A Kieran Hanlon penalty was enough to separate the sides this evening, after a watertight Crossagalla clash that was high on incident, but low on quality.
First half
In an early hint at the kind of war of attrition that this game would degenerate into, both sides had to make injury-enforced substitutions within the first five minutes of play. A loud clash of heads between Pike centre-back, Pa Mullins, and Carew midfielder, Ross McCarthy, resulted in both being withdrawn from the battlefield. This meant a big reshuffle for the home side, who introduced Jason Mullins in his brother’s stead on the right flank, with Shane Walsh moving into the middle and Wayne Colbert taking the elder Mullins’ place at the heart of the defence. Carew, on the other hand, made a straight swap, with Brian Ahern, back for a second spell at the club, taking over from McCarthy on the right of the diamond.
Neither side created anything of note in this first period – the only shot on target was an Eoin Hanrahan free-kick that was well saved by Jamie Stewart. Indeed, Hanrahan looked the most likely player on the pitch to make something happen. His side looked for him constantly down the inside-left channel, where he became embroiled in a fierce individual contest with Carew’s Mark Slattery. Apart from incurring a silly booking for a tackle from behind on the Pike striker close to half-time, this was a battle that “Sla” won – much to Hanrahan’s chagrin.
While Carew looked comfortable defensively, with Adam Frahill also sticking tightly to Pike’s main creative outlet, Colin Daly, they looked just as toothless as their hosts going forward. Getting Jonathan Grant in, between the lines, looked like their best bet – but, with the midfield so congested, that proved difficult to do with any regularity.
Second half
Pike lifted their game significantly in the second half and began to seriously threaten the Carew goal. Hanrahan saw a fantastic 30-yard strike parried by Jamie Stewart, who also saved the underhit rebound from Paddy O’Malley from point-blank range. Minutes later, a Hanrahan cross from the byline, after a misjudged Slattery header, bobbled around in the area, before falling at the feet of Steven McGann. Alas for Pike, the midfielder lashed his effort straight at Stewart.
Pike looked to turn the screw, through the introduction of new signing Eddie Brazier on the right flank. But instead, it was their visitors who would soon take the lead and punish their earlier wastefulness.
Brian Ahern took a throw in on the right and was not closed down upon receiving the ball back. He delivered a cross from deep, first-time, in the direction of Jonathan Grant, who was illegally challenged by Wayne Colbert in the air. Referee, Ryan McCann, apparently blew for a free-kick on the edge of the area, only to be informed by his linesman, Brian Higgins, who was in line with the incident, that the foul had actually occurred just inside the box. Upon hearing this, McCann promptly awarded a penalty, which inevitably led to furious Pike protests – led by the already very vocal, Eoin Hanrahan, who was on a card. Kieran Hanlon despatched the penalty, but not without Gary Neville getting a strong hand to it.
Carew seemed to revert to a more familar 4-4-1-1 shape at this point to see out the game. Pike had focused much of their play down the right side in the second half – perhaps targeting Carew new man, Richie Mullins, at left back (Carew’s 23rd unique starter of the season!). It was in Mullins’ area of the pitch that another key decision from a linesman would cost them.
Hanrahan won an aerial challenge, allowing Colin Daly to pick up the second ball. Daly’s run took him out to the right touchline, where Adam Frahill made an excellent sliding challenge to dispossess him. Referee’s assistant, Donal Power, immediately flagged as Frahill writhed in pain on the ground. After speaking to Power, McCann gave Daly his marching orders – for allegedly standing on Frahill’s leg deliberately in the aftermath of the challenge.
Unsurprisingly, Carew then saw the game out pretty comfortably from here. However, there was still time for two more dismissals, with Hanrahan and Hanlon both receiving second yellow cards. Hanlon’s was for a foul to prevent a Pike counter-attack, while Hanrahan’s was for ridiculously pushing Barry Dillon over, seconds after that same incident. To say that there was an air of inevitably about his dismissal this evening would be the understatement of the century.
Conclusion
A massive win for Carew then, and one that opens up a league title race that was beginning to look like another inexorable Sheil-led Pike march to glory (notwithstanding Janesboro’s intact unbeaten record). On the balance of play, they were perhaps a little fortunate – owing to their early purple patch in the second half, Pike were marginally the better side. But, in truth, it was a poor game, and one that had scoreless draw written all over it before the penalty decision.
Some Pike supporters were apoplectic after the match over the conduct of the officials. Disappointingly, more than one took the opportunity to express those sentiments to them personally. It’s difficult for me to see where that level of opprobrium is coming from – if you pay linesmen to ensure that the big decisions are called correctly, then don’t be upset when that’s exactly what happens.
Speaking of decisions, what an absolute head-scratcher it was to even play this set of fixtures this evening. The last ten minutes of this one were played in near-darkness – completely unnecessary given that the season is nearly half over before the middle of September! This is one area where the officiating may have been stronger today – given that the game kicked off five minutes late, I felt it was a strange decision to allow an 18-minute turnaround under the circumstances.
Still, Carew won’t mind! They’ve given themselves a massive boost this evening – one that will surely more than erase the disappointing recent loss to Regional from their collective memory. Provided of course that no eagle-eyed observer on the sideline spies a potential objection in the offing – we all know what happened the last time Carew beat Pike 1-0 at Crossagalla…
Scorers
Hanlon (pen)
Man of the Match
Mark Slattery
Limerick District League 