There was no separating Shannon Olympic and Sporting Ennistymon in their opening game of the Maloney Garden Machinery Premier Division.
By Jamesy McConigley
Shannon Olympic 2
Sporting Ennnistymon 2
Venue: Olympic Park
Ennistymon got off to a perfect start, Robbie McInerney got on the end of a Cathal McConigley corner with just three minutes on the clock. Seán McConigley doubled Sporting’s lead, when he coolly finished past Carmody in the Olympic goal.
Both sides created numerous opportunities but the first half finished in a positive position for the North Clare side, on a scoreline of 2-0.
Olympic came out of the traps roaring and it was Ryan Kelly who dragged his side back into the game, his hammered attempt was lashed into the roof of the net to give David Fitzgerald no chance of saving it. Just like Sporting in the first half, Olympic scored a second in quick succession from their first. A long distance shot from Ray Quigley was saved by Fitzgerald but the second ball was swept into the net from Deaglan McDonald.
Olympic had the ball in the net again but Trevor White had already blown for offside. White who had his hands full with plenty of sloppy lunging challenges occurring today.
Cathal McConigley hit the bar when he pounced on a mix up between Jason Carmody and Dean Power and 60 seconds later saw his glancing header cannon back off the Olympic post. Both sides pushed for a winner but neither could get the vital goal and the two teams can feel they could have got more out of the game.
Sporting Ennistymon: David Fitzgerald; Joe Gallagher, Michael O’Dwyer, Robbie Mc Inerney, James Leigh; Ciaran Monaghan, Michael Leigh, Jamesy Mc Conigley, Johnny O’Gorman; Seán Mc Conigley and Cathal Mc Conigley.Subs: Nathan Garrihy for Johnny O’Gorman and David Murphy for Michael O’Dwyer.
Shannon Olympic: Jason Carmody; Terry O’Donnell, Alex Cole, Dean Power, BJ Cantillon; Rachid Amallah, Ray Quigley, Jason Regan, Adrian Carew; Ryan Kelly and Deaglan Mc Donald. Subs: Wayne Ryan for Rachid, Derek Maxwell for Terry O’Donnell and Ruairà Price for Jason Carmody.
Referee: Trevor White