
Originally Posted by
AlanOB
Pike Rovers 1-2 Carew Park
Carew should be making a mould of Pa Boyle's left foot after this one. His Charlie Adam-esque set piece deliveries were the difference between the two sides today.
Carew started slow and seemed to be feeling the occasion. Errors and misplaced passes were rampant, and the flowing possession football that has become their calling card this season was nowhere to be seen. Pike were dominating the midfield area with Grant and Boyle failing to get tight enough to Colbert and Tierney. Yet, it was Carew who took the lead against the run of play after 20 minutes through an inswinging free kick from Pa Boyle, glanced home by right full Gary Griffin.
Pike's dominance in the centre was to translate into goals soon after however, and on 35 minutes, Wayne Colbert had the time and space to play a through pass to Alan Barry, who slotted home after evading his marker Keane with a run to the left of the box. 1-1 at half time.
The second half began by following the same pattern. Pike dominated possession, only to see Carew again go ahead from a set piece. This time it was a Pa Boyle corner, headed home by captain Mark Keane. Then, strangely, Carew had their best spell of the game. Brian Ahern was removed from the right flank (inexplicably, considering how poor Somers was on the left) and replaced by Jamie O'Sullivan, and his arrival contributed to a period of dominance for the away side. Eventually, however, Carew retreated, and the last 15 minutes were played exclusively in their half. Ronan Power made a couple of excellent saves to keep the scoreline in their favour, and substitute Keith Hartnett missed a late free header at the back post to level the scores. But generally Carew defended extremely well and gave up few chances. Mark Slattery was the standout performer in that regard. He saw off Paul Doona and his replacement Dave Ryan. And despite struggling against Barry in the first half (particularly aerially), Mark Keane dominated him in the second.
Pike went 3-1-4-2 for the last few minutes, removing Enright, but they couldn't break down the Carew door, even with the baffling 7 minutes of injury time granted to them by referee Buttimer. There were some positives today for the home side (new signing Colbert in the holding role was sensational) but they are lacking in key areas. Defending from set pieces was atrocious, and the contribution from both the wide players and the strikers was not good enough. Despite dominating the middle, Tierney and Colbert has very little to work with in terms of movement from their teammates. Far too static.
Carew will be delighted. They nicked the lead and defended brilliantly to keep it. Champions elect?
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