The St. Ergnats annual Family Fun day took place last weekend and with good weather persisting for the course of the day, an enjoyable time was had by young and old. Juvenile teams from the surrounding area took part in football tournaments at various age groups, whilst off the pitch entertainment included bouncy castles and face painting.
As usual the day concluded with the annual challenge match between the over 40’s and members of the current coaching staff. The Over 40’s were coached by James Scullion and the Coaches steered by Enda Lagan. Line ups were a little changed from last year as some players still hadn’t overcome that particular ordeal.
Straight from the throw-in the Over 40’s attacked and were up by a Harry Tohill point and goals by Sam McCoy and Bruce Kelly before the coaches had realised it was game on. The coaches were not passing the half way line thanks to the strong midfield pairing of Brendan and Bruce Kelly whose high work rate led to a string of points by Darren McCormick, Eamon McQuade (2) and Sean Boardman. The coaches had to respond and following some positional switches eventually got some scores on the board through Joey McCann, Sean Laverty and Ian Carey. Despite some good defensive work by Brendan Prenter, Colm Scullion and Oliver McCoy the coaches fell further behind to goals from Sean Boardman and Darren McCormick. Joey McCann responded for the coaches just before the half time whistle with a goal following a good move involving Neil Duffin, Louis Doyle, Dessie Taggart and Stephen McGreevy.
The second half started just like the first with immediate pressure for the Over 40’s side and only some stout defending from Sean O’Neill, and Patrick Kelly and two superb saves from keeper Stephen Murray kept the Over 40’s from racing further ahead. There was nothing the keeper could do minutes later when Curly O’Neill combined with Darren McCormick to put through Adrian McCloskey for a goal. Then followed the best move of the match following a catch at full back by Pat Magee, the Over 40’s swept up field and a string of passes from Benny Devlin, Michael McCoy and the Kelly brothers led to Darren McCormick flicking the ball on to the eternal Raymond Graffin who gave the keeper no chance from 20 metres. From the kick out Harry Tohill combined with Sam McCoy who found Sean Boardman unmarked for his second goal of the day. It could have been a hat-trick for Sean moments later but he blazed well wide when it seemed easier to score.
Jim Murray put Joey McCann through for a score for the coaches and Phelim Devlin added to that moments later with a goal following good work by Sean O’Neill and Brendan Prenter. The Over 40’s however showed no reduction in energy levels as they finished strongly with points from Darren McCormick, Sean Laverty and that man Graffin again. Oliver McCoy responded just before the final whistle with two well taken but consolation goals as keeper Noel Boyd was left isolated somewhat by his defence. The final score in a very entertaining game was Over 40s 7-10 the coaches 6-1.
