PEIL The replay of the senior football semi-final between Éire Óg and St. Pat’s has been fixed for next Sunday at 3.15pm in Aughrim. There is little doubt but the encouragement of supporters inspires players to put in that extra ounce of effort and hence is often described as the 16th man. We would urge you then, if you can at all, to come to Aughrim on Sunday and lend your vocal support to the Éire Óg cause.
In the 50s and 60s notices for GAA matches carried the slogan “Muna mbeidh tú ann beidh tú mí-shásta”; today’s equivalent being “nothing beats being there”. This can be truly said to have been applicable to the drawn game, which was a cracker. The match was described in his report by Peter Keogh as “the match of the year in any grade and it kept the attendance on its toes for the full hour”. The West Wicklow scribe added that the players from both teams were fully worthy of the round of applause they received at the final whistle. He also complimented Éire Óg on the brand of football they played.
If the quality of Sunday’s encounter approaches that of the first, it will certainly deliver value for money (there was some grumbling among the public at the entrance fee the last day).
The scenario for the replay is greatly changed from that of the drawn game. Éire Óg no longer enjoy the element of surprise which was there in the first encounter, their potential has been exposed and St. Pat’s now have the advantage of being able to design a strategy to more effectively counter the Éire Óg style of play. On the other hand, our lads will have gained a degree of confidence from the previous contest and know that at their best, and it must be their very best, they are capable of coming away with a win. Unfortunately, this self-confidence may have been attenuated somewhat on Saturday night by the team’s defeat by Annacurra in the league. While many factors contributed to their losing the game, some of the spectators felt that it was largely self-contrived. This loss has an important consequence in that it has severely dented, if not totally extinguished, the team’s hope of promotion.
We are looking forward to another very sporting game this Sunday, rich in its football and positive in its play. Guímid gach rath ar an bhfoireannand may the team win with style. (The scores from the drawn game can be seen on youtube by searching for: Éire Óg vs St. Pat’s, Sunday 14 September 2014.)
WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT A festival of hurling and football, centred on an attempt to break the world record in soloing, was hosted by Éire Óg on Saturday. It turned out to be an excellent, fun-filled day with a large turnout of children, parents and the merely inquisitive.
The world record attempt was supervised by Billy Cuddihy, James Leonard, Eddie Davis, Stephen ‘Chester’ Kelly, the Walsh brothers, the ‘Pooch’ Cranley and many more of the adult players. The smooth-running of the activities added greatly to the enjoyment of participants and supporters and thanks for the excellent coordination of the event must go to Niamh Kelly, Paula Cuddihy, Peter Keane and Daniel ‘Doc’ O’Connor. After putting in a seven-hour stint, the players had just time to grab a bit of grub and tog out for the league game against Annacurra! Committee members Mark Barry, Gerry Walsh, Brendan Cuddihy and Kevin Healy were very much involved in organising the occasion.
The day came to a close with a fancy-dress football match – involving mainly underage coaches – which ended in the inevitable draw.
JUNIOR A FOOTBALL When looking at one’s e-mails on Wednesday, one rubbed one’s eyes in disbelief; an emaciated e-mail from John Wynne on the Junior A’s match against neighbours Kilcoole in the Division 3 league on the previous Monday night. John spoke of an exciting, closely-fought game and waxed lyrical about his charges’ display. Among the backs, he complimented in particular Peter Keane at full-back and Michael Walsh at centre-back and described Andrew Walsh and Pearse Kelly as having dominated in the centre of the field. In the forwards, Niall Deeney and James Cranley were prolific in their scoring and Seán Lawless caused the opposition full-back line no end of problems. Captain Eoin O’Neill led by example while others to play a part on the night were Eoin English (goals), Brian Gubbins, Liam Maguire, Anto Byrne Jr., Danny Nolan, Jamie McDonald and Paul Doherty. Subs: Eoin Kiernan, Seán Hughes, Kenny Naughton and Dermot Blake.
U-12 FOOTBALL Monday 8th we travelled by coach to Blessington for our last away u-12 league match, a treat for all the players and a rest for the mentors. The joyous enthusiasm of the bus journey transferred to the field and both teams played excellent attacking football to come away with a convincing aggregate win. Star players on the night were Luke Dorgan, Christopher Lanagan, Shay O’Keefe, Joseph Prendergast, Eoin O’Neill, Neil Brown and Freddi Happonen. Team 1: Seán O’Neill, Neil Burke, Freddi Happonen, Rory Barry, Daniel Healy, Patrick O’Connell, Eoin O’Neill, Thade Shanahan, Cillian Keane, Josh Rush, Colm Shortt, Emmet Gulliver, Seán MacGraynor. Team 2: Ben Hogan, Neil Brown, Aaron Bailey, Shay O’Keefe, Conor O’Donovan, Dean Hynes, Joseph Prendergast, Chris Lanagan, Jacob Browner, Darragh Rush, Frankie Kavanagh, Luke Dorgan.
