LONDON SFC
2003
Champions
glad to be home and dry
By
John Collins (Irish World)
St
Brendans 2-12
Neasden
Gaels 2-6
There
are times when, no matter how good a team is
perceived to be, no matter how talented the
collective worth of the team is deemed to be
and no matter how confident a team maybe in
their own ability, that team will still need
one individual to take on a Moses like role
and lead the team through the mire and into
the promised land.
On
Sunday last St Brendans were fortunate to have
one such individual in their captain Shane
Manley, who, whilst all around him faltered,
doubted and succumbed to the challenge of the
unfancied Neasden Gaels team, was still able
to lead by example, in a second half
performance of class and composure. Such was
the enormity of this display one feels that
without him London would already be looking
for new Champions for 2003.
This
excellent game started in cagiest of fashions.
St Brendans appeared unsure of the credentials
of the opponents and Neasden appeared
uncertain of their worthiness to be dining at
the tables of champions. A sixth minute point
from Paddy Bowles settled the Brendans though
and another from a Martin Gill free further
comforted the Hayes men.
As
ever though the Neasden boys could rely on
their elder statesman Colm Cassidy for his
share of scores and a brace of points from the
Down man had the teams level on twelve
minutes.
The
next ten minutes brought a solitary point in
favour of the champions before, on a day when
luck dealt a very cruel hand to a number of
custodians on Sundays programme, Neasden’s
keeper Brendan Moore was dealt the cruellest
of all when his misplaced hand pass was
intercepted and Danny O’Connor had the
easiest of tasks of tapping into the empty
net.
Five
points down, seven minutes to half time,
things were looking exactly like they were
meant to be. However, Neasden chose not to
look at the bigger picture and instead five
minutes later found themselves very much back
in contention, when a through ball from the
Neasden midfield was completely mis-judged by
the Brendan’s back line and Donal de Barra
waltzed through to hammer the ball past Billy
Molloy in the Brendan’s goal. Another free
from Cassidy followed and on the half time
whistle we had a one-point game in favour of
the champions.
The
tit-for-tat scoring continued in the opening
ten minutes of the second half before Neasden
crept into a most unexpected one point lead
when, what can only be described as a
speculative lob by Mayo man Timmy Gallagher,
was misjudged by an under pressure Molloy and
that great croupier in the sky was once more
dealing from the bottom of the pack to the
goalkeepers of London.
Then
came the biblical intervention. Stirred by his
follower’s shortcomings, Brendans skipper
Shane Manley, who for most of the game was
well shackled by John McAteer, came down from
the mountain and began to dictate how things
should be.
Three
excellently executed points, all from frees
from difficult positions were enough to let
his people know that they were in safe hands
and that all would be well. Interrupting this
one-man show was a penalty for the men in
green, which was dispatched by Gill, and
really that was that.
The
efforts of the first forty five or so minutes
had taken their toll on the Neasden men and
certainly the final ten minutes was merely an
exercise in keep ball and controlled play for
the Hayes team a chance to take another step
in their own education as they finally came to
terms with the art of killing a game.
Credit
to Neasden who certainly turned up to play
football and the fruits of their labours over
the past seven months were there for all to
see. To try and assemble a squad in one year
is difficult, but given a little continuity,
there is no reason why this team couldn’t
cause as many problems again next year.
As
for the Brendans, well they may be safe in the
semi, but they were far from sound in their
performance. The pendulum that is their form
guide continues to swing this way and that but
given that their next serious outing in the
championship is going to be a must win
semi-final for them, then they really need to
find some sort of consistency, for as good as
Manley was at resurrecting his team’s hopes
this time out, it would be asking an awful lot
of any player to continue to perform such
miracles time and time again.
Scorers:
St
Brendans:
S Manley 0-5 (0-3 f), M Gill 1-2 (1-0
pen, 0-1f), D O’Connor 1-0, P Bolwes 0-3, S
Murphy, C Conway (0-1each).
Neasden
Gaels: C Cassidy 0-6 (0-4f), D deBarra
1-0, T Gallagher 1-0.
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