After a 5-0 win in College Park last week Trinity’s football first team was looking to put up back to back wins as they took on Peamount United. Trinity are looking to win promotion to Division 1A this year after being relegated last year. Peamount were visibly older and somewhat heavier than the young and energetic Trinity side who made use of their speed down to wings.
The first half saw Niall Carruthers causing trouble down the left-hand side of the pitch. After a corner was cleared the ball fell to Dean Gaynor who blasted the ball past the Peamount keeper. Initially jittery on the ball, Trinity settled into the game and retained possession well.
Peamount’s first opportunity came after Trinity keeper Devan Connolly’s attempted clearance was blocked down by Peamount’s striker, the ball edging wide. Trinity were let off the hook and for the rest of the half totally dominated the game. The Peamount defence was having serious issues with the Trinity attack, which got in behind them on multiple occasions. Trinity’s second goal came from a counter attack starting from deep in their own half. Niall Culler drove into Peamount’s box and laid the ball off to Ronan Hanaphy who duly sidefooted the ball into an empty net.
The goal of the game came around the 35th minute. After a one-two between left back Dan Kane and Carruthers, the winger took on two defenders and slid the ball just inside the left post. Peamount got one back a couple of minutes before halftime after a clearance kick by Connolly was blocked down into the Trinity net. Regardless, the second half looked like an uphill battle for Peamount.
The rain began shortly into the second half, which sapped the energy out of both teams. Halfway through it the sun came out and Trinity started to run at Peamount again but Peamount’s centre backs kept Trinity’s crosses into the box. Trinity’s defence remained solid and didn’t look threatened at any point. With 10 minutes left in the game an attempted diving header from Dan Kane resulted in a handball and a penalty. The Trinity keeper managed to stop the penalty that could have made the last few minutes a nervous affair. In the end it was an easy 3-1 win for Trinity.
Speaking with The University Times after the game, Trinity manager Richie Maguire said: “We were totally in control of the game, for the whole game…the wind destroyed the game for us in the second half. It was a hurricane.”
“We like to open the pitch up and play really fast, high tempo football. It’s difficult to do that in the conditions”, he added. Next week, Trinity take on Leixlip, a Division 1A team, in the Intermediate Cup. When asked about the match Maguire said: “They’re very strong all over… but we think we can go and play against them so we’ll upset them. They’ll be a little bit surprised at our level.”
