LONDON SFL
2002
Garryowen
punish casual Champions.
By
John Collins (Irish World)
Garryowen
0-14
St
Brendans
0-7.
St
Brendans quest for the 2002 League and
Championship double was brought to a
shuddering halt by the Garryowen on Sunday at
Ruislip in what could be most accurately
described as a poor game of football.
Garryowen
emerged from the dressing rooms earlier, more
organised, more focused and more determined
than the current county champions, who
appeared in dribs and drabs in a lacklustre
fashion and it paid dividends for the men in
red as they raced into a three point lead in
the first ten minutes.
St
Brendans were as ill at ease with themselves
as they were with their opponents and the
departure of injured captain Shane Manley
after only fifteen minutes did little to
improve their standing in the game. The
further lose of wing-back Niall Barry shortly
before the break, through a very unfortunate
and freakish knee injury, further compounded
their problems. The re-structuring required
following these departures meant that
improvisation rather than organisation was now
the order of the day for the men in green, a
tactic that did not best suit this usually
most studied of outfits.
As
a result of this Garryowen were having little
difficulty in dominating the middle sector of
the field, with their county triumvirate of
O’Donoghue, O’Donovan and Browne
easily wrestling control from the Brendans
pairing of Carmody and McCarthy and by half
time the Garryowen had extended their lead
from three points to six with the scores
standing at 0-8 to 0-2.
The
second half saw little improvement in either
fortune or performance for the Hayes men.
Tommy McDermott, who retired from competitive
football almost two years ago, was forced to
assume custodial duties whilst regular keeper
Billy Molloy was deployed to midfield in place
of ‘flu
victim James Carmody. Unsurprisingly,
McDermott distinguished himself with some very
astute use of the ball and his excellent
reading of situations left many of his younger
team mates looking inadequate indeed, proving
as if proof were needed that class is indeed
for ever.
The
Garryowen needed little encouragement to take
advantage of the plight of the Brendans with
James Power, Tiernan O’Rourke and James
Scannell in particular making the most of the
confusion and disorder that abounded within
the Hayes team’s ranks. Scannell was as ever
dependable from dead ball situations and Power
displayed a hunger for possession that nobody
within the Brendans team could match.
With
ten minutes to go the match appeared to have
been comprehensively decided as the Garryowen
first went six, then seven and eventually
eight points ahead, but all this could have
been undone in an instant had it not been for
Errol Browne in the Garryowen goal pulling of
a blinding save to his left from Brendans
No.11 Paddy Bowles. That let off though was
all that the Garryowen needed and following
that incident they steadied themselves and
cruised home with an eventual winning margin
of seven points.
Scorers:
Garryowen:
J Scannell 0-4 (0-2f), T O’Rourke
0-3, J Power 0-3, C Browne 0-1, C McGuiness
0-1, P O’Donoghue 0-1, I O’Donovan 0-1.
St
Brendans:
M Gill 0-4 ( 0-3f), J Carmody 0-1,
P McNabb 0-1, P McKeever 0-1.
Close window
|
