Football Championship Results
Sunday June 19th, 2005

Clans Overwhelmed Again
Ladies' Junior A Football Championship
Fog City 4-16 Clan na Gael 1-4

The first half of this game was painful viewing regardless of which team you were rooting for. The sheer one-sidedness of it must have been soul destroying for Clan na Gael who were taking a beating. Fog City took twenty seconds to open their account, and began rapid fire scoring that lasted all the way through the match. A potential goal looked like killing the game after the Clan na Gael goal keeper overtravelled and gave away a penalty, but it was kicked wide. That said, Fog City were prevented from getting many more goals by the goalkeeper who was getting a lot of work to do.

Clan na Gael were giving away a lot of frees by holding on to the their opponents in what looked like frustration, and with Fog City having a near monopoly on posession and access to the breaking ball, the Clans only managed to get two shots at the target in the first half.

Emerging from the half time break trailing by 3-9 to 0-0, Clan na Gael made a bit of an improvement. They hassled Fog City into giving away more frees, got more touches of the ball, and eventually a goal by Connie McNamara. A second goal was narrowly avoided after rebounding off the post and returning in to bounce off the keeper before being cleared. Four more points were clocked up to take the bad look off of it.

At the end of the day it was Fog City's superior skills in being in position to get the breaking ball, catching the ball cleanly, and passing to their own team mates that made the biggest difference.

Celts Dance to Victory
Mens' Junior Football Championship
Celts 2-18 St Brendan's 1-9

The Celts took to the field in their first championship game of the year with yet another display of their uniquely artistic style of play. With the oldest player on their team twenty years of age and a forward line all no older than seventeen, this clash with their rivals St Brendan's was going to be an interesting scrap.

St Brendan's just weren't firing on all cylinders in the first half, almost as if they were overwhelmed by the ducking and weaving movements of their younger opponents. They got very few shots at the target on the occasions when they managed to break out of their own half of the field, and the Celts were able to keep the majority of posession and keep St Brendan's from scoring all but two points by half time.

The Oakland team made some progress in the second half by trying to use their bigger size to their advantage, and for the most part they met with some success. However the Celts became the beneficiaries of most of the frees that resulted from the rougher episodes on the field.

A Niall Carney goal from a penalty (that had to be re-taken) and four points from Brian Curran almost restored some semblance of balance to the scoreline, but the protogés of the youth program had twisted and evaded their way to a very impressive win.

See also, streaming video report.

Match stats
	Celts	St Brendan's
Goals	2	1
Points	18	9
Wides	18	5
Frees won	18	13
45s awarded	0	1
Yellow cards	0	2
Red cards	0	0

Celts scorers: Aidan O'Flynn 1-9 Niall O'Flynn 0-2 John Whitney 0-2 Jimmy Flynn 0-4 Tony Joyce 1-1

St Brendan's scorers: Niall Carney 1-1 Brian Curran 0-4 Mark Bargary 0-1 Shane Corban 0-1 Fergal Cleary 0-2

Sarsfield's Clinch Win in Thriller
Mens' Intermediate Football Championship
Sarsfield's 3-8 Michael Cusack's 2-8

Sarsfield's were forced to work for the opening point and a great many more that followed by a very tight Cusack's back line. Cusack's were ensuring that the many shots that Sarsfield's were taking were not going to be clean, and this resulted in a lot of wides in the first half. There were some great displays of athleticism on both sides such as the long-distance solo running of Seamus McCorry who was making fifty yard runs as if he were training for a marathon.

Casual marking by Sarsfield's allowed Cusack's to stay within striking distance of the lead, and this Cusacks were able to take back with a superb goal by Brian Flanagan. Sarsfield's returned fire a few minutes later when Ger Devine was tripped in the Cusack's goal mouth earning a penalty. Seamus McCorry did the honours and fired the ball into the net to regain the lead. Cusack's did not lie down and take it though, and by half time the sides were level at 1-3 to 1-3.

The second half saw a lot of action taking place in the Cusack's half of the field, but the men in blue proved difficult to disposess once they got their hands on the ball, and were able to rampage through the middle of the field to within shooting range. David Culloty made the most use of this by getting most of the points and narrowing the gap to two point deficit with ten minutes left.

A second Cusack's goal courtesy of Seamus O'Gara turned the two point deficit into a one point lead, but then a foot block in the Cusack's square led to a penalty. Once again Seamus McCorry stepped up to the plate and regained the lead by rattling the net.

Tough physical play on both sides kept the outcome in doubt right up to the final whistle of this impressive and high standard game.