THE Dark Force’s new training regimen – which consists primarily of sitting on the couch watching All-Ireland Gold – almost paid an unlikely dividend in the first round of the Parson Cup.
Up against a well-drilled Clontarf side, St Brendan’s lost the game by three points but more accurate shooting and free-taking could well have yielded a better result.
It was a new-look St Brendan’s side that took to the Grangegorman turf. Fourteen regulars were away on a drag weekend at the fancy dress Carnival in Cologne, to celebrate the imminent wedding of the valiant Mick McGinty.
Clontarf got off to the better start but excellent defence from Mark Kinsella and Tom Heery kept scores to a minimum. A number of St Brendan’s efforts fell wide but as the half progressed, the Dark Force got into their stride with good points from Mark McEntee and Peter Burke.
Seamus Harrington was also doing serious damage at full forward and winning almost everything that came his way.
At half-time, new team captain Peter Burke exhorted his troops to rally on as the game was there for the taking with the teams well-matched at four points apiece. Unfortunately, the lack of training began to tell and Clontarf started to find their range.
Great endeavour in the second half from John Ryan, Shane Foley and Trevor Purtill (two of whom had played the hurling league final earlier that morning – guess which two) proved insufficient however and as the game came to a close, gaps began to appear and Clontarf tacked on a few insurance points.
All in all, despite just two low-key training sessions for the Dark Force, it was a satisfying performance, with the promise of plenty of improvement to come.
Training begins in earnest this Tuesday, with players expected at dressing room at 6:15pm and on the training pitch by 6:30pm. Veterans of the weekend mayhem in Cologne will be particularly welcome with another Parson Cup game against Parnells to come this Sunday.
The Team: 1/ John Moore, 2/ Tom Heery, 3/ Mark Kinsella, 4/ Ken Foxe, 5/ Trevor Purtill, 6/ John Ryan (0-1), 7/ Peter Burke (0-1), 8/ Mark McEntee (0-1), 9/ Shane Foley, 10/ Eamon Holly, 11/ Dave Sullivan, 12/ Mick McGinty, 13/ Paul Conlon, 14/ Seamus Harrington (0-3), 15/ AJ Lonergan. Subs: Eoin Smith, Kieran Sullivan.
As mentioned above, the Hurlers won the League Division 7, beating St Maurs of Rush 3-10 to 0-9 and can look forward to test themselves against tougher opposition in League Division 6.
