Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 25th July 2007

Sunday. Two disappointments followed rapidly on each other. The news from Arklow of the minor hurlers' defeat in the final of the county championship had scarcely reached Newtown when it was time for our ladies to take the field against An Tóchar in the Junior A championship final. After a dreadful first half the team's form underwent a near miraculous transformation and the ladies were extremely unfortunate to lose by two points.

Intermediate Football

The words "banana skin kept welling up into one's consciousness on the way to Arklow on Tuesday evening for the Intermediate championship match vs. Ballymanus. Were these the mere forebodings of a pessimistic mind or were they grounded in an objective assessment? What matter. We unfortunately slipped on that particular one and our hopes of reaching the play-off stages teeter on the brink. A dilemma much of our own making.

A shower local to Arklow and lasting well into the second-half made for difficult underfoot conditions and a near frictionless ball. A night for the long well-aimed delivery, a "put them under pressure" night, definitely not a night for fancy football. Yet Éire Óg persisted in aiming at the spectacular and in short passing movements with the effect that players in possession or near mid-field at times found themselves faced with 30m of Ballymanus occupied territory. The breaking ball, where was our strategy? Frustratingly very few went our way.

The first-half carried some promise, we were competing quite well and when at the end of a spectacular run Darren Hayden sent a powerful shot to the net we began to hope. However disappointingly this goal failed to inspire Éire Óg and exchanges remained at nip and tuck. Paul Doherty's inclusion after the interval added some cut and thrust to the team's effort. He heralded his arrival with two quick and inspirational long range points. A far from satisfactory team performance with only Stephen Kelly, Paul Doherty, Anto Byrne and Darren Hayden playing to anything near their true form, yet we seemed to be getting away with it. A minute to go, two points in front, the ball deep in Ballymanus territory, play it cool time, foolish indiscretion in their half of the field. A Ballymanus free which finds a man in advantageous possession, a goal. Amen. A Ballymanus point followed in added time. Not that we did not have chances to equalise thereafter. How often have such indiscretions been our undoing!

Minor Football

Our minor footballers had a good start to their campaign with a victory over Luke O'Toole's (2-11 to 1-9) in Tinahely. However, acutely conscious that "one swallow does not make a summer" they are not allowing themselves to be deluded about the difficulty of the task ahead. Their game against Baltinglass this Wednesday (tonight) and that against Bray Emmetts on Friday will be important measures of their position in the pecking order. The conditions during the game were atrocious and both sides are to be credited for the standard of the football. Considering that it was Éire Óg's first outing in the competition and that there were noticeable absentees from the panel the mentors had to be pleased with our lads' efforts. However the manner in which they ran out of steam towards the middle of the second half was worrying. Was it a fitness thing? Whatever, they were struggling to get the ball out of their own area towards game's end. The full-back line of Adam O'Shea, James Kelly and Seán Horan were the cornerstone of this victory. Ronán Hannaway (capt.) and Adam Merriman held the balance about midfield. Lorcan Traynor made some crucial saves and Andrew Keeley, back at his best, notched two goals. Gavin McGee also played well.