St Patricks YM vs New Santos
For the second week running, Santos faced a top two side as their battle against relegation continued. With the match being played on the 3G surface at Olympia, Santos were buoyed by their 2-2 draw with Ardoyne the previous week.
With performances on the up, Manager Ronan Doherty was left disappointed with the news that 14 squad players were unavailable for the match he considered the biggest of Santos’ season.
The changes in the team were always going to take a bit of time to get used to, but St Patricks weren’t going to allow Santos an easy ride. Within three minutes St Pats took the lead with a free header from a corner. Two minutes later St Pats doubled their advantage with another goal from a corner as Santos felled to clear and the ball eventually dropped for an unmarked St Pats player to finish from 12 yards.
Santos’ disastrous start was to get worse with stand-in skipper Kieran Seaward had to come off injured. St Pats capitalised on some more abysmal defending from Santos when they scored from a third corner.
St Pats could have extended their lead a few times before half-time with JP Byrne preventing them from opening a further lead and Santos went into the break three goals down with a mountain to climb.
Half-time: St Patrick’s YM 3-0 New Santos
The second half began a quieter than the first, with Santos starting to challenge more but still failing to create any chances.
St Patrick’s were in full control of the game and scored a fourth around 15 minutes into the second half following a move down the left. They scored again 10 minutes later when they played a lovely sweeping move that began deep into their own penalty box and they worked the ball well up the line before finishing off Santos.
Santos’ day got even worse when David Dougan and Stevie Copeland both injured their ankles and were replaced by Ronan Doherty and Pol Douglas. But for a few more saves from JP Byrne, the score could have been even more humiliating for Santos.
Full-time: St Patrick’s YM 5-0 New Santos
Team:
GK: JP Byrne
DL: Kevin Carson
DR: Sean Carson
DC: Joe Magee
DC: David Dougan (Ronan Doherty)
ML: Stevie Copeland (Pol Douglas)
MR: Padraig Henry
MC: Darran Holland
MC: Kieran Seaward (Brian Caldwell)
SC: Simon Magee
SC: Paddy O’Reilly
M.o.t.M vote results:
JP Byrne - 4
David Dougan – 1
Simon Magee – 1
Ronan Doherty - 1
