Crossmolina 1 Erris United 4

On Palm Sunday Erris United rolled to an easy 4-1 victory in the opening game of the Premier League, which left their opponents Crossmolina throwing their hands in the air in disgust. A woefully lethargic first half by Crossmolina left them two goals behind and a valiant second half effort was laid to waste by two late Erris strikes by Gareth O’Malley. A scrappy first half was edged by Erris who opened the scoring after 10 mins, with a fine strike from nearly 30 yards by Thomas Gruddy. He collected the ball in midfield and proceeded, unchallenged, to rifle an exocet of a shot over the helpless interim goalkeeper Steven Canavan. With neither side creating much end product to their endeavour the next scoring chance fell to the home team Crossmolina after 19 mins. Padraig Whittaker burst into the 18yd area and crossed from the left for the onrushing Derek Greham, who just missed connecting with an elaborate back heel effort from 6 yards out. Seven minutes later a Kenny Canavan cross into the box was headed clear to Greham, on the edge of the area, who fired narrowly over with a first time shot. Greham was again in the thick of the action when a delightful through ball by Johnny O’Hora set him up in the box but he was tackled decisively by an Erris defender. Five minutes before half time the visitors wrapped up the 3 pts when they were awarded a free kick on the left wing in an apparently innocuous position. But that was reckoning without the firepower of Michael S Togher who unleashed a 35 yard missile which was only stopped by the Crossmolina net. Down by 2 goals the home team were roused from their apathy and Johnny O’Hora, whose tidy link work was a feature of Crossmolina’s play, floated a ball into the Erris 18yd box which was glanced on by Whittaker for the charging Greham. He was bundled off the ball before he could shoot though, and referee Michael Gresham waved play on.

This misfortune was a sign of things to come as Crossmolina raised their commitment and dominated the second half with some good football. After 5 mins Greham stepped over the ball and turned quickly on the left wing. He whipped a cross into the back post where a lingering John McGuinness directed a free header low and wide. Four minutes later Paul Flaherty hit a speculative 25 yard shot, which Erris goalie Steven O’Boyle parried into the path of the oncoming Greham. With an open goal at his mercy he shot weakly and O’Boyle scrambled to save the ball on the line. With a quarter of an hour elapsed John O’Malley slid a midfield ricochet into the path of Michael Moyles who fired a solid shot into O’Boyle’s midriff. With the Crossmolina onslaught at full throttle O’Boyle produced the best moment of the match 2 mins later. O’Hora cut into the right side of the Erris area and tried to cross, but the ball was deflected in mid-air by Paul Reilly’s knee which sent it towards goal. Reilly’s blushes were spared however when O’Boyle’s cat-like reflexes helped him push the ball over the bar and avert an embarrassing situation. Having survived a testing 30 mins of constant Crossmolina pressure Erris upset the flow of the game by scoring, albeit with some help from the opposition. An Erris clearance was misplayed by John McGuinness and the loose ball was pounced upon by Gareth O’Malley, who then sped goalwards with only the goalkeeper to beat. He deftly placed the ball over the netminder, increasing the lead to 3-0. Six minutes later Erris sliced through the demoralised Crossmolina team again for a pretty 4th goal. An incisive passing move began with Gareth O’Malley winning the ball in midfield and then putting substitute Anthony Duffy clear down the left wing. Duffy cut inside and eluded the challenge of the goalkeeper to square the ball for O’Malley who slid it into an open net, for his second goal of the game. Despite being four goals down Crossmolina mustered up the energy to register a consolation goal with 4 mins remaining. Erris had just survived a vicious long range shot by Michael Moyles which hit the crossbar, when they conceded a corner on the left hand side. Greham curled the ball towards the back post where Joe Keane stabbed it back across the face of goal for Moyles to tip in from 3 yards out. It was too little, too late for Crossmolina though and after conceding 4 goals on successive Sundays they will need to improve significantly if they are to push for honours this season. Erris, on the other hand, can be happy with a good away victory to build on for the rest of the season.

Erris Utd : Steven O’Boyle, John Conroy, Paul Reilly, Michael Dickson, Brendan Sweeney, Thomas Gruddy(Anthony Duffy), Kieran Reilly, Michael S Togher, Jimmy Coyle, Pat Coyle, Gareth O’Malley. Sub Kieran Schultz.

Crossmolina : S Canavan, J McGuinness, J Keane, J Hegarty, J O’Malley, K Canavan(M Moyles 30), P Whittaker(J Heffernan 45), D Greham, P Flaherty, J O’Hora, M Loftus

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