Reserve
League Round 4 2005
Reserve
League Match Report
St.Brendan’s
(1-18)
Round
Towers
(0-6)
Inspired
goalkeeping from the veteran Tommy McDermott
was the order of the evening as St.Brendan’s
ran out easy winners over Round Towers in this
Reserve League fixture at Ruislip. The
score-line could have been much closer had the
‘Towers put away two second half penalties
as well as numerous other opportunities which
came their way. The men from Mitcham were
guilty of a litany of offences including
wayward shooting, kicking from impossible
angles and over-playing the ball and if that
wasn’t bad enough, they then had to face a
goal-keeper in the form of McDermott who
seemed to always just get a hand or a foot to
everything that came at him.
The
game itself started evenly enough with Simon
Cullen tapping over two early points for
St.Brendan’s before Round Towers reduced the
deficit to one point with a well taken free.
St.Brendan’s then increased their lead with
points from Cullen (2), Brian McIntyre and
half back Conall Chivers. Round Towers cut
this lead back with three points of their own
before Gerard Melia put the ball in the back
of the Round Towers net following good
approach work from McIntyre, O’Hare and
Niall Barry. Round Towers then should have
scored their first goal of the evening, when
their full- forward sprinted through to face
McDermott in the Brendan’s goal only to see
his shot stopped on the line by the falling
Donegal who was completely going the wrong
way. Another point from the ‘Towers, just
before half-time, was punished by similar
scores from Melia, McIntyre and the
hard-working Joe Corscadden.
Half
Time: St.Brendan’s 1-10 Round Towers 0-5
The
second half began with St.Brendan’s
increasing their lead through points from
substitute Paddy Bowles and Simon Cullen.
There then followed a period of Round Towers
pressure when they pushed forward relentlessly
and although they scored an early point, they
just could not make their dominance count.
Poor shooting and last ditch defending
scuppered most of their chances but it was the
penalty misses within three minutes of each
other that really sealed their fate. The first
penalty given by the referee, Ger O’Shea,
for a foul in the square, was taken by the
‘Towers half forward. At this stage, Tommy
McDermott was trying to put the kicker off, by
going through a series of antics which were
more reminiscent of Bruce Grobbelaar or Jerzy
Dudek. Tommy didn’t care and the penalty
kick sailed wide of his right hand post. Three
minutes later and following another
infringement in the small square, another
penalty was awarded by O’Shea. This time,
the Round Towers manager, Kevin Kelly, who had
just put himself as a sub to counteract the
impact that the St.Brendan’s player/manager
Pat McNabb might have and who also had just
entered the fray, decided that he would
personally deal with this particular penalty.
As McDermott adopted the same tactics as
before, Kelly stepped up to place his kick in
the top corner, only to see it come back off
the upright about ten feet up. This
effectively ended the game as a contest and
further points from Brian Close, Dara Smith,
Pat McNabb and Dave O’Riordan sealed the
victory for the men in green and white. This
was a thoroughly enjoyable game which was well
handled by the referee Ger O’Shea and which
now leaves St.Brendan’s unbeaten at the top
of the league.
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