St Patrick's Cup Results
Round 1 - Sunday 3rd April 2005

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Ulster 'A' Have Easy Start to Season
Ulster A 1-10, Celts 2-1

It didn’t help the Celts that they had to begin this opening game of the year playing into a stiff breeze. The young players, most of whom have come up through the youth program, found themselves hopelessly outgunned by Ulster in the first half during which sloppy marking and an inability to accurately finish off caused them to reach half time without having marked the scoreboard.

That said, the Celts did have a lot of spirit and superb physical fitness on their side. Five minutes into the second half they finally got a score to take the bad look off of Ulster’s ten point lead.

The Celts created a lot of scoring opportunities throughout the game, eventually resulting in two goals and a point in the end. Had their accuracy and finishing touch been better, they would have had a much bigger tally by the final whistle.

Ulster’s performance in this game was so impeccable that it almost goes without saying; it was like watching an educational video on how to play football. The only sour note there was a problem with dissent from Dublin man Brian Cowley who was yellow carded, and who was later involved in an off-the-field incident with one of the match officials. The Western Division Board will be taking action in relation to this matter.

Comparing the Celts to the vastly superior Ulster side that they were playing against would be a bit unfair; there is a lot of potential in this young club and they have a long way to go.

Saoirse’s Late Late Show
Fog City 2-8 (14), Saoirse 1-14 (17)

Fog City, playing with a tailwind, stamped their authority on this first ladies’ game of the year with fluid, confident, and accurate passing. Notable performances were put in by double goal scorer Katherine Burke and Linda Wu among others, but the magpies really had a good distribution of talent among all players who worked as a very cohesive unit to go into the half time break leading at 1-7 to 0-4.

Complacency seemed to set in during the second half, however. Saoirse got into their stride and started creating a lot more scoring opportunities, something that would have happened with or without wind assistance. With Saoirse’s Kathleen Murray getting a goal and Anne Morrissey racking up the points quicker than pints being drank at closing time, Fog City’s complacency gave way to panic as the confident play of the first half was replaced by frantic fumbling. The gap narrowed and eventually disappeared. A further blow was dealt as Sarah Hudson’s head collided with the ground in a tackle gone wrong and she had to be replaced by Stephanie Thompson.

Saoirse’s momentum was unstoppable and Fog City, tired from having run riot in the first half, were unable to pull it together before running out of time three points down.

It was certainly one of the more entertaining games of the day.

No Contest for Sean Treacys
Sean Treacys 4-8, Young Irelanders 1-5

The Young Irelanders managed to pull a team together for this uninspiringly lopsided affair that saw Sean Treacys slice through the first half headwind like it wasn’t there. Perhaps the new brightly coloured strip also has secret aerodynamic properties. There were goals aplenty from the Treacys, principally from Ken Hyland and Alan Coughlan, that led to a fourteen point lead by half time.

The second half saw more of the same with a very impressive display of speed and fitness from the Treacys. It will be interesting to see this team progressing this year, their home base is very strong.

St Brendan’s on the Receiving End
Sarsfield’s 4-7, St Brendan’s 2-9

The South Bay / Peninsula team had little difficulty in overcoming St Brendan’s who briefly made a bit of a rally in the early second half thanks to tough play in the mid field from the likes of Aidan O’Sullivan, but they were unable to make much of a dent in the Sarsfield’s lead that had been built up with some early goals. Marathon runner Colm Brazil was not the only Sarsfield’s player to exploit his speed and get through the Brendans’ defence and create opportunities, strong performances were also put in by Liam Reidy, double goal scorer John Corrigan, and Babysham (can’t remember his real name. Sorry Sham!).

A little bit of frustration crept in and the game got a little bit scrappy towards the end with St Brendan’s losing a few frees because of retaliation, but it didn’t get too out of hand and no cards were issued. The end result was a fair reflection of the game and both teams could walk away satisfied with a good day’s work.

Boru Squeeze Past Ulster
Ulster B 1-10 (13), Sons of Boru 3-5 (14)

Visiting referee Kevin Walsh, a native of Clare on his first visit to the United States for the refereeing and coaching clinic later this week, kept a firm but fair grip on this game with no transgressions going unpunished. The result was a match that was stoppage-prone at times, but one in which both teams eventually settled into once they realised where the boundaries were. Ulster had a good lead throughout the early stages of this rather even match, but the Boru soon clawed that back with a spirited comeback to win by a point.