St Patrick's Cup Results
Round 2 - Sunday 17th April 2005

Disclaimer! While every effort is made to have all the correct info on the games (teams/scorers) should you see any inaccuracies please e-mail pro@sfgaa.org with the correct info. Thank you.

See also: streaming video report.

Celts Severely Understaffed
Mens’ Football - St Brendan’s 2-9 Celts 0-4

With the majority of the Celts’ big hitters still unavailable for play due to college commitments, the younger high school students were once again faced with a barrage from a more senior and experienced side, this time in the form of St Brendan’s, who also had two men more on the field. Interestingly enough, the Oakland-based team actually took a while to break out of their own half of the field in the early stages of the game in the face of a plucky Celts forward line, but once they got going there was no stopping them.

It was certainly not a repeat of the previous week’s massacre at the hands of Ulster; the Celts managed to get two scores in the first half and only trailed by five points by half time, most of which was due to a St Brendan’s goal by Tom Carroll. Nor did the second half see a steady stream of scoring from St Brendan’s, they were made to work for every point as well as a goal by Mike McKeeman.

It was another spirited effort by the Celts, but in the end there is not much a team can do when they are simply outclassed.

Ulster’s First Win of the Day
Mens’ Football - Ulster 'B' 3-8 Shannon Rangers 0-8

This was a fairly even game for the most part. It was Ulster’s ability to get all the way through the defence and past the Rangers’ goalkeeper that swung it for them. Notable performances were put in by ‘Smacker’ McAuley (2-1), Paul Bailey (1-6), and Michael Toner who (finally) got a point from Ulster’s own 45.

A Premature End to an Intense Game
Ladies’ Football - Fog City Harps 0-12 Clan na Gael 1-3

Fiona Cullen is attended by concerned team mates while awaiting an ambulance

A series of rapid-fire points in the opening minutes saw Fog City launching ahead into a lead that was maintained all the way through the game. Clan na Gael were woken up eventually and started to create some good scoring opportunities, but they were doing a certain amount of over-elaboration. This, combined with comprehensive defending by Fog City, kept the Clan na Gael forwards starved of the ball for most of the time. The Clans were making too much use of the hand-pass where longer kick passes would perhaps have been more appropriate, and this contributed to their being shut out all the way to the half time whistle.

The second half saw Clan na Gael learn from their mistakes, create better opportunities, and they started to take their scores in a promising turnaround. However the game was brought to a sudden end when Fog’s 22 year old Fiona Cullen fell awkwardly, struck her head on the ground, and ominously had to be taken off the field by ambulance. Early reports indicated that it was a case of whiplash. We’ll keep you posted on her condition.

Treacys Nearly Pipped at the Post
Mens’ Football - Sons of Boru 3-3 (12) Sean Treacys 0-13

The first half of this match did not bode well for the Boru. They were seemingly incapable of driving the ball all the way to the end of the field, it kept dropping short into the hands of the Treacys full backs, and every time it did, the Treacys were able to ruthlessly punish these mistakes by racing the ball back down from whence it came, leaving their opposing mid-fielders in the dust, and getting scores on just about every occasion.

The second half was an altogether different story. Boru tightened up their play, took advantage of their new-found tailwind, and started fishing for opportunistic goals. This paid off thanks to TJ O’Sullivan who got two goals and Richard Brown who got another, taking the Boru to within a point of the Treacys. If the game had gone on for much longer, the headline for this match report would almost certainly have looked very different. It would seem that a first-half drubbing is quickly becoming a prerequisite for fine performances by the Sons of Boru; all they need now is a set of orange jerseys and they would be just like Armagh.

Ulster’s Second Win of the Day
Mens’ Football - Ulster ‘A’ 4-6 Michael Cusack’s 0-6

This game was very difficult to watch because of a huge number of stoppages. Referee Bertie Penny was allowing nothing to slip by from the get go, and yet the errors kept on coming thick and fast from both teams. The one-sided nature of it didn’t help, with Cusacks only getting a point in the first half, and a wholly inadequate five more in the second. Ulster weren’t pushed too hard in the end and it was a fairly comfortable margin of victory.