Football &
Hurling

Éire Óg Greystones
GAA Club

 Ladies &
Mens

Weekly Notes - 28th September 2005

U-16 Football

Disappointed! Who would not be after losing in a county semi-final by one point. Some have said naiveté was our downfall. This naiveté about which they speak is essentially a synonym for honest football, i.e devoid of tactical fouling, diving, playing on referees’ weaknesses etc. It is sad to even conceive that such devices would be contemplated, let alone employed, by 16 year olds. Unfortunately, in this age of cynicism and the win-at-all-costs mentality, some teams do resort to them. Referees are not always aware of this and mistakenly referee underage matches more benignly than those of adults. Further, being less acquainted with the personnel on juvenile teams they do not immediately realise when key players are being targeted. Knowing the management of this U-16 team – Ray Barry, Fergus O’Brien and Alan Keating – it can be conjectured that this so-called naiveté is an affirmation of the philosophy which they would desire to engender in the team, viz. "We could not love thee Éire Óg so much, loved we not honour more"

Pride was the other sentiment experienced by the ÉÓG camp on the night. They had just seen our boys in a hard, sporting contest, giving of their best and fighting back from a 5 point deficit to draw level with just a few minutes to go. Then with time running out St Joseph’s – managed by Kevin O’Brien, one of the best footballers to grace the fields of Wicklow – scored a point to take the lead. Alas, no time for recovery and defeat was our lot. In the meeting between these teams two years ago in the U-14 county final, the margin of our defeat was 7 points.

Captain Rodney Carroll led a delegation to the winners’ dressing room to congratulate them and to wish them all the best in the county final. The positive attitude of the management to this defeat is aptly summarised in the account of the match on the club’s website: www.greystonesgaa.com/juveniles/boysfootballu16.html

"The disappointment in the Greystones dressing room was palpable. This had been an electric game loaded with tension. The learning curve of coping with pressure for these young men was immense. Experiences such as this will stand to them later in life and it is doubtful that in their bright sporting futures in all sports if they will recapture the emotion of this night. The whole squad has been a marvellously disciplined, united and spirited group. It was a huge panel and the players in reserve have been very patient but they played their part in the development of the team. The younger players learned a lot that will stand to them at this level next year."

Minor Football

Unfortunately our minors were also beaten at the semi-final stage of their championship on Saturday night by a far more battle-hardened Bray Emmets. Again a defeat in which there was nothing of shame; it was just a matter of losing to a better team. From the club’s point of view it was wonderful to see a team at this age-level progressing to this stage of the championship. It is not many years since the club could not field realistically at this level– teams were in the nature of a "gather-up"! Congrats to Paul Hayden and Tomás Vickers and a sincere "go raibh maith agaibh" to all our underage mentors.

The turnout of ÉÓG supporters at both venues was truly heartening.

N.B: Our U-12 footballers take on St Kevin’s in the county final at 3.00 pm on Saturday in Arklow. Bí ann gan teip. You are guaranteed a feast of good football!