The 16s started their season with an away fixture in Killarney Athletic last Saturday in a beautiful sunny day. It was a game of 2 halves for us-we did very well in the first but flagged in the second. We started the first half very well playing some good stuff in the first 2 thirds of the pitch but without being able to capitalise on the lion’s share of possession. We actually went 1 down after an innocuous punt caught our defence square too close to the half way line and one of their strikers sprinted on to score. We pressed for the equaliser which duly came after 30 mins when Sean Donnellan, who had a fine game throughout, found Cormac O’Brien in their box and he made no mistake. The combination play between Cormac, Sean, Christopher Murphy, Ciaran Carmody and Ed Moynihan down the left was quite a positive for us. Up front Padraig Donnellan and Ed played very well in open play but found it difficult to get in behind their 2 big centre halves.Our back 4 of David Lenihan, Ossie Clifford, Ciaran Murray and Alan McElligott took a while to gel but as soon as they got to grips with the long ball they were were pretty solid. Brian O’Regan in goals had a good game especially his communication with his defence.We came under pressure for the first 15 minutes of the second half and conceded from a corner where we just couldn’t jump as high as their big centre back who headed a good goal.We introduced Jack Lynch early in this half up front and he can be well pleased with his contribution. The last 20 minutes of the game got a bit stretched as we tried to get the equaliser but we could never get that quality last pass. Athletic were very dangerous on the break and the 5 lads at the back had to best at their best to keep us in the game. In the end it finished 2-1 to Athletic and well done to them. Well done too to our lads who showed that they are well capable of playing against the big teams.