Finally,
Bushy Park was playable and we hosted our very first home match. The home fans
were out in force with standing room only on the sidelines.
And what
a treat they were in for ... well, for the first 30-40 minutes anyway!
Andy
returned for an excellent performance as goalie, leaving Jackson for a trot
outfield. As promised, our starting 11 included anyone who had not started the
week previously. We really were brilliant for the first 20 minutes, playing
easily our best football so far this season and definitely had St. James's on
the ropes. We had several near misses, with both Matt P and Oisín finding
the woodwork. At last, after a goal mouth scramble, Jackson put away his first
goal of the season. 1-0 to Terenure and the coaches were feeling like Irish
rugby fans watching the first half of Ireland v the All Blacks. "Pinch me
Hugh, am I dreaming!". The back four of big Matt, Sam,Tom and Cian
were on fire and we were dealing with every potential attacking ball
immediately and efficiently Both Conors played their socks off, running
tirelessly and Luke was getting stuck in at every opportunity As well as
scoring the goal, Jackson caused mayhem in midfield, challenging for everything
and winning a lot Oisín and Matt created a lot of chances and were
unfortunate not to convert more ... We were dominant up to about 35 minutes in
and frankly should have been 3-0 up. Then, in an all-too familiar scene, we
were caught on the break and let their handy number 11 level the scores. After
that, we seemed to lose momentum and let them score a demoralising goal just
before half time. We did not deserve to be 2-1 down into the break after the
amount of pressure exerted in the first half.
The
second half was disappointing as we let them get stuck in and the often
highlighted issue of our fitness and stamina levels came to the fore. We let
the heads go down after they scored again and really just awaited the mercy of
the full time whistle in the end.
So to
roll out the hackneyed clichés , it was a game of two halves where we gave 110%
(but only for the first 35 minutes) with the end result leaving us all sick as
a parrot. The glimmer of hope is growing stronger though - we need to stay
calm, organised and disciplined. And so do the boys ...
