Terenure FC 1-6 St James

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 ...