Match Report

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High School Musical
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Match Report

Post by High School Musical »

As I made my way across the city on the London LUAS, I started to get that feeling of excitement that comes with the start of every season. A little over a month after the All-Ireland final and here we are again, the dawn of a new season. Arriving at Wembley Park, the first thing that hit me was the sheer volume of supporters making their way to the ground. I hadn’t seen a crowd like this for a season opener since Dublin first pioneered their ‘Spring Series’ games at Croker, but I wasn’t complaining. In fact, I couldn’t help but wonder if the GAA had marketed the International Rules a little bit better, whether it could’ve been a far better spectacle. As game time approached, the crowd grew even bigger and my anticipation began to build. A new season was about to begin and I was in my element. Stella had got her groove back.

It was my first visit to London HQ and I must say, I was mightily impressed. I commend the London County Board on the development of such facilities. As good as O’Connor Park, if not better. I’m all in favour of taking big games out of Croke Park, so having as many secondary grounds of this quality can only be of benefit. A deceivingly cavernous stadium, I had only managed to acquire tickets late in the day, having not been able to source any through the club at home, and found myself relegated to the back-of-house seats. From my vantage point the ground looked close to capacity and I’m guessing a crowd of anywhere between 25 & 30 thousand had packed in to see the home side host the expats from San Francisco. A novel pairing to say the least, but one which the GAA will hope can increase the game’s popularity outside of Ireland.
A bit of music beforehand from Ne-Yo, one of my personal favourites, added to the party atmosphere as throw-in drew nearer. As the teams made their way onto the pitch it was clear that both had ‘wintered well’, and I anticipated a slugfest between two heavy-hitters. It will be weeks yet, as the season progresses, before the ‘bulk’ will start to fall off them.

The home side won the toss and elected to play into the ‘Town-end’ with the stiff breeze on their backs. But it was San Francisco who immediately hit the ground running and began to tear into their opponents. The wide open spaces of Wembley were clearly more suited to the men in white & gold and they persisted with a hand-passing game ensuring that they monopolised possession for the opening 5 or 6 minutes. Some overly-aggressive defending from the Londoners appeared to go unnoticed and the referee really let a lot go in the early exchanges. As is so often the case, a referee will try and balance things up. True to form, the referee seemed to favour the defenders in the majority of instances. This reporter lost count of the number of fouls that went unpunished, both personal and technical, and at times the game resembled the ancient practice of Shrovetide football. A number of schemozzles broke out at various times throughout the day but there were no cards issued on a day when the free count was staggeringly high, but in saying that, neither was there a dirty stroke pulled all game. That most unholy ‘Northern’ influence of the blanket defence also reared its ugly head during the encounter and, as a spectacle, the game really suffered. Both teams persisted with playing almost all their men behind the ball, hoping to hit on the counter-attack instead.

An early score, courtesy of the industrious Frank Gore set San Fran’ on their way as Colin Kaepernick pulled the strings in the middle of the field. A Phil Dawson point from a free quickly followed and San Fran’ built up an early 4-point lead, which they would never relinquish. Kaepernick added another ‘major’ himself before a second Dawson free but the visitors almost out of sight. The referee brought, what seemed like, a premature end to a very stop-start first half. The game was being played at a pedestrian pace, and really lacked that championship pace that we so often crave. There was barely time to finish off my can of orange & Mars bar before the second half began.

A score midway through the second-half from the former Vernon Davis, who played his minor football with Maryland/Tang, increased the lead further and firmly closed the door on any thoughts of a comeback for the hosts. This tactic of mixing it up by playing low ball into the corners as well as playing the ball-in-hand game had the London defence at sixes and sevens as their cornerbacks were getting the runaround. Two more Dawson frees sandwiched another Kaepernick effort as the game began to peter out. The home side, to their credit, never gave up and attacked valiantly in the desperate hope of nicking some sort of consolatory score late on. London were awarded a free late in the game, bang in front of the posts, presenting them with their best opportunity of the day to finally get off the mark. The umpire took up a good position, as Scobee’s shot sailed through the posts, raising a chorus of ironic cheers which reverberated around the ground, but truth be told, this could barely be even called a consolation score. There was no injury-time played at the end, as both sets of players were content to let the clock wind down.

San Francisco will be pleased with their efforts, especially at this stage of the season. Taking on one of the so-called weaker clubs can often bring a lack of motivation, but in this case they didn’t let it phase them, and they let their football do the talking on the field. Best for San Francisco on the day were Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore, both of whom got on the ball an awful lot. Their ability to run at the London defence really put them on the front foot all day and the home side had no answer to their pace and intensity. Kaepernick's progression, in particular, since coming out of minor two years ago has been instrumental in the on-field success of the men from the west coast. The cultured boot of Phil Dawson was deadly accurate all day from placed balls, but he will need to contribute more in open play if this team is going to be up there fighting for a championship come the business end of the season. San Francisco will fear no one now and could well be coming in under the radar with a performance like this. The word from within their camp is that they’ve been absolutely flying in training lately. But championships aren’t won in October. They’ll hope to bring through a few minors for the upcoming league, and I’ll tell you one thing, they’ll be hard bet. Speaking to Jim Harbaugh afterwards, he is under no illusions about today's game, “Lets not kid ourselves, there’ll be bigger challenges ahead. You can only beat whats put in front of you. If we want to be up there competing with your Dublins, your Seattles, your Mayos, or whoever, we have to be putting away the likes of London, and I mean no disrespect to them. We came up just short last year. But maybe it’s a case of having to lose one to win one. We’ll only improve from here and I think we’ll be there or thereabouts again come next September” said an optimistic Harbaugh.

For London its back to the drawing board now. Recently ratified manager, Gus ‘Baker’ Bradley spoke candidly about his team after the game, “Ah, sure its disappointing alright. There’s no point bating around the bush about it, we simply weren’t good enough today. We made silly mistakes out there all day. You give the likes of Philly Dawson the chances we gave him and he’ll punish you every time. One touch, Bang! Over the bar. At this level, you can’t be doing that.” His team will have to pick up the pieces from here in the hope of turning the corner and coming just right in time for their championship opener. ‘Baker’ acknowledged the gulf in class between the teams today and knows that serious improvements will be required if they are to make any impact in the coming year and in the years ahead. “A lot of our lads have been around a long time. Maurice has been the standout man for years here, but he just cant keep going back to the well. Other lads need to step up now. Look it, we’ve a panel of 53 here, and there’s no one entitled to a jersey on this team. Miracles aren’t going to happen overnight. I’m here now, with a 3-year plan, and its all about putting the systems in place.”

The Cowboys are due to visit here next season, and on this showing, Kildare shouldn’t have much trouble coming away with the win if they just play their own game and don’t become embroiled in a physical contest. The future of football is safe in London for now, but increased effort at grass-roots level is needed to encourage more involvement among the wider community, which with a bit of luck, will lead to success in the not too distant future. Encourangingly, both clubs had quite large panels on the day and I imagine that both will be hoping to field B teams this year too. Substitutes were being ran in and out of the game like there was no tomorrow and while this affected the momentum of the game, it points to a good future for the game in London, and further afield.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Match Report

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Was there any lads from Offaly playing?

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High School Musical
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Re: Match Report

Post by High School Musical »

Bord na Mona man wrote:Was there any lads from Offaly playing?
Well, there was a Dwight Lowry fella on the London panel. He didnt tog on the day because he's out injured at the moment. I wouldn't know him from Adam, but i can only assume he's a Lowry outta Ferbane.

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