SENIOR FOOTBALL SEMI FINAL Our dream of our Seniors reaching the County Senior Championship Final for the first time in Greystones' GAA history vanished “ into the air, into the thin air” of Aughrim on Sunday.
The team lost to St. Pats of Wicklow by 3 points 1-10 to 1-7 in the replay of the semi-final. It has to be reluctantly conceded that overall St. Pats were the better team “on the day” and quite deserving of their victory.
However Éire Óg put up a stern resistance and once again did the Éire Óg club and Greystones proud. Most of the neutrals put our defeat down to the greater guile and experience of the Wicklow town lads, who had been around the block a few times before. An opinion which was widely expressed as St. Pats gradually began to gain the upper hand in the second half was that whatever chance Éire Óg had of getting to the final had gone with the last minute equalising point in the first game. It would be hard to disagree with this judgement. In the drawn game it could be said that Éire Óg had put all its cards on the table and that the opposition's strategists were presented with an open book of the team's modus operandi.
With the advantage of the video they were able to target those areas where Éire Óg caused them the greatest difficulties and how best to counter them. Their homework obviously paid off. As a result Greystones were not afforded the opportunity to play with the exuberance of the first day so the game did not scale the footballing heights reached in that match. That is not to say, however, that we were not treated to a very enjoyable high tempo and sporting game which generated no little excitement.
Éire Óg started off very well and were 2 points up after a few minutes. The early promise faded and St. Pats came more and more into the game and but for some poor shooting, due in no small part to great defending, would have been ahead at the end of the first half. As it was we went into the break one point in front (1-3 to 0-5) thanks to a beautiful trademark goal from Sam Thompson.
One would not be far wrong in saying that just as in the Kilkenny/Tipperary replay the game was won and lost in the third quarter. In that period Pats upped their game with the result that Éire Óg's play became somewhat fractured and there was a visible falling off in their challenge, yet we were only a point behind on 45 minutes (0-8 to 1-04). St. Pats' goal shortly after than more or less decided the issue. To their credit our lads fought to the end but failed to make inroads into the St. Pats' lead and the game finished 1-10 to 1-7.
In conclusion one could do no better than quote Colm Dorgan's Facebook communication 'Well done to all the panel and backroom team on another great year. Only they will know the time and effort that went into this campaign since the dark December and January evenings up to the early mornings last week. Huge progress made'.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir for the enjoyment you gave us and for the honour you brought to the club by your sportsmanship and the quality of your football.
U12 FOOTBALL : In an interview in last week's Bray People U-12 mentor Peter O'Neill spoke of his disappointment at the set-up for the U-12 Blitz in Ballinakill. These complaints were reiterated to the notes by fellow mentor Maurice Prendergast who pointed out that there was nothing of sour grapes in them as they had been made before the games started. Pitches not marked and no nets!! As to the remark of the official that Éire Óg is always complaining about something or other one has to point out that we in Éire Óg have the good of the GAA at heart and are working very hard to promote it in an area where historically it does not have a great standing and that we attempt to be constructive in our criticism. As to the off-hand comment of some other official about the competition being taken too seriously one can say, knowing our mentors, that their attitude is not a win at all costs one and while they like to see their charges doing well their primary emphasis is on their enjoying playing the game.
Comhgáirdeachas: Listening to the radio at the weekend one's attention was caught by a congratulatory request for Derek Swan on the birth of his son. Derek who now lives in Singapore was a member of the club before he moved to China where he was very involved in promoting Gaelic games. He has not forgotten his roots (his wife is Chinese),they have named their son Kilian. Ár ndea-ghuíonna do'n chlann go léir.
