Football &
Hurling

Éire Óg Greystones
GAA Club

 Ladies &
Mens

Weekly Notes - 21th September 2005

U-16 Hurling

The U-16 hurlers defeated St Pat’s during the week in the All-County League. An outcome it would have been difficult to envisage a few short years ago. The Éire Óg Greystones lads found it difficult initially to cope with the bustling style of the opposition and even by halftime had not fully come to terms with it – evidenced in the interval scoreline: St Pat’s 1-4 ÉÓG 0-5. There was much more steel in the Greystones lads’ play after the break and they soon had Pats on the back foot. ÉÓG triumphed, but not as comfortably as the final scoreline of 2-11 to 1-8 might suggest.

Michael Walsh, press-ganged into customised duties, had an excellent game. Fintan Donnelly, Daniel O’Connor and Keith Nolan were the pick of a solid back division and Phelim Byrne and Paul Sutton gained the upper hand at centre-field in the last quarter when it counted most. Conor Grennan, Martin Joyce, Daniel Salmon and Stephen O’Neill were others deserving of special mention. This win, after what was the team’s last best performance to date, afforded some consolation to a downcast Galway man – Gerry Walsh – who was assisting team manager Colm Gaskin on the night.

Minor Football

The minor footballers have finally secured a place in the county semi-final after defeating St Kevin’s in Hollywood on Monday night in what was a purely "going through the motions" game: St Kevin’s had previously conceded the game but the county board insisted on the match being played. ÉÓG had no option but to play as they had been informed that they would lose the two points if they did not travel. The consequence of this would have been a replay against Newtown – not an altogether inviting prospect. The proceedings which followed their arrival in Hollywood would certainly not merit the title "match" and could in no way justify the time and financial inputs of the Greystones party. Ba chur amú ama agus airgid é.

Intermediate League

It would be difficult to adequately describe the bitter-sweet feeling of release which one felt at the sounding of the final whistle in our league match against Ashford on Saturday night. For the duration of the game it was score for score with never more than two points between the teams. This made for almost intolerable stress levels among spectators which often found release in colourful utterances. The fheet-fheet which sounded the end of "hostilities" – metaphorically of course for while exchanges were at all times intense they seldom crossed the boundaries of good sportsmanship – was a balm to an anxiety-burdened Éire Óg following. A draw was probably the most equitable of outcomes but for the ÉÓG supporters it was a little disappointing as for long periods, from their "unbiased" perspective, a win looked to be on the cards. Yet it was a satisfactory outcome when viewed in light of the previous meeting of the teams in the championship. The game illustrated the rich panoply of skills contained in treasury of Gaelic football, especially evident in the play of Darren Hayden and Craig Smullen. We also had some excellent free-taking from Johnny Barry. Paul Pegman at full-back did an excellent job policing the ever dangerous Wayne O’Gorman. At opposite ends of the field the determined play of Anto Byrne and Alan "Ja" Keating was spirit raising. Alan’s persistence – "e’en though vanquished he could hustle still" – never allowed his opposite number the luxury of a decent shot at goal.