Collinstown turn on style in a big weekend for club
By Hayden Moore
Collinstown's Leinster Senior League outfits enjoyed a hugely successful weekend as their Saturday and Sunday league teams continued their promotion pursuit while their Under-19s lifted the Lar Dunne Cup.
The crowning achievement of the weekend came on Sunday when Brian Coombes capped off a brilliant 4-0 win over Leicester Celtic Under-19s with a superb second goal of the afternoon.
Coombes helped ignited the rout at Bangor Celtic FC when he whipped the ball in from the left to centre-forward Josh Dunne, who swivelled past his marker and unleashed his strike into the corner.
Despite Leicester going close, Coombes turned goal scorer down the other end after half-time when the ball broke into his path on the edge of the box.
A quick one-two with captain Thomas Shields put him through on goal, leaving him one-on-one with the ‘keeper and he emerged tops in that face-off.
Dean Kelly at centre-half with Sean McGee and Conor Finn on either side made up a back three that worked well in tandem, particularly after the break.
Shields operated well from midfield, doing all the dog-work and picking up the ‘Man of the Match’ Award but Jake Purcell’s efforts were also worthy of the accolade.
The third goal came when Purcell’s corner dropped into a packed box and after a short scramble ended up in the net when striker Kian Delaney got a toe on the ball.
With the clock running down, Collinstown continued to catch their Rathfarnham opponents on the break and reaped the rewards with a fourth goal when Coombes rounded the keeper to slot home.
In the Charles and Paddy Lee Under 19 League, Collinstown sit top but could still miss out on the title should Home Farm win three of their final four games.
Elsewhere, Collinstown’s Major 1A Saturday side beat third placed Glenville 4-0 away last week, keep-ing them well in the race for promotion, although they will need a minimum of nine points from a possible 12 to go up.
If the Palmerstown side had beaten their neighbours they would have secured promotion to Major One themselves but two Mikey Griffin goals either side of half-time leaves them sweating on other results.
Christian Nolan’s heroics in between the sticks saw Collinstown maintain a much-deserved clean sheet while David Callaghan and Stephen Quirke put in a fine shift at centre-back.
Striker Darren Clarke’s flashy footwork took him past three defenders to tack on a fourth after Dylan Nolan’s clever dink over the ‘keeper minutes before.
That was not the only goal Clarke scored over the weekend though as he rattled the St James Gate net four times off the bench to help guide Collinstown’s Senior Division 1A Sunday side to an 8-1 victory.
Other goals came from Dan Matthews, Ste Grogan, Alan Behan and Nathan Doyle as the Clondalkin side put the pressure on second-placed Willow Park who sit six points ahead with three games remaining.
