Saturday July 31st

Mens JFC	Celts	2-11	St Brendans	3-10
Mens IFC	Young Irelanders	2-12	Ulster	1-23
Mens JFC	Sons of Boru	3-10	Sarsfields	0-4
Mens SFC	Sarsfields	2-7	Ulster	6-15

St Brendans Hang In There
Mens' Junior Football Championship
St Brendans 3-10, Celts 2-11

In a tightly fought contest for the opening game at Balboa Park on Saturday afternoon, the Celts came perilously close to toppling St Brendans. With never more than a few scores of difference between the two sides, St Brendans fought back to get some crucial scores just in time to save the game for the East Bay side.

Young Irelanders on the Reciving End
Mens' Intermediate Football Championship
Ulster 1-23, Young Irelanders 2-12

It probably didn't help that they had to play the first half into a stiff breeze, but Young Irelanders' performance in the first part of this game was plagued by sloppy finishing resulting in 11 wides compared to Ulster's 3. Also, thanks to some silly mistakes like touching the ball on the ground, the occasional bit of holding and a bit of jersey-pulling, they managed to give away 11 frees to a strident Ulster team that was faster and stronger in almost every way. There were some valiant bits of play from YIs and a goal from a penalty taken by PJ Parr that kept them in contention, but Ulster soon responded to that goal with a blistering shot into the back of the net from Fergal McMahon bringing things towards the half time score of Ulster 1-13, YI 1-4.

With a promising start to the second half YI rallied slightly, but with periods of Ulster scoring at the rate of almost twice a minute, there was never any serious chance of YI closing the gap, nor did it look like it. A second goal from John McCormick did not serve as any turning point, Ulster were just too strong, too fast, and a lot more accurate with their finishes with the headwind not bothering them in the slightest.

	Ulster	Young Irelanders
Goals	1	2
Points	23	12
Wides	9	15
Frees won	17	11
Yellow cards	0	0
Red cards	0	0
Penalties won	0	1
45s	1	1

No Contest Between Sarsfields and Boru
Mens' Junior Football Championship
Sarsfields 0-4 Boru 3-10

This junior game saw Sarsfields suffering the absence of several key players. There was little or no impressive play from either side. It started late leaving no time for a half-time break. The only thing worth noting were the goals, two from Pat Magee and one from Paul Kingston.

Bad Day For Sarsfields, Good Day For Ulster
Mens' Senior Football Championship
Ulster 6-15 Sarsfields 2-7

Lacking certain players like Fergal Finnan, injured with a dislocated shoulder from a game a week ago, Sarsfields were already at a disadvantage before the ball was even thrown in. A rampant Ulster side held Sarsfields at bay for much of the duration of the first half with the Peninsula team not getting into its stride until about five minutes before the half-time whistle, and placing the emphasis strongly on creating goal-scoring opportunities that would be needed to close the yawning gap. The score at half-time was Sarsfields 1-4, Ulster 4-9.

The second half was more of the same struggle for Sarsfields, but this time with the unstoppable Ulster team asserting their authority on the field even more and showing no signs of slacking off. Most of the rare times when a Sarsfields man got his hands on the ball he found himself surrounded by up to three yellow shirts closing down his options and possession promptly going back from whence it came. With Ulster seemingly enjoying the freedom of the field, it looked for the longest time like Sarsfields were not not going to score at all in the second half, but they did manage to get a goal and three points to take some of the bad look off of it.

To their credit, Sarsfields kept the effort up right to the end and didn't let the devastating scoreline get them down too much. But the day belonged to a vastly superior Ulster club.

	Ulster	Sarsfields
Goals	6	2
Points	15	7
Wides	14	6
Frees won	5	15
Yellow cards	0	0
Red cards	0	0
Penalties won	1	0
45s	1	2