Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 8th March 2006

Sunday sees the opening rounds of the Intermediate League – Éire Óg Greystones are at home to Dunlavin. The match is scheduled for the unearthly (for Dunlavin that is!) hour of 11am; a later time might be more appropriate for games involving teams from different ends of the county.

Is it only an impression or is the season beginning particularly early this year? Last year with a later start there were protracted hiatuses in the Éire Óg Intermediate schedule. The blame for this cannot all be laid at the feet of the Coiste Chontae for, as we were informed at the convention, clubs were bordering on the impossible in their demands for game-free periods and for postponements during 2005. With this earlier start there will be a potential for even longer periods of idleness this year ach táimid ag súil that with the hindsight of 2005 these problems will be largely absent in 2006 and that inter-county commitments will not unduly upset the timetable so that there will not be enthusiasm-sapping gaps during the season.

Questions that may be legitimately posed and that we seldom even touched on in sports programmes are: what is sport and what purpose does it serve? Is what appears on television to the point of saturation sport or just a vehicle for generating large amounts of money by providing an entertaining way of ‘passing’ precious time? Can the person whose only contact with sport is through television – as the French would have it le sportif en pantoufles – be described as a sportsman? For me the unheralded happenings throughout the summer in the Éire Óg Greystones grounds and other like sporting venues epitomises what sport is about. Here we have players representative of their communities displaying the fruits of their dedication and commitment. Sated with television highlights and often less than honest superlative-ridden descriptions of high-profile games you may have a dismissive attitude to their efforts but be prepared to be surprised for on the field of play you will see wholehearted engagement, lovely ball-skills, athleticism, beautiful angled runs, intelligent (and sometimes not so intelligent) off-loading (the word passing does not have the same ring to it) and exciting fielding. Add to this the sideline banter and you have the ingredients for an entertaining couple of hours. Bíodh ann Dé Domhnaigh, beidh fáilte romhat. Your support would certainly be appreciated.

Tosach maith leath na hoibre (well begun is half done). At the weekend our ladies travelled to Donard to play the locals in the first round of the junior league and came away triumphant: 4-9 to 1-4. The scoreline might suggest an easy passage for our ladies but this was far from being the case. Indeed, but for an outstanding performance from Caoilfhionn Deeney, who registered a personal tally of 2-5, things might have been otherwise. The mettle of the Éire Óg girls was fully tested by an uncompromising Donard in what was a tough physical contest and they were not found wanting.

While the back division functioned extremely well and repulsed waves of attacks the performances of Maria O’Neill, Jade Coffey, Míde Ní Shúilleabháin and particularly Jenny Groome were especially noteworthy. Lorna Fusciardi was excellent in midfield. The forwards found it hard to make headway against the close-marking Donard backs.

In the absence of regular custodian Ruth McIlroy Eleanor Kelly sportingly agreed to take her place. She swapped positions with forward Caroline Cawley – who incidentally was unfortunate not the have saved the penalty – at half time.