St Patrick's Cup Results
Round 4- Sunday 1st May 2005

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St Brendan’s Hammered on the Cusack’s Anvil
Mens’ football - Michael Cusack’s 2-12 St Brendan’s 0-2

It was another frustrating day for St Brendan’s at Beach Chalet. One false move by the Cusacks’ forwards, and St Brendan’s were able to take advantage of it and burst down the field, but the forwards were unable to retain possession, to say nothing of convert these opportunities to scores - clearly the more experienced players were farther back. There were also a few technical errors by the younger St Brendan’s players in the first half, such as bad pickups and throw balls, that needlessly gave away some golden opportunities to the Cusack’s that were turned into points in no short order.

The second half saw no let up in the Cusack’s rampage despite some strong resistance from St Brendan’s mid fielders Tom Carroll and particularly Aidan O’Sullivan (0-2), a man who could solo run through the middle of a buffalo stampede and still come out the other side with the ball in his hands.

From the Cusack’s point of view it probably wasn’t much of a contest with plenty of shooting practice for Eamonn O’Gara (0-5). From the St Brendan’s side, there was a better distribution of play throughout the field this time compared to the previous week’s rear guard action. A stronger forward line is all that separates this team from translating their improvements into better results.

Sarsfield’s Forced to Adapt
Mens’ Football - Sarsfield’s 5-6 (21) Celts 2-8 (14)

The Celts certainly hit the ground running in this interesting match. Sarsfield’s were trailing by a goal and two points by the time they managed to open their account, partially due to the absence of some key players like Colm Brazil and Dino. It was fascinating to watch the skills of the young Celts who’s level of ball control was as if their hands were made of velcro, and their footwork was immaculate. They were sending balls sailing in over the heads of their opponents from the peninsula and plucking them out of the air like low hanging fruit - straight from the basketball court. This, combined with the fitness of youth, saw Sarsfield’s trailing by 2-5 to 1-1 at half time.

In the second half, Sarsfield’s placed less emphasis on a running game and made more use of their bigger physical size. The tactic worked. Goals started flowing into the Celts’ net courtesy of Darren Reidy and a total of three from the Connoly brothers. The Celts came perilously close to tying this game and they came back to even up the scores at one point, but eventually it was the goals that clinched it for a Sarsfield’s side that had been made to work for it.

Fog City Fail to Ignite
Ladies’ Football - Saoirse 2-9 Fog City Harps 0-4

Fog City were not in good form on Sunday. An inability to keep the ball in their own hands and a startled approach to being blocked contributed to a first half performance that didn’t do them justice and left them trailing by 1-5 to 0-0 by half time.

The second half was not much better, with inadequate play against the likes of Saoirse’s Whitney Sutak who was playing a very strong game. Whitney’s ball control skills were like the basketball-flavoured movements of the Celts in the earlier game, and it was noticeable that every ball that came near her was guaranteed to stick to her hands until she was ready to get rid of it.

Fog managed to scrape up four points in the second half, way short of what was needed against a very confident and dominant Saoirse side.

More of the Same From Sean Treacy’s
Mens’ Football - Shannon Rangers 0-7 Sean Treacy’s 0-11

Sean Treacy’s battered their way to victory in the last game of the day. The early first half was characterised by strong backs and weaker forwards on both sides. This led to a lot of end-to-end football with the ball being rebounded up and down the field without much scoring going on. The game settled down eventually with Sean Treacy's establishing themselves as the stronger side. It got a little bit scrappy in the second half and Treacy's were reduced to twelve men after a sending off, but the lead was well established and it was too close to the end of the game to make much of a difference.

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