MFC Semi Final - St. Vincent's 3-6 Edenderry 0-9

[Lone Shark]

The purists will have slept easily on Saturday night. Two sides with very contrasting styles met in an absorbing clash in Gracefield that afternoon, and in the end it was St. Vincent’s who emerged victorious and will go on to meet Tullamore in the county final. Those who like their football played the old fashioned way will have been greatly enthused by a backline that was aggressive but fair, two big and imposing midfielders who held their ground and delivered early ball into their forwards, and a front six that were direct and efficient, taking their chances and hitting a mere four wides over the course of the entire match. Above all, St. Vincent’s were a team that had a very clear and simple game plan, and stuck to it throughout the game, never wavering even when Edenderry seemed to be gaining the upper hand. They worked tirelessly for each other constantly, but without wasting effort on directionless handpassing, or running with the ball when a simple pass forward was on, two things that this Edenderry team and management would do well to learn from.

When these two teams met in the group stages back in July it was Edenderry who came out on top by a six point margin, and with two prominent county stars at midfield and centre forward, they entered this game as clear favourites to progress. St. Vincent’s had experienced a few setbacks on the road to this semi final, but they burst out of the blocks with style, and made a mockery of their underdog status with a series of fine scores. They dominated every line on the field for the first fifteen minutes, and in doing so registered 1-5 in response to Ross Brady’s opening score.

Much like the team gathering momentum, the scores were increasingly stylish. A close range Gerry Treacy free was followed by Alan McEvoy snapping up a loose break and converting, before Paul Lambe hit the target from forty metres out with a left foot shot. Vinny O’Rourke was next to score with a great shot on the run going away from goals, before a beautiful piece of opportunism put clear daylight between the sides. From the back it was a great team goal – Liam Brennan won the ball with a courageous burst past two forwards, and he hit Gerry Treacy with a great pass. Treacy laid off to Lambe, who hit a high ball into the full forward line, where it was broken down by Mark Mangan. Paul O’Rourke ran in behind the cluster of bodies that had contested the high ball, and hit a shot off the ground past the keeper for a well executed and beautifully simple goal.

Vinny O’Rourke rounded off the purple patch with his second score of the game, before Ger Dunne broke the momentum with a free after Ross Brady had been fouled.

At this point Edenderry needed to get some scores themselves to make a game of it, but all their moves were breaking down in the forward line. Players were reluctant to take on the responsibility of shooting, and all too often a series of handpasses ended up with the defence smothering out the threat, and the dominant St. Vincent’s full back line bursting out with the ball. Only Shane Kelly in the left corner really looked direct enough to hurt St. Vincent’s, but any ball he got was from close range, and he rarely got to use his pace. After all this ponderous play, the Reds got another lesson in direct football, when Kevin Bracken caught a good high ball at midfield, and floated a wonderful pass over the heads of the defence and right into the chest of Mark Mangan. He ran in on goals and shot past the keeper, only to see it rebound off the crossbar and out. However in keeping with the trend of the game, a St. Vincent’s man reacted first, and when Paul O’Rourke grabbed the rebound he hammered his shot to the net. Another Ger Dunne score from close range rounded out the half’s scoring, and at eight points in arrears, the game looked over.

The second half did see Edenderry come back into the game, but it was as much due to a change in fortune as any tactical adjustment. They were still carrying the ball into traffic, however the 50/50 calls that were going against them in the first half were going in their favour now, and referee Liam Boland began to penalise the St. Vincent’s defence who were continuing to swarm around the Edenderry ball carriers in numbers. The Edenderry backs were playing with renewed vigour, and substitute Enda McCormack had brought into the game a willingness to shoot that was hitherto absent from their attack. He rewarded the selectors with two excellent points, and with a quarter of the game remaining the score was 2-5 to 0-8 and a comeback looked possible. However credit must be given to St. Vincent’s management and players, as they never panicked, and simply took their few chances when they came. TJ Moore struck their only point of the second half to put two scores between the teams again, before on 21 minutes they wrapped up the game with a truly fantastic goal. Again the direct ball out of defence found Treacy, and he used his pace to beat one man, draw another and then find Padraig Mangan who was bursting past on the overlap. He never looked like being caught, and from 15 metres out he hit a superb shot to the top corner, and with Edenderry looking toothless in the full forward line, the Fat Lady Choral Singers were crooning in unison.

As if losing the game was not enough, Edenderry were hit with a double injury blow towards the end, as Ross Brady was taken off due to a blow to his already injured knee, while Richie Dalton finished the game holding an injured shoulder. Those still looking on were left with a poignant image – individual stars beaten and bruised, while the team that had played so hard for each other celebrated with each other, all blending into a single yellow mass, no individuals to be seen.

Teams:

St. Vincent’s: Ciarán Todd; Darren Nielan, Hugh Treacy, Liam Brennan; Padraig Mangan (1-0), Matthew Brazil, Adrian Mahon; Kevin Bracken, Enda Daly; Gerry Treacy (0-1, free), Paul Lambe (0-1), Alan McEvoy (0-1); Paul O’Rourke (2-0), Mark Mangan, Vinny O’Rourke (0-2).

Subs: David Carroll for Alan McEvoy, TJ Moore (0-1) for Vinny O’Rourke, Seamus Todd for Paul O’Rourke.

Edenderry: Brian Quinlan; Brian Merrick, Eanna O’Neill, Sean Pender; David Brady, Pat Maloney, Keith Duffy (0-1); Richie Dalton (0-1), Stephen Doyle; Mark Duffy, Ross Brady (0-1), Ian Byrne; Phillip Duffy, Ger Dunne (0-4, 0-3 frees), Shane Kelly.

Subs: Alan Pender for Phillip Duffy, Enda McCormack (0-2) for Mark Duffy, Sean Kelly for Ian Byrne, Shane Farrell for Brian Merrick, Colm Byrne for Ross Brady.

Referee: Liam Boland

[Ron]

Delighted to see my parish underage team looking like they mean business. Whatever about work ethic and commitment, there are undoubtedly some fine young stylish footballers on this St Vincents team also, some of whom have another year at this grade. Congratulations to the lads, I'm looking forward to seeing them putting in a big effort now to go one step further and lift the title.
It should also be noted that all of the constituent clubs Daingean, Cappincur, Ballycommon and Kilclonfert were all very well represented on this team. Their sucess to date probably raises the argument again for a proper parish senior set-up, but thats a discussion for another day I suppose, and one that has already had its airing on this board.

[The Biff]

Good man Ron, I'm glad to finally have someone from the same parish on board. Admittedly I'm quite a while moved out of Daingean though.

I can remember the days (70's + early 80's) when the parish underage teams had a great record in the underage grades; and one group of players that won nearly every title at their successive grades. You cant beat a bit od success to help the cause, and I think the fact that the four clubs have done quite poorly on a consistent basis at the Senior level should be a catalyst towards a Parish Senior Team again.

[minor]

Ricie broke a bone at the top of his shoulder around the a.c joint i think its just the end of the collar bone as it connects to the shoulder but i'm not entirely sure. i heard he hurt it early on and looked to go off but they told him to stay on and so he did? i'm not sure if this is true but the fact that someone would continue play ing with a broken bone shoes frightening commitment no matter what anyone would say againist him. this is a very serious injury and one i would expect will dog him for the rest of his playing career? worse still it'l but him thriugh fierce pain by the time he's 50 if it doesn't get sorted out. still though some commitment to try and keep playing no mater at what stage of the game it was at.

.....or maybe he was trying to throw the game?? hear of any unusual bets on vincents

best of luck to vincents in the final in particular ger and hugh tracey, sound men