|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Weekly Notes - 12th October 2005A casual visitor to our grounds on any night or weekend during the summer could not but have been impressed by the multiplicity of activities on view: a game, depending on the occasion, in juvenile hurling and football, junior or intermediate football or ladies football being played while large numbers were training simultaneously on the adjoining grounds. Such activity does not occur spontaneously but is the product of the dedication and commitment of a large number of selfless mentors to whom the club owes an inestimable debt.For the committed Éire Óg supporter, Saturday afternoon - with the u-12 hurlers scheduled to play Glenealy in Ashford at 3.30pm and the Intermediate footballers at home to Kilbride at 4.00pm - was going to be a day which would have to be time-managed with Mission Impossible precision if one was to maximise one’s spectating enjoyment. Ach ní bhíonn go minic mar a síltear ( things often don’t turn out as anticipated) and the mad rush back to Greystones proved to be totally unnecessary as the Intermediate game did not commence until after 5pm.; the fault did not lie at the door of either team. The disruption in schedule, while testing the patience of some, allowed the ‘flying squad’ from Ashford to view in full a game which was well worth seeing. First to sunny Ashford where the endeavours of the u-12 hurlers from Greystones and Glenealy combined with the sun’s beneficence to make for a very pleasant sporting occasion. Éire Óg won and thereby booked their place in the County final in which their opponents will be Bray Emmets – an outfit with an intimidatingly formidable reputation. But, nil desperandum, and one is sure that the confidence generated by this victory will stand our lads in good stead and that they will not flinch before the challenge. The game was played in an ambience of exemplary sportsmanship and the Glenealy manager, Andrew Fitzgerald was exceptionally gracious in defeat. He congratulated the Éire Óg boys on their performance and wished them all the best in the final. (In his time Andrew played for Greystones and married a Killincarrig girl). A good hurler is like a musician in that he effects the most complicated manoeuvres with deceptive ease. One knows, however, that such dexterity is the product of innate skill and hours of practice. On Saturday, therefore, one marvelled at the skill levels displayed by players on both teams. Long clean striking under pressure, soloing, point and goal scoring, excellent goalkeeping etc. For Éire Óg there was a number of players who could be considered for the accolade of ‘Man of the Match’, but for his consistency, determination and near invincibility Shane Nolan at centre-back shades it for this honour. Karl Devin, centre-field, played a huge part in this victory while Andrew Walsh, the other mid-fielder gave a great second-half performance. Darren Gammell lorded it around the square and Justin O’Brien delivered beautiful ball to the inside forwards. Kevin Byrne at corner forward helped himself to two majors.
The team: A last minute change had been made in the time of the throw-in for the intermediate game – it had been brought forward to 4.30pm but Kilbride had not been informed and they were forced to hang around patiently for an hour. We, of course, sympathised with them but this fellow-feeling did not carry over into the playing field and we beat them by 3 points in a game which maintained competitiveness to the final will-he-ever-blow-it whistle. Indeed a last minute Kilbride attack ended with the ball hitting the side netting when it appeared that a goal was there for the taking. Such was the excitement of the last quarter that no one thought of leaving to watch the happenings in Cyprus. Paul Pegman did a wonderful job in curbing his opposite number, a player of great skill speed and accuracy who had the potential to deliver victory to Kilbride. Stephen ‘Chester’ Kelly at centre-back and Craig Smullen (his brother James bore the same No.7 in the u-12 match – superstitious ?) were inspirational. Stephen was dismissed on a 2nd yellow mid-way through the second half when we were just a point in front. The circumstances of his dismissal proved to be a goad for our team and thereafter they played with a "we’re not going to be bested" determination. In a perfectly fair man to man encounter, Stephen received an injury in the area of his eye – the genuiness of which was attested to by an extensive post-match purple coloured swelling – and his attempt to bring it to the notice of the referee was misinterpreted and was taken as a comment on the refs visual ability. Amen. James Leonard’s fielding was immaculate and a joy to watch. Declan O’Mahony and Darren Hayden were a constant threat to the Kilbride goal and Johnnie Barry displayed patches of his old form with some nice point taking. We extend our beannachtaí to Niamh Sherlock who is off to Australia. Go n-eirí go geal leí in her peregrinations in the antipodes. Anne Barry has volunteered to act as a collector of Tesco sports tokens. If you are willing to donate yours to the club, any member will be delighted to pass them on. |
||||||||||||||||
