AHL 5
Realt Dearg A 1-11 Ballinteer St. Johns 2-13 Sunday 26 March, Drimnagh Castle Second round of the AHL5 saw a hopeful Realt Dearg take on St Johns of Ballinteer at home in Drimnagh Castle last Sunday. With favourable hurling conditions following a string of the best days of 2017 so far, Realt Dearg came out hungry for the win after their first-round loss to Counsel Gaels. Ballinteer while also seeking better form after a close shave in their first outing with Skerries Harps. Unfortunately The Stars found themselves on the back foot facing into half time conceding two scrappy goals in the first half while being able to keep toe-to-toe with the points tally. The second half brought a better game with great battles all over the pitch as the Realt Dearg men began to find their rhythm. Some fantastic scores from the forwards, particularly Martin Murphy, Jamie O’Hara and Conor Maharaj displaying great bursts of skill and accuracy. Even our own Cathal Mulkere tried everything he could in his role as umpire. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as Ballinteer held out and won the game by 5 points, taking home the win. The scoreline in the end came to 2-13 to 1-11 with those two first half goals proving critical. Although it wasn’t the A’s day, the second half proved the stars are capable of play equal to that of the stronger sides from division 5. You can be sure manager Harry will leave no Stone unturned in preparation for April’s fixtures (sorry/not sorry). Onwards and Upwards for Realt Dearg as League 5 marches on. Panel – Mike Butler, Stephen O’Leary , Cathal Hester, Brian Gavin, Mike O'Connor, John Barry, Eoin O'Dwyer, Paul Warren(cpt), Matt Lynch, Thomas O’Mahony, Conor Maharaj, Dave Berney, Jamie O’Hara, Colm Gahan, Martin Murphy Subs – Robert Madden, Colm O’Gorman, Gary Hurney, Niall Mullane, John O’Callaghan, Mike Richardson, Podge Buckley
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Division 9
Commericals: W Realt Dearg C: L Final score TBC Sunday 26th March 2017 Star-spangled invaders fail to find Weapons of Mass Destruction 'Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will.' John McCain, Aug. 30, 2004 Coach McEvoy's stirring pre-match rabble-rousing reminded me of this long since forgotten speech at the beginning of a great invasion into enemy territory. Sure, the enemy may have been different, there wasn't an American amongst us (we miss you Zack) and our 'President' was a young greenhorn captain by the name of Donal. Such speeches can stir a man into a frenzy of hurling anticipation and in the way that when you have a hammer, all you see is nails; there was a similar desire to turn anything in view into a potential sliotar. However, the frenzy subsided when the search for an actual match sliotar took over a minute . And so to the actual main event. The pock-marked pitch was bathed in glorious sunshine and the fare on show in the opening minutes complemented the rare March glare as both sides started brightly. Young Davy Sheehan was keeping the scoreboard ticking over in the opening quarter and both sides were moving well in the unseasonal conditions. A minor tête-à-tête broke out between one of the senior Realt Dearg defensive stalwarts and a grisly Commercials unit. The referee took it upon himself to give all of the players on show some much needed respite by possibly reciting the whole rule book to each player sequentially before brandishing a yellow card to each. A true humanitarian. Commercials meant business and it was obvious that the match fitness they had under their belt would stand to them on a day like this. That 1st round bye that the Cs were given wasn't looking as good now as it was when we took advantage of the weekend off to help struggling publicans. That brings us to the Evergreen Paddy Ryan Snr. Experience personified. Nous. Guile. Paddy bestrode the middle of the park like a hurling icon your da' told you his da' told him about. At least, he bestrode the park in his head; they say that that the first five yards is in the head, and Paddy covered some middle distance Kenyan territory in that first quarter. He pulled the strings like a puppet master of old, spraying sliotars to the man in space time after time. In the heat of the battle, there wasn't time to search out Coach McEvoy's emotions, but surely he was a picture of calm, serenity and satisfaction in seeing the youth, experience and guile fusing together into a Division 9 dream team. All was going to plan. 22 minutes in. Beginners starting to hurl and hurler starting to flourish. One of the great imposters was surely to visit Coach McEvoy's day but one moment dictated that it would not be triumph. One of the Commercials men must have heard Coach McEvoy's call to arms and have acted late upon his emotions. Bash. Silence. Crumple. Picasso with an ash paintbrush was down. A head injury. It was a bit like Independence Day when Will Smith & Jeff Goldbloom injected a virus into the main computer and took out the whole battalion. And such it was. Gavin Deacon replaced the downed midfield General and battled manfully. His swordsmanship meant the team were holding tight to half time but the virus had taken control and the disaster took hold when a well placed goal from a Commercials man rattled the confidence of the visiting team in their maiden game. There were two acts in this game; before Paddy's injury (BPI) and after Paddy's injury (API). In the BPI; the Realt Dearg 'C-men' showed that they could go toe to toe with the best team in the division on their home turf. (turf is an appropriate description of the state of the pitch), debuts were enjoyed and partnerships were formed. In the API, the Iraqi war analogy came to fruition. Battles that were even at the beginning were lost and it ended up with a return home with plans to perform better invasions in the future and safe in the knowledge that we are now battle hardened. More debuts and re-debuts were made on Sunday then ever before in the club's history. Honourable mentions to the new lads who will have to be hazed in the usual ways; listening to Uncle Leon's tales of yore. 'When I was your age, I had hair' and so on. Well done to Keith Murphy, David 'Eraserhead' Lynch and Michael Gavin making their full debuts and to 'Bernard Herlihy and Michael Cummins making their re-debuts after an absence. P.S. an exotic creature was seen lurking on the sideline; the lesser seen hurler from Tyrone. Such rarities put the club's erstwhile far flung hurling experimenters from the continent and North America into the ha'penny place. The club expects big things. Team in Full: Kevin Deady, Patrick Ryan (Bernard Hurlihy), Ross Kelly, Leon Flanagan (Kevin McEvoy), Domhnall Carbery (captain), Eoin Ryan, Michael Gavin, Cillian Thornton, Paddy 'Pirlo' Ryan (Gavin Deacon), David Lynch, Ray Cahill, Keith Murphy, Gary ' Becks' Walsh (Michael Cummins), Dave Sheehan, James Brooks AHL 8
Realt Dearg B 3-16 St Peregrines 1 - 11 Sunday 26 March, Drimnagh Castle The Stars gained their first victory of the season for the club with a fine performance against Peregrines thanks in a large way to goals from Rory O'Loughlin (2) and John O’Callaghan. It was a glorious day weather wise with the pitch in great condition so early in the season. Every day is a school day and learning that Tom Keohoe is ‘T Bone’ in Mul’s pre match talk was news to me but such is the acclimatisation to a new team for your humble narrator. The game got off to a frantic start with early points traded by both teams. Your humble narrator was personally delighted to be able to contribute with my first competitive scores for the club, I dedicate them to all the corner backs out there – dream big. Half time came as a welcome relief from the heat. After a confusing reference to erectile dysfunction in the half time talk, the stars carried on where they left off with a goal from Rory after the goalie was chased down and pressured into a poor clearance. A few more scores were tagged on from all over the forward line and midfield in what was a very pleasing performance and win. Realt Dearg Abú. Team: Mike Butler, Gav O'Connell , Mushy, Billy Brazil, Mike Richardson, Ronan Moloney, Tom ‘T-Bone’ Keohoe, , Colm O Gorman, Mossy, Stephen Casey, Niall Mullane, James Kenny, Ultan Dillon, Rory O'Loughlin, John O’Callaghan Subs: Shane Murphy, Chubba, Droma, David Berney, Gergantor, Ciaran Brennan, Mark Dunphy |
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