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| Gavin Hanley and Tom Heery try to find a way around the tight Wild Geese Defense, Sheridan Cup Final 22/11/2009 |
Those wacky folk from Oldtown inflict more Final misery on St. Brendans
News Item added:25-11-2009
Arch-rivals St. Brendan's and Wild Geese squared up for the third time this year, this time to decide who would walk away with the Sheridan Cup.The Geese already had the psychological advantage and were looking for a third win on the spin against the Dark Force.
As if that wasn’t enough, Wild Geese then had the match location switched to Garristown at very short notice, so short in fact that most of Brendan’s players first went to Oldtown.
The game had also been fixed with an 11am throw in to allow the Geese’s followers attend their Hurlers AHL8 Final* later that day. Eventually, the ball was thrown in ten minutes late with Colin Garvin arriving on the pitch at the very last moment. The opening exchanges ended with Shane Foley putting his shot went wide and scoring was always going to be difficult with a gale force wind blowing. A few moments later, the Oldtown men got the opening score following a hop ball.
John Moore's attempt to take advantage of the wind almost paid off when his sideline ball was carried by the breeze but sailed wide. Later, Mick McGinty could not prevent the ball trickling out of play when attempting a cross. Wild Geese went two up when a free in went wide via a Brendan's hand, and this 45 was played short and over the bar. Shane Foley was fouled as soon as he received a pass from Trevor Purtill and up stepped Willie McLoughlin for The Dark Force’s opening score.
Then came the Thierry Henry Moment: a Wild Geese player saw his shot saved by Colin Garvin but remained in the square when the ball arrived back in and it rolled to the back of the net. An infuriated Garvin, just like Shay Given that fateful Wednesday, ran forty yards to complain to the ref but his pleas fell on deaf ears and the green flag stood. In reply, St. Brendan's hit back with a John Moore point from play, However the Geese nicked a second goal in a well worked move that gave Garvin no chance.
The Dark Force tried to rally and Robbie Caulfield and Gavin Hanley teamed up to set up Mick McGinty for our third point. Ken Foxe was harshly penalised for an illegal pick up with the ball three inches off the ground. McLoughlin saw his goal effort blast wide, which could have given St. Brendan's a chance in the second half, Another Geese point left the margin at seven points. Wild Geese could have ended the game as a contest shortly before half time, when a goal effort hit the butt of the post and was cleared thanks to Rob Stack, Tom Heery and John Ryan.
But the seven point deficit, with the wind against us in the second half, was always going to prove difficult. After a rousing half-time team talk The Dark Force got cracking to try to reduce the deficit, Shane Foley went on a 50 yard solo burst but his shot was cleared.
And the good start, which was so badly needed did not materialise when the Geese came up the field and scored the opening point of the half. The game was truly over as a contest with a third Wild Geese goal, which cut the Brendan's defense wide open.
Robbie Caulfield saw the line after his frustrations boiled over as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion. John Moore’s late penalty was little more than consolation and put a respectable gloss on the scoreboard.
So Wild Geese won the Sheridan Cup, yet they did not get their hands on the silverware due to the absence of any officials from the Dublin County Board.
Final score from Garristown: Wild Geese 3-9 St. Brendans 1-6.
* And Yes, Wild Geese won that too! Beating Setanta 2-6 to 1-2.
1. Colin Garvan, 2. Rob Stack, 3. John Ryan, 4. Tom Heary, 5. Ken Foxe, 6. Brendan Sharkey, 7. Trevor Purtill, 8. Shane Foley, 9. Dr. Mark McEntee BSc PhD, 10. Robbie Caulfield, 11. Willie McLoughlin, 12. John Moore, 13. David Henry, 14. Mick McGinty, 15. Gavin Hanley.
Subs: Timmy Ryan for Foxe, Mark Kinsella for Stack, Derek Henry for his namesake, Justin McCormack for Hanley, Johnny Walsh for McEntee. Paul McDonough and Will McCarthy not used.
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