SENIOR FOOTBALL On Sunday in Aughrim Éire Óg came tantalisingly close to bringing off one of the football shocks of the year in the semi-final of the Wicklow Senior Championship in which their opponents were St Patricks of Wicklow. The Greystones lads were rated as 'no hopers' by the cognoscenti. This must have been used by the management as a motivating factor as from the throw-in they took the game with vigour to their opponents and apart from the first 3 minutes led throughout the 1st half. At the interval the score was 0-7 to 0-5 in Éíre Óg's favour. On the resumption the initiative swung St Pats way and after 8 minutes they were 2 points to the good and the pessimists among us feared that the prophets of our doom had got it right. But then a touch of footballing elegance finished by Sam Thompson brought the Greystones followers to their feet in joyous applause and propelled us into a 1 point lead. Éire Óg built on this lead and despite St Pats scoring an excellently worked goal shortly afterwards were still 2 points in front on the 45 minute mark. A few minutes later a ball was lobbed with excellent precision into the St Pats square and as it fell a forest of hands rose in its direction. Happily it was a Greystones fist which made contact and guided it into the net. The followers of both sides looked with disbelief at the scoreboard, Éire Óg 2-10 St Pats 1-8, with only 12 minutes remaining. Unfortunately the game turned in St Pats favour thereafter and they were only a point behind on the 56th minute. The equaliser came on the stroke of normal time.
There was a clash of colours for the match so the toss of a coin was necessary to decide the jerseys to be worn. St Pats wore a white strip while Éire Óg wore a dark blue. The Éire Óg outfit was eye-catching and accentuated the athleticism of the players. Appearances did not deceive and our lads treated us to a really excellent show of football and exciting athletic movement. This was epitomised in the play of Darren Hayden who time and again by fleetness of foot and balletic weave worked his way from deep in defence to positions of forward threat. Two of his forays produced scores of beauty.
The team functioned well as a unit with passes by foot and by hand for the most part reaching their intended target and the players generally did well with respect to the breaking ball. Everyone of the 20 players used in the match made his important contribution to this thoroughly exciting and sporting contest and one feels somewhat uncomfortable in singling out anyone for particular mention. However one recalls with pleasure the display of defensive skills by Karl Manahan and his spirit-raising excursions out of defence and the wonderful one-handed diving save by Justin O'Brien of a ball destined for the back of the net. Darren Quigley brought off some excellent saves and almost invariably found one of his colleagues with his clearance.
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It was a weary – many of them had played football against An Tochar on Friday night and were also involved with soccer on Saturday morning – but eager group of boys who travelled
to Arklow on Saturday afternoon to play the hosts Arklow Rocks at Emoclew Road. in
conditions which were perfect for football. With the breeze at our backs in the first half, we matched Arklow throughout and went in at the break just a point down. On resumption, we continued to battle hard with each player really putting in a huge effort. However, a combination of the breeze and a strong Arklow performance saw the hosts win out by 6 points. Well done to all the lads and to Arklow Rocks and referee Liam Keenan for contributing to a great, competitive game. Our squad on the day was Oisín Shanahan, Sean McCormack, Stephen Salmon,
Colm Shortt, Neil Browne (unquestionably man of the match), Neil Burke, Cillian Keane, Thade Shanahan, Luke Dorgan, Joe Prendergast, Daniel Healy, Emmet Gulliver, Glen Halligan, Tommy Harris O' Brien.
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Our Under 14 hurlers playing under the title of Cill Chomhall Gaels (a combination of players from Kilcoole, Eire Og and Newtown) had their first Championship outing on Friday night last v Avondale in Ballinakill. Their performances in the League has them playing at the A level in the competition. This good form form continued on Friday and they ran out winners on a scoreline of 4-09 to 3-06. It was a top quality contest between two very committed and talented teams and the result was in doubt right until the last few minutes as dusk descended on the scenic grounds. With 7 minutes to go the teams were on level terms but the Gaels finished very strongly scoring 1-3 while holding the opposition scoreless. . Well done also to a very gallant and talented Avondale team and to referee Eugene Doherty. The Éire Óg players in the team were Shane Ryan, Niall
Sheehy, Drew Campbell, Denis Burke, Shaun Cranley, Eoin Dorgan, Glen
Ryder and Brendan Cleary.
Comhgáirdeachas to Eoin English who recently quietly joined the married ranks. His bride is from South Korea and all in Éire Óg extend gach dea-ghuí do Eoin agus a bhean. Rath Dé orthu beirt agus gurab fada buan iad le chéile.
