So, six defeats in a row, bottom of the table and the top side in the county coming to visit. Hopes of survival had all but gone as we faced an unbeaten and practically full-strength Gaels side on a lovely Summer evening in O’Raghaillaigh Park. However, in the performance of the season, the lads put in a powerful show and gained a thoroughly deserved victory. All of a sudden, there was hope. Injuries clearing up, pitches drying out, confidence beginning to return; in the movie version of the season, this would have been the game that kick-started the unlikely survival.
Alas, this is not Hollywood, and while the form from here on in was as impressive as anything in the county the damage was already done. With everyone on a high after the Gaels result, we could have done with a quick return to action. Instead we had to wait over two weeks before we faced a trek to Gowna. In another battling performance, a late goal appeared to have ensured another unlikely victory, however, as I already said this is not Hollywood, and a late, late Dermot McCabe goal meant a heart-breaking defeat.
In our last outing before the championship, we entertained Castlerahan at home. Again, the standard of performance was back to where it should have been but some wayward shooting consigned us to another defeat. Looking back, it’s these loses to Gowna and Castlerahan that really sealed our fate. Yes, there were other narrow defeats, but in truth all the other defeats were deserved, in these two, victory was for the taking, but a combination of bad shooting and bad luck were to deny us, and the consequences were to be severe.
Cheer up though, the championship was just around the corner. The championship would epitomise the Stars season with two tight encounters; Sublime to ridiculous; devastating to debilitating, Match reports have already gone through the games, so in a nutshell: First up Cuchullains, control the first half, disappear for the second; lucky to get a draw. Replay – anonymous in the first half; sparkling in the second half; win going away.. Next up, Mullahoran. First half, phenomenal; second half AWOL except for a spirited injury-time fight back for draw. Replay – goal conceded early and despite gallant attempts to claw back the deficit, just couldn’t bridge the gap. What might have been, but Senior status retained.
Back to the The Great Escape. With Bates, Dillon and Cunningham frantically digging that tunnel as we seek to somehow reach the surface somewhere beyond Lacken or Ballyhaise, all focus returned to the final three league matches. The formula was simple. Win all three and we’d find ourselves cycling across the Spanish border with James Coburn. Anything less, and we would more than likely end up trapped alongside Steve McQueen in a heap of barbed wire on the Swiss border (surely with Xmas just over and that film having been on any amount of times, ye all understood that).
Next week, the final matches, and we can then consign 2007 to history!
