Barrett Cup Quarter Final August 19th
The Rock 1-9 St. Pats 1-7
Our two ‘Dogs’ let their football do the ‘Barking’ with fine performances by ‘Jack Russell’ David Courtney and ‘Bull-Dog’ Seanie Power. A match which saw 6 yellow cards and 1 (harsh) Red card, tells its’ own story! A mixture of youth and experience with every man rowing in behind the man in front of him. 28 players togged out for this quarter final of the ‘Barrett Cup’ v St. Pats’ of Blennerville and everyone of the 28 had a part to play. Four more panel members were unable to tog out due to injury, a very dedicated bunch of lads who are training religiously over a number of months.
The team lined out as follows;- Shane Begley, gave a very solid performance in goals, making several clearances off the line and some quick thinking kick outs to boot. Full-back line was Stephen Kelly, Brian Kearney and ‘our own’ Paul Galvin, half-backs Seanie ‘bull-dog’ Power, Anthony ‘Razzle-Dazzle’ Shanahan and Liam Walsh, mid-field were Ciaran O’Connell and Shane ‘Rocky’ Crowley, half forwards Frankie Murphy, Alan ‘Fancy’ Duggan and Theo Diggin, full-forward line was David ‘Jack Russell’ McLaughlin for Steve Kelly on 27minutes, Paul McGannon on 36th minute for Theo Diggin, Fergal ‘Oscar’ Kirby in 48th minute for Frankie Murphy and 53rd minute Dave Varley came in for the injured Anthony Shanahan. Other ‘stars’ on bench were Richie ‘Gold-Dust’ Conway, Moss Kelter, Kevin ‘Ween’ O’Carroll, Stephen Walsh, Tom Healy, Ross ‘Drac’ Long, David Walsh, Blaine Long and Boris ‘The Blade’ Ivanov.
Game commenced at 7.15pm and after a scrappy few minutes Pats opened the scoring with a point from play after 5 minutes, we were dominating possession but alas not converting possession into scores. It took until the 11th minute for our opening score, with Shane Crowley gathering the ball at mid-field he advanced swiftly toward the Pats goal, a beautiful played 1-2 with Martin Courtney produced a lovely point from Shane’s boot from a tight angel 23 yards out. We were doing ok but, in the 13th minute we seemed to freeze and presented St. Pats with a very soft goal when it would have been easier to clear the lines, slack marking and confused signals cost us. Two minutes later and the first of 3 fine points kicked by ‘Sharp-Shooter’ Courtney from 35 yards. The 14th and 18th minute saw two more points from play by St Pats. The 20th minute saw a lovely move with great team work between Martin Courtney, Frankie and final pass to David Courtney, who pointed superbly. This was followed by 2 more points from play by Pats in the 22nd and 27th minutes, leaving it 1-05 to 3points. Being 5 points down wasn’t a true reflection on the play through-out the half, we finished on a high note with Martin Courtney finding his brother David with a fine kick pass, David with a ‘touch of class’ took on a few defenders, left them for dead and calmly slotted into the net for a superb goal. This brought the half-time score to Pats 1-05 The Rock 1-03 and all to play for in the 2nd half. 4 bookings in this half, and if truth be told should have been twice that, it was a dirty half, with a lot of off the ball stuff and indeed punches and kicks in front of what was a very very poor ref, who choose to turn a blind eye. We gave as good as we got and it was great to see players in trouble being backed up by their team-mates.
A stern word or 2 could be heard below in Denny Street above the music of the festival, with Seanie and our ‘Quite’ Kevin in full flow, added to the mix the wise words of Don Shanahan. This advice was taken on board well by all in the dressing room, along with the ‘Jaffas’ and bananas’. There was a look of hunger and passion on the faces of our troops as they advanced on the pitch to commence the 2nd half. From the get-go we were on the ball, with Alan Duggan finding Martin Courtney in the 1st minute of the half for another fine point from play. We were in control at this stage and a few minutes later we were level thanks to the boot of Pat Costelloe. Pretty Boy is well named when you could have seen him later on in the night when he was dickied up to the hilt for the ‘Rose Ball’, needless to say, hearts were broken, AGAIN! A minute later Pats were in front again with a point from play, Paul ‘legs’ McGannon came in at this stage for Theo and Paul was involved immediately. 42nd minute saw Pats point again from play, what proved to be their final score. The game was increasingly dirty, with tit-for-that goings on during the half. We were dominating possession and in the 43rd minute Paul McGannon won a Pats Kick out, he spotted Seanie who picked David Courtney with pin point accuracy, David superbly put between the posts to bring his tally to 1-02 for the game, a pass from 1 dog to another such was the tenacity and fight from both through-out the match.
A minute later, we were level for the last time with Martin ‘sure shoot’ on target again, 1-07 a piece. A couple of minutes later and the two Courtneys combined before finding Ciaran O’Connell who kicked a sublime point to put us in front. There was a lot of scuffles at this stage and a lot of breaks in the play. The 50th minute saw Oscar Kirby come into the attack to add more ‘strength and experience’ for Frankie Murphy, who had given his all. Ciaran made a great run and picked up the ball again and headed for goals, taking aim he polished it off lovely. A tense 8 minutes followed, 2 points up and suddenly a man down, when Shane ‘Rocky’ Crowley saw red for a clean and good challenge, 2nd bookable offence according to the Ref. I for 1 must have been watching a different match. Shane the gentleman that he is, didn’t argue and walked off the pitch without protesting. It was all shoulders to the wheel from here in, with all 14 players on the pitch pulling together and helping each other. Seanie Power came into his own in the 2nd half and put his head in where most wouldn’t put a boot, superbly picking up practically every breaking ball that side of the field. He did pay the price, having a tooth damaged, but alas Kevin reassured him his ‘good looks’ were still intact! We withstood the presure and lost our very steady centre-back Anthony ‘Razzle Dazzle’ Shanahan when he was blatantly taken out of it for a third time, this time we had to bring in David Varley who tuned in straight away, we survived for a deserved win and truth be told we should have won easier with all the possession. Entertaining to say the least with some marvellous performances both on and off the pitch. Special thanks to Darragh Healy and Fergal Maunsell for doing umpires for us. Also thanks to John Tobin and Wayne for the use of jerseys. Thanks to all our wonderful supporters which really helped, thanks to score board Joe, Denis O’Connor and Noel O’Connell for having the field in great order and not least thanks to Ian and staff for the grub after the match, much appreciated.
Our goalie Shane Begley was very solid along with good displays by Paul Galvin, Brian Kearney, Seanie Power and Liam Walsh in defence, centre-field were solid while in attack both Courtneys and Pat Costelloe all done a job, overall a good display with room still for improvement onward and upwards please god. Training resumes Wednesday @ 7pm- Looking forward to seeing who we draw in semi-final, Bring em on I say, t’is ours for the taking, The Rock name will be back on ‘The Barrett’ cup where it belongs.
The Rock Team V St. Pats August 19th, 2011.
David Courntey in complete Control.
Pat ‘Pretty Boy’ Costelloe makes his way to the ‘Ball’
Shane ‘Rocky’ Crowley