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Mens IntermediatesMentors: Tomas Vickers and Paul HaydenContact: Training: Tuesdays and Thursdays. 7.30 - 9.00p.m. Next match: League Match ReportsEire Og 2-10 Ashford 0-1225th June 2006I the second round of the intermediate championship our boys headed for roundwood to face Ashford in what we all expected to be a keenly fought contest. Heading up to Roundwood we all knew that nothing short of a victory would be acceptable after out disappointing first round defeat to Bray. As the match began it was clear that we were in for a battle, Ashford were a good team and possessed some strong backs, good midfield and some very nippy forwards. The game was tight as scores were exchanged, then as fell behind by 3 points the crucial point of the first half when our youngest player Roddie Carroll bravely fielded a ball close to the oppositions goal, and as he attempted to turn her was pulled down by the goalkeeper and fullback combined. Knowing full well that this would bring us right back into that contest our wing forward John Barry (who seems to have been around for more years than our youngest player Roddie) hammered the ball into the net, this left us level going half time……not bad considering.After a challenging half time talk from the teams mentors the lads went out with a second wind that seemed to take the Ashford players by surprise. At midfield we really started to dominate with Daniel and James really driving forward, with Daniel playing as well as he has for a long time, rolling back the years perhaps Dan? Danny registered two good points and delivered that much sought after quick ball to the inside forwards, quick ball, I don’t believe it I hear you say!! Well folks quick ball it was, and effective too. So would the real Danny English please stand up!!!!!! As the Match went into the final quarter we hit the knockout punch as Darren Hayden hammered home a well worked goal and Ashford’s resistance finally crumbled as we tagged on a couple of late points to rubber stamp that vital win! We had good performances from James, Daniel, Eoin O Neill, Darren Hayden and Roddie Carroll I heard one or two of our supports saying after the game “good win but Ashford weren’t up to much”, let me tell you that Ashford are a solid football team and they will cause plenty of problems for other teams in this division so to try and put a negative spin on this victory isn’t quite fair to Ashford and defiantly not fair to our lads, so well done lads, excellent victory.
Subs: Ballymanus 2-07 Eire Og 1-06Sunday 28th May, BallymanusIt was a very early start for our bright eyed team as everyone congregated at “The Shop” for the long journey to the home of The Billies. We set off at approximately 9:30am and arrived at our destination at about 10:30am. As the team began to warm up there was a sense that the mood was a little subdued. The game threw in at 11:30 and straight away our boys were on the back foot as the bigger Ballymanus boys began to exert some early pressure. After about 15 minutes we were down by 1-3 to 0-01 and things were looking bleak. As half time approached we began to battle back although our opponents got a second goal and led 2-4 to 0-04 we felt that with a bit of luck we might be able to force our way back into this game even though it was turning out to be one of our worst performances of 2006!Soon after the restart Eoin English fired over a well worked point and a few minutes later Anto Byrne provided us with the goal we were craving, hoping that this goal would give our lads the boost they needed to kick on and catch our opponents it didn’t transpire this way as Ballymanus seemed to take the goal on the chin, never panicked and seemed to be draining any momentum we had built in that second half and were reducing our guys to a mentality which hadn’t been seen for a long time, a mentality which suggested the guys just weren’t up for this one, a mentality which suggested was this a “friendly” or an “important league game”?????? But surly this was a once off in this particular spectators eyes, maybe “just one of those days”. I suppose if this group of players has intermediate championship and senior football aspirations then we as a team need to start to play some of that fast, assured, competitive home pitch football in places like Ballymanus, Bray and Kilcoole where we have stumbled in recent weeks, one point from a possible six says it all!!! On the bright side there were a few gutsy, determined guys on display, Paul Pegman never stopped in his task of marking a big strong footballer, Kenny Naughton stuck to his task all day, Daniel English upped his performance considerably in the second half and Anto Byrne showed up for everything. I suppose on the other hand having played that poorly we were still only four points away from a result!!!!!!
Subs: Scorers: Johnny Barry 0-3, Darren Hayden 0-02, Eoin English 0-01, Anto Byrne (1-0) Eire Og Greystones 1-09 St Patricks Wicklow Town 0-07Sunday 10th April, GreystonesWe welcomed intermediate newcomers St Pats from Wicklow Town to Greystones on Sunday. The game turned out to be a tight encounter with our lads emerging with a hard earned 5 point victory. The game started at a steady pace with our boys and St Pats exchanging early points, Johnny Barry registered two points and while Conor Monaghan fisted a point midway through the first half as the teams exchanged scores to keep the game close. The first half breakthrough came from replacement full forward Conor Monaghan when he latched on to a breaking ball from the left side and he proceeded to smash the ball past the St Pats goalkeeper, this was vintage Mono, and the type of Mono we want to see more of!!! As the first half came to a close one of our minor stars Darren Hayden registered a fine point from distance leaving us with a goal advantage at half time, it wasn’t pretty but at least we were leading.After a harsh talking to at half time the team went out and seemed to up the performance as our midfield seemed to step up their game, our half back line was beginning to win their own personnel battles and due to this fact the Wicklow full forwards were receiving limited ball and were struggling against our excellent full back line of Eoin O’Neill, Paul Pegman and Brian Gubbins, these three stars shone brightest during a tight physical encounter with a bigger St Pats outfit. With the clock ticking our lads class began to take over as scores from Darren again and our other minor star Craig Smullin stretched our lead to five points, which is where it stayed until the final whistle. To sum the game up “two more points with an average performance!!” However a victory is a victory in any mans language!
Subs: Scorers: Johnny Barry 0-4, Conor Monaghan 1-01, Darren Hayden 0-02, Eoin English 0-01, Craig Smullin 0-01 Kilcoole 0-12 Éire Óg 2-06Monday 17th April, KilcooleThis weekend are boys travelled to our closest neighbours and biggest rivals Kilcoole, buoyed by the All Ireland success of our team mates Craig, Darren and Patrick the previous day, the mood was one of optimism. The game started at 3pm and we were on the button from the first move when James Leonard blocked down his Kilcoole counterpart, collected the ball and burst through the middle of the Kilcoole backs to register our first score. We were all hoping that we would build on that….and we did because after fifteen minutes we were 2-04 to 0-02 in front with goals from Conor Monaghan and Anto Byrne and three points from the old man of the team Johnny Barry.After our great start we all thought that we would build on the opening fifteen minutes and finally dish out the kind of performance we have been craving against our neighbours, well as I stood and watched I saw a total melt down in terms of our form coming into this league encounter. After the great start we suddenly began to struggle in vital areas of the field, our midfield was finding it difficult to dominate as they had done in our previous three league encounters, our full back Paul Pegman was trying his best to break even with the big full forward who was receiving quality ball due to lack of pressure from our players further out the field and our full forward line was being starved of the ball that had led to our commanding opening quarter. To their credit Kilcoole never gave it up and as they taped over a few points in quick succession they seemed to believe that this was a day that Eire Og were there for the taking!! As I looked on the game began get very worrying from our point of view as Kilcoole had all the forward momentum and we were reduced to 14 bodies after the dismissal of our centre forward Paul Doherty for a verbal exchange with the Ref Mr Leonard. Believe it or not this seemed to give our boys a wake up slap and we started to compete and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Johnny Barry kicked his fifth point of the game in injury time and as the ball sailed over the bar we expected our friend Mr Leonard blow the final whistle on the Kilcoole kick out, alas that didn’t happen and Kilcoole advanced up the pitch and were awarded a free in front of our goals, the free was well dispatched between our posts and we were level again with what turned out to be the last kick of the game. You know, as an Eire Og man I hope that our team doesn’t have a repeat performance of this game because if so it could turn out to be much more costly the next day!!!!
Subs: Éire Óg 3-18 Valleymount 3-03Sunday 2nd April, Éire Óg GroundsAs our intermediates took to the field on Sunday morning there was an air of optimism following our fine victory the previous week. Although we were still missing a number of the panel due to suspensions, club and inter county commitments, we managed to show vallymount all of our skills and score taking in abundance. We started the game quite slowly and seemed to be snatching at our opportunities in front of goal and this was compounded by the fact that we managed to concede two very sloppy first half goals, when half time came the management were less than impressed and let the team know that if things didn’t improve drastically in the second half they would be spending the afternoon after the match training!!So just as the boys started the second half a third goal was conceded and the supporters seemed less than impressed, however this seemed to spur the team into action and everything they touched from then on turned to goals or points, we amassed a total of 3-18 to our opponents score of 3-03. This seemed to be a signal of intent and a message to the management that their strong words at half time had be taken on board. This was an excellent all round performance for approximately 40 minutes with breathtaking fielding at midfield, strong defending at the back and passing and score taking of the highest quality up front, this was a step up for our young team and a signal of the potential they possess but alas the is no potential without self belief. The goal scorers were John Barry, Conor Monaghan and Simon Barry.
Subs: Éire Óg 1-7 Carnew 0-7Saturday 25th March, Éire Óg GroundsOur intermediate team collected their first win of the year following their victory over Carnew on Saturday afternoon; our lads were due to travel to Carnew for the fixture however the venue was switched to Greystones at our opponent’s request. The game turned out to be a close physical encounter with the Eire Og lads emerging with the points by 1-7 to 0-7. The Greystones boys got off to a flier with a Eoin English shot partially blocked resulting in the effort looping over the helpless Carnew keeper.With the Eire Og lads winning the battle in midfield and Peggers keeping things tight at the back we were taking control, however despite our full forward line giving the Carnew fullback line a tough time in the first half, in the second they seemed to starved of the quick ball that all full forwards crave. Nevertheless our lads fitness and skill saw them see off Carnew by a three point margin, the standout performances for Greystones came from Paul Pegman, Paul Doherty, Johnny Barry and Declan Hogan. Scorers: Eoin English 1-0, Declan Hogan 0-2, Johnny Barry 0-2, Anto Byrne 0-1, Paul Doherty 0-1, Patrick Taylor 0-1.
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