raymond Cahill, Andrew McNamara.
Subs: John Bugler, Thomas Gleeson, Eoin Keane, Christopher Jones, Jason Horan.
Shannon Olympic A: Gary Mc Gettrick, Mick O’Connell, Ian Hogan, James Fitzgerald, Karl Fogarty, Ray Quigley, Jimmy Houlihan, Donncadh Kelly, Karl Scott, Jay Regan, Wayne Regan
Subs: Gareth McPhilips, Richie Hanly.

Shannon Olympic A 3
Connolly Celtic 0
On Wednesday, Olympic A secured three away points against Connolly Celtic in their first midweek game of the season. Olympic were forced to start the game with 10 men as some of their key players were delayed arriving to the match.
As Olympic were trying to overcome this handicap, Connolly started the game the better with chances from Brendan Dillon and Brendan Field in the opening 10 minutes. Olympic finally got all 11 men together 15 minutes into the game and quickly settled into the task.
The opening goal of the game came from Mick O’Connell in the 20th minute when he headed home a Jay Regan corner to put Olympic into the lead.
Olympic were awarded a penalty in the 42nd minute after a challenge on Karl Scott who went on to convert the penalty to put the away team 2-0 up.
Just before half-time, Olympic were awarded a free kick at the edge of the box after a foul on Jay Regan and Jimmy Houlihan shot to the top corner.
Connolly had several chances in the second half from Alan Markham and Bernard Field, however, they couldn’t get past Olympic keeper Gary McGettrick who was in top form on the day.
Shannon Olympic A: Gary McGettrick, David Collins, Ian Hogan, James Fitzgerald, Karl Fogarty, Ray Quigley, Jimmy Houlihan, Donncadh Kelly, Mick O’Connell, Jay Regan, Karl Scott.
Subs: Wayne Regan, Richie Hanly, Eamonn O’Neill, Dave Kearns, Michael Byrnes.
Connolly Celtic: Dermot O’Brien, Brian Costello, Killian Torpey, Kieran Quinn, Keith O’Looney, Alan Markhan, Sean McCarthy, Bernard Field, Brendan Dillon, Pat Hogan, Donal Keane.
Subs: Danny Casey, Sean Courtney, Sean Cregan.

Cratloe Forest 2
Sporting Ennistymon 5
Sporting Ennistymon got off to a great start in this first division tie at Limerick IT on Sunday when Kieran Monaghan gave them the lead after five minutes. Alan Sexton doubled their advantage when he scored direct from a corner before Colm Donnellan volleyed a Michael O’Dwyer corner to the net to give the North Clare side a three-goal advantage.
Cratloe pulled two back before the break through Sean Chaplin and Pa O’Halloran. Midway through the second half, Donnellan scored his second for the winners before Monaghan had his second when he ran on to a John McInerney delivery.
Cratloe Forest: Pierce De Loughrey, Pádraig Chaplin, Pa O’Halloran, Chris McGrath, Jeremy Courtois; Sean Chaplin, Ally McMillan, Damian Browne, Aidan Browne; Gearoid Ryan, David Quinn.
Subs: Tommy Joyce.
Sporting Ennistymon: Abdel Ennaoui, Michael O’Dwyer, Robbie McInerney, Mark Burke, Thierry Bouton, Eoin Brennan, Colm Donnellan, Alan Sexton, Kieran Monaghan, John McInerney, Fiachra O’Malley.
Subs: Sean O’Brien, David Lyons.