It’s been a mixture of emotions over the last few weeks for everyone. As a coaching group, we’ve been really pleased with some of our performances, but unfortunately the results haven’t always reflected what we felt we deserved. That’s been tough to take.
Last week’s performance against a top quality St Pat’s side was outstanding, even if we came up just short. There was no doubt the lads took a huge amount of belief from that display heading into last night’s fixture away to the always tough Bishopsgate.
I thought our first-half performance last night was excellent, especially considering the late withdrawal of Jake Doyle and then the unfortunate injury to Rhys Bartley just seconds into the game. I spoke to Rhys last night and, thankfully, he’s in good spirits, which is great to hear.
To go in only 1-0 up at the break was disappointing because I felt we were good value for at least a couple more goals. That said, the football in the build-up to Mikie’s goal was top class and exactly what we’ve been working towards. It was a great finish by Mikie, also, to finish off the move.
Longford came out strongly in the second half and found an equaliser. We know we need to defend that situation better, but full credit to the lads for responding in the right way. We regrouped, stayed composed, and got a deserved winner through Zak O’Sullivan. It was a fine bit of craftsmanship from Robbie McCourt, who showed all of his quality and vision to step in and make the pass.
Zak has been a great asset since his arrival from Waterford and I’m sure he will be delighted with his input so far.
As I said earlier in the week, spirits are high within the group. It’s now just one defeat in our last five league games, and while there’s still a long way to go, we’re looking forward to another big week, starting with a tough trip away to Cobh before a home derby against Bray on Monday.
Finally, it was fantastic to see our U17 player Ivan Voloshyn make his senior debut. He slotted in brilliantly and played his part in helping us get over the line. Congratulations to Ivan on a well-deserved milestone.
