Good Counsel Liffey Gaels 0-9
Ballyboden St Enda’s 2-11
Welcome to Good Counsel’s Galtymore Road stronghold, another GAA ground where the aroma of coffee wafts across the pitch in effort to distract the players – thank God I’m a tea drinker. The Junior A manager would have been seduced and rendered helpless by the tantalising offerings including his favourite tipple, a double caramel frappuccino with oat milk.
Fortunately, the team bypassed the seductive mobile coffee kiosk and headed straight for grassy gladiatorial den. The warmup was memorable for the struggling robotic movements of Snowflake Young who took a tumble on the frozen slopes of Courcheval the previous week. His coaching colleague attempted to issue edicts from golden sands of the Algarve but communications were thankfully patchy and the management team proceeded as planned. Fortunately, the remaining mentors stayed at home and soldiered on to prepare the team for this encounter.From the start, it was clear that this was going to be a tough physical encounter with Counsel searching for their first win of the season. The opening exchanges were feisty and keenly contested. Points were exchanged one after the other. The predictability of the exchanges was broken by a marauding run from Robbie O’Reilly who, despite being urged by the sideline experts to pop it over, continued his run and drove a low hard shot to the back of the net. Suddenly daylight had appeared on the scoreboard.
The contest threatened to boil over but the lid was expertly and carefully kept on the simmering pot by the man in the middle, Mr. Hobbs. Not content at taking a breather at full forward young O’Reilly slalomed through a series of last ditch tackles and played the ball to a grateful Luke Byrne who tapped it home for one of the easiest scores of his young career. The halftime score read 2-3 to 0-3 to Boden and was memorable for the O’Reilly contribution and that of Oisin Byrne who finger-tipped a Counsel effort on goal to safety.
The breeze picked up for the second half favouring the home team. And the coffee aroma disappeared over the canal.
Fionn Keating replaced young Ollie at half time and marked his introduction with a lightning interception soon after the restart. He was accompanied in the second half by Mark Walsh who entered the fray fresh from his recent wine-tasting excursion to Rome. Having sampled Italian life, he said he wished to embrace the culture more and requested that the lads call him Marco.
David Gannon also came on and he said he was happy to be called David.
Meanwhile, the game rumbled on with Josh Kane having to become more involved with some fine saves. Boden were converting some fine points and and we’re missing a few too. In the maelstrom, Ciaran Kiely found himself one on one with the keeper and inadvertently opted to take his point.
As the queue lengthened at the coffee kiosk the referee fortunately decided to call a halt to proceedings to allow Mick Maher canter across the pitch, skip the queue and pick up his pre-ordered flat white with skinny milk. Game over.
Fortunately, the team bypassed the seductive mobile coffee kiosk and headed straight for grassy gladiatorial den. The warmup was memorable for the struggling robotic movements of Snowflake Young who took a tumble on the frozen slopes of Courcheval the previous week. His coaching colleague attempted to issue edicts from golden sands of the Algarve but communications were thankfully patchy and the management team proceeded as planned. Fortunately, the remaining mentors stayed at home and soldiered on to prepare the team for this encounter.From the start, it was clear that this was going to be a tough physical encounter with Counsel searching for their first win of the season. The opening exchanges were feisty and keenly contested. Points were exchanged one after the other. The predictability of the exchanges was broken by a marauding run from Robbie O’Reilly who, despite being urged by the sideline experts to pop it over, continued his run and drove a low hard shot to the back of the net. Suddenly daylight had appeared on the scoreboard.
The contest threatened to boil over but the lid was expertly and carefully kept on the simmering pot by the man in the middle, Mr. Hobbs. Not content at taking a breather at full forward young O’Reilly slalomed through a series of last ditch tackles and played the ball to a grateful Luke Byrne who tapped it home for one of the easiest scores of his young career. The halftime score read 2-3 to 0-3 to Boden and was memorable for the O’Reilly contribution and that of Oisin Byrne who finger-tipped a Counsel effort on goal to safety.
The breeze picked up for the second half favouring the home team. And the coffee aroma disappeared over the canal.
Fionn Keating replaced young Ollie at half time and marked his introduction with a lightning interception soon after the restart. He was accompanied in the second half by Mark Walsh who entered the fray fresh from his recent wine-tasting excursion to Rome. Having sampled Italian life, he said he wished to embrace the culture more and requested that the lads call him Marco.
David Gannon also came on and he said he was happy to be called David.
Meanwhile, the game rumbled on with Josh Kane having to become more involved with some fine saves. Boden were converting some fine points and and we’re missing a few too. In the maelstrom, Ciaran Kiely found himself one on one with the keeper and inadvertently opted to take his point.
As the queue lengthened at the coffee kiosk the referee fortunately decided to call a halt to proceedings to allow Mick Maher canter across the pitch, skip the queue and pick up his pre-ordered flat white with skinny milk. Game over.
Thanks to Ciaran and Liam for umpiring and to Cliona for the photos.
Panel: Josh Kane, Ollie Brophy, Cian Mellett, Fionn Maguire, David Leach, Scott Cullen, Oisin Byrne, Ciaran Duggan, Neil Hester, Harry Colclough, Davy Keane, Robbie O’Reilly, Davy Keogh, Evan Flanagan, Luke Byrne, Mark Walsh, Fionn Keating, David Gannon, Declan O’Mahoney, Ciaran Kiely.