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| Adult Football |
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On an afternoon which was perfect for football, a late, late goal very much against the run of play sent the Cuala supporters home scratching their heads and wondering how a game that was already gift-wrapped for Christmas could have slipped away. The players and Management will rue a number of missed opportunities spurned by the Reds late in the game which would have made the game safe, however credit must be given to a Thomas Davis outfit that never gave up and showed a resilience and determination right through to the end. Within 2 minutes of the throw in, David Treacy was put through by Paul Schutte and took the opening point at the Hyde Road end in fine style. On 5 minutes Davis' worked the ball very well down the left and a shot from their corner forward flashed across the Cuala goal but went harmlessly wide. Thomas Davis soon opened their account however, when a Cuala kick-out was won uncontested in mid-field and returned into the waiting centre forward who took an easy point. The teams were very well matched and the game developed into a pulsating affair with possession crucial around the middle and some wonderful, flowing passing movements from both teams. Centre forward Pat Divilly put Luke Keating through for a fine long range point. This was followed by a John Sheanan free and when Scott O'Brien and Sheanan worked the ball well down the right, it was Jason Ellerd who shimmied past two Davis' defenders and put a lovely point over the bar on 13 minutes. However Cuala didn't score for the remainder of that first half and allowed the Green and Golds back into the game. Cuala's half-forward line gave away five or six frees in that second quarter which put pressure on the Cuala rear-guard and eventually allowed Thomas Davis gain the upper hand. The pressure began to tell and when the corner-forward was pulled down in the square, referee Tony Lambe had no option but to stretch out both arms and award the penalty. A goal at this point would have been the final nail in the Dalkeymen's coffin but goalie Darren O'Broin had other ideas. For the second weekend in succession, he pulled off a great save to keep Cuala within shouting distance of the Tallaght team. Cuala did have one superb passing move down the centre during this period which ended with a fierce shot from full-forward Sheanan that whistled past the left hand upright. The sides went in 0.6 to 0.4 at half-time, a two point advantage for the Tallaght men. There was a much better urgency about Cuala on the re-start and within 2 minutes the Reds had worked two scoring chances that were both spurned. The move of John Sheanan to the 40' and the introduction of Sean Murphy changed the balance of power around the centre of the field and Thomas Davis began to lose their grip on the game. With Michael Fitzsimons Oisin Gough and David Sheerin masterful at the back, Cuala began to take full advantage and eventually found the break-through when Gough linked up with Scott O'Brien on the 40' who passed into the immaculate Paul Schutte at corner-forward for a goal that was a long time coming. Immediately afterwards during Cuala's 'purple-patch', good work from mid-fielder Eoghan Breathnach released Sheanan who put O'Brien through on goal. His shot crashed off the black-spot and went over for a point. Cuala were now in full flow and it looked like the game was over for Thomas Davis as the momentum was with the home side. Kenny Keogh was introduced at this point and added to the problems for the Tallaght side, however with their great resilience and never-say-die approach, Thomas Davis clung on grimly to Cuala's coat-tails. With twenty minutes left on the clock, Cuala could not break clear and were only ahead by two points. Davis' scored a point from a free and then a magnificent point from play from way out on the right wing by their mid-fielder which was probably score of the match, levelled the game. Again Cuala came forward and within five minutes Cuala again found the back of the net. A wonderful flowing movement involving Keating, O'Brien and Gough ended up with a deft pass from Treacy across the square to Schutte who despatched the ball to the net passed the despairing goalie. Again this looked like a death-blow for Thomas Davis but they quickly responded with a point of their own. Cuala scored another point from a Schutte free following hard work from Breathnach to re-affirm the three point lead. With ten minutes remaining, decisions started to go against Cuala. Two frees were awarded against Cuala for over-carrying and fouling the ball which stemmed from pressure exerted by the Davis' players. Both were converted. With five minutes to go and now just the minimum between the teams, Treacy put Keating in for his second and what looked like the insurance point for Cuala. With time ticking away, and both sets of players out on their feet, Cuala had two more opportunities to put the game beyond doubt, but both were spurned. The Red faithful on the sideline wondered if those two misses might prove very costly! With the game now in injury-time, and the referee indicating that time was up, Thomas Davis put a movement together following an intercepted loose pass from Cuala in mid-field. The ball was played down the right and with one half of the crowd holding their breath, and the other half screaming for a goal, a shot from their centre-forward was parried brilliantly by the Cuala goalkeeper into the path of Thomas Davis jersey who kicked it straight into the empty net. Tony Lambe blew for the end of the game and the Tallaght side had won by the minimum. One team of players rejoiced, the other collapsed to the ground. A sad, sad way to lose any game, but when it is a Championship
decider, it is even harder to swallow. Well done to both teams and
Managers for a spirited and sporting display of football. For Cuala,
the only consolation is that most of the players will be back again
next year!
After the break, Cuala needed to start well, but ten minutes in it was Na Fianna who again took the initiative. A misdirected Cuala line-ball, was pounced on by the lively Fianna forwards and worked into the Cuala square. With the goal in danger, the Cuala rear-guard had to give away a penalty. Darren O'Broin in goal made an outstanding save off the ensuing spot-kick, but the writing was on the wall for Cuala. It took them 32 minutes to take their next point and, like the 46A bus, two arrived together. Now the game swung in Cuala's favour and Andrew Hackett, Mark Schutte and Michael Bernie were sent into the fray. Their extra strength and energy began to turn the game Cuala's way but, as the Na Fianna backs began to wilt, the Dalkeymen were running out of time. Hackett and Breathneach each scored long range points and Keating took three more, one of them from a free, but Cuala needed a goal! With 10 minutes remaining, there was constant pressure on the Na Fianna rear-guard. David Treacy crashed a ball off the right post which rebounded across the goal but to a Fianna jersey; Schutte was put through on goal in a lovely passing movement but lost possession just as he was about to strike for goal. Keating from tight on the left put a shot across the goal but no-one from Cuala could get on the end of it and the ball went agonisingly wide. Na Fianna's backs were now becoming more cynical in the tackle as the clock was running down, and gave away yet another free this time 20 yards out. Schutte stepped up to hit a screamer, but the ball flew over the bar. It wasn't Cuala's day. Tony Feeney the referee blew for time and Cuala realised they still have a mountain to climb to make it to the next level. Going into this series of games, Cuala were joint top in the league
with St. Pat's Palmerstown with 20 pts a piece. But their adversaries
picked up 2 pts today following their facile win over Thomas Davis.
With one game remaining, it now looks like Cuala may have to go
into the play-offs with St. Finians, Naomh Barróg and St.
Perigrines to take the last remaining promotion spot. On a mild November afternoon which was perfect for football, a stylish, well balanced Cuala outfit out-played and out-passed their Boden counterparts in a game that was fast and furious from the throw in. With Cuala electing to play a deadly 2-man full-forward line of John Sheanan and Paul Schutte, it was critical for Cuala to get the ball quickly passed mid-field and into the inside forwards. With very slick passing movements and good off the ball running, the Cuala mid-field of David Treacy and the towering Eoin Breathneach supported by Rory Doyle linked up very well with the half-forward line of Scott O'Brien, Mark Divilly and Luke Keating to launch wave after wave of attack on the Boden goal. Boden responded well in defence but could only muster a few points up front, mostly from dead balls. Early on, Cuala showed their intensions when a shot from Sheanan who had coasted past the defence, tested the metal of the crossbar with a terrific shot. The Cuala forwards and mid-field continued to dominate and the red side of the score-board was clocking up quickly. Late in the first half after another fine passing movement, O'Brien sent in a high ball goal-ward from the left wing. Treacy running straight through the middle, caught the ball 6 yards out but was pulled down by the Boden keeper before he could shoot. The resulting penalty was clinically despatched to the net by Schutte with such power and accuracy that it was impossible to stop. Cuala went into the half-time interval 1.9 to 0.5 up and looked to be well on their way. They showed great discipline and tenacity in the tackle and turned over ball after ball around the middle of the field. Cuala moved the ball very quickly and there always appeared to be players available. Their passing movements were slick and intelligent with passes from both foot and hand finding their mark with great regularity. It looked ominous for the Blue and Whites at this stage and Boden knew they needed to up their game and get an early goal if they wanted to progress in this year's Championship. However it was Cuala who grabbed the initiative after the break and after some good work down the left by Treacy and Keating, a ball played across to Schutte on the right wing, left him one-on-one with the keeper. He kicked a fierce shot over the keeper's right shoulder which seemed to dip into the net. He later followed this up with another shot from in front of the goal which again tested the metal of the cross-bar this time at the car-park end. Boden responded well and tagged on a number of unanswered points but Cuala were always in control. Their full-back line of Ciaran McAdam, Michael Fitzsimons and David Shearan were never really tested and the half-backs Mark Schutte, Oisin Gough and Colm McCarthy snuffed out any ideas of a Lazarus-like come-back from Boden. However, despite this, Boden's forwards got in one fierce shot from a tight angle on the right which deflected off a bemused Daren into the Cuala goal. A very sporting game was marred by an innocuous incident where a Boden player was given a straight red and a Cuala player a second yellow for what appeared to be a brief spat in the dying minutes of the game. Final score 3.18 to 1.8 in favour of the Dalkey-men. Cuala progress
to meet Thomas Davis in the next round but word has it that Ballymun
Kickham's name is already written on this year's Championship. With
this performance from Cuala, we'll have to wait and see about that
one! Well done to both teams and Managers for a spirited and sporting
display of football. For Cuala - another good day at the office! Junior B Championship Final Oct 4th 2008 Having had the chance to study Cuala in their semi final win over Trinity, Vincent's had pinpointed Cuala's full forward line , and thus dropped a man to play in front of them. With it increasingly difficult to get Quality ball into our forwards the early scoring fell to Mr Hackett and a nicely clipped point brought teams levels.
But with the wind strengthening Cuala knew the game was far from over. Vinnies won the throw in and tore at Cuala but once again Oisin Gough snapped into a tackle like a vicious snake , turned over the ball to C Mac ( Adam ) who ( despite Derek Dunne roaring NO!! ) played a great cross field pass to Colm Murphy who feed the ball up the line to the industrious Kevin Dowling. A neat little pass from Dowling to the Ping, and after about 3 illegal challenges the Ping was eventually brought to ground , still no whistle so a great off load to the on rushing Hackett out A.J in the clear to tap over his 4th point from play. Cuala were now 10-2 up. Vinnies had to act, and some changes from the line, the strengthening wind and some dubious referring decisions brought them right back into the game. 10 -2 quickly became 10-5, and then suddenly with about 5 mins
left it was 10-09. Was it slipping away from Cuala? They needed
to win ball and with David Treacy now at midfield
and Gerry Gallen bursting into the game that's
exactly what they started to do. With time ticking away and the
bare minimum between the teams, Cuala fought and defended like Lions
protecting their young cubs. Cuala's Junior B championship campaign was one filled with many highs but it started on a huge low when Centre Back Neil Reid sustained a serious shoulder injury in the first minute of the first game v Crokes. A roaring second half performance secured victory there and muted win over Olaf's brought us into the quarters. On a balmy July night Cuala kick started our championship. Despite Man-O-War being 2 divisions ahead of Cuala in the league, a huge home crowd roared us to a deserved 1 point win ( 0-15 to 1-11 ). A devastating performance from our fill forward line took us over Trinity in the semi and the complete Team performance in the final brought home the Trophy. Well done to Davey Cunningham and all the lads.
You can view pictures of the great contest in the Gallery. The game started late due to the non-arrival of the referee and Gaels took the early initiative and raced into a 2pt lead. The Trinity Gaels mid-field and half-forward line were dominating at this point and it looked like Cuala might be in trouble. The introduction of Oisin Gough helped settle the back line and when Andrew Hackett and Gerry Gallen began to win their share of ball in mid-field, the tide began to turn. With a full-forward line of Paul Schutte, David Treacy and, 'Golden-boots', Dan Keating, there was no doubt among the Cuala faithful that there would be serious damage done if the ball was played into them. The half forward line of Paul McAdam, Houlie and Colin Jones worked tirelessly for the team all through and early in the game were starting to cause serious problems for the Gaels backs. Cuala went in at the interval with 2 pts to spare with points from Houlie, Keating, Treacy and Jones. After the resumption, Cuala started winning the majority of the breaks in mid-field, their work-rate increased and the Trinity backs were now under constant pressure. Paddy, Dave, Derek and Greg the Cuala Management Team must have used some stern words during the break! As the full-back line of the elegant Colm Murphy on the right, the powerful Ciaran McAdam in the centre and the spritely Denis Monaghan on the left, began to squeeze the life out of the Trinity Gaels attack the game started to swing in the Cuala direction. The break-through came when Houlie won a ball in mid-field with a strong challenge, and passed a ball down the right wing to Schutte who beat his man and headed for goal. He went through a number of despairing tackles (some illegal it has to be said) and gave a hand-pass across the square to the in-coming Treacy who dispatched it to the net. This had the effect of knocking the spirit out of the Trinity players, and it wasn't long before the next goal arrived. Colin Jones who played very well all through, took another ball in mid-field, played a sublime foot-pass to Schutte over the head of his defender and put him through on goal. Most players would have considered a point to be a reasonable return from this attack but Paul had other ideas. He headed for goal, waited for the keeper to come off his line, and with the deftest of kicks, lobbed the ball over the despairing keeper who turned to watch the ball settle into the back of his own net. Almost immediately Paul had his second goal from almost the same position on the left wing. This time the Trinity keeper stayed on his line and the ball was pulverised passed him to the roof of the net. At this point the score was 3.6 to 0.6 points and the game was over as a contest. Schutte tagged on another point and with the full-forward line scoring 3.5 between them, the damage was too much for Trinity Gaels. The Cuala line emptied their bench and waited for the final whistle. Gaels took a consolation goal in the last few minutes but the Reds had plenty to spare as the referee called proceedings to a halt. The work-rate, unselfishness and industriousness of the six forwards combined with the resilience of the backs and mid-field will make this a very tough team to beat. The final will be against St. Vincents on Oct 5th with Venue to be decided. A very satisfactory day at the office! |
On
a bright, fresh but cold day in Glasnevin, Cuala started the game
much the better and opened up a 0.3 to 0.0 lead in the opening quarter.
John Sheanan, feeding off David Treacy, took the first point of
the game after five minutes in a well worked move down the left.
Keith Keogh couldn't believe his luck when his corner back ran the
length of the pitch in support a Na Fianna attack only to see the
attack break down, and the ball worked straight back down the wing
to the unmarked Keogh, who off loaded to Scott O'Brien for a fine
point. Sheanan added a third immediately afterwards following good
work by Colm McCarthy this time from the right wing, and the Reds
looked in total control. Bobby Browne, Donal Lehman and Michael
Fitzsimons dominated in the half-back line and the fullback line
of Aodán , Ronan McKenna and Liam McHugh were on top. However,
Sheanan suffered a dead-leg in that attack, his mobility was badly
affected and he had to be replaced 20 minutes into the game. Cuala
had to re-engineer their mid-field and attack and appeared to lose
their momentum. This galvanised a Moibhí Road outfit that
looked very ordinary during the opening quarter. Their mid-field
and half-backs began to get on top and started winning the lion's
share of the kick-outs. Their forwards began to play a more expansive
and open game and their inside forwards in particular caused plenty
of problems for the Cuala backs. Balls played into space appeared
to always find a yellow & blue jersey and their off-the-ball
running was very effective. A high ball played into the full-forward
line was fielded in front of goal and converted by their left-corner
forward for their opening point. From the kick-out, Na Fianna again
won possession and an innocuous ball played into the right corner
forward position looked to be going wide. A Na Fianna forward latched
onto it, kicked it across the goal from off the ground, where it
was met on the volley and driven to the Cuala net. Suddenly, within
the space of a couple of minutes, Cuala found themselves behind
0.3 to 1.1 having had most of the play for the first quarter. Na
Fianna continued to dominate during the second quarter and went
in at the interval with a 5 point lead 0.3 to 1.5.
But
with 20 mins gone now at this stage Vincent's would have been much
the happier with the teams stuck at 2-2. But at last Cuala were
able to get their quick full forward line into the game. Schutte
started the scoring, curling over a beauty with his left, then Ping
Ping (Donal Holohan) swung over a lovely free from
a tight angle. With Colin Jones hovering up ball
Cuala were in total control, Schutte pinged over
a 45, Dan got one with his left and when Schutte
tapped over another just as the 30mins were up to make it 8-2, Cuala
looked to have a fair reward for their first half endeavour, but
right on the whistle, a fine cross filed pass from Schutte
found Hackett, who slipped past his man and unleashed
a rasping shot which walloped against the bar and over. Cuala finished
the half 7up, 9-2. 
A
unique Christmas competition was inaugurated in Dalkey this year.
Organised by Ken Fitzgerald, Manager of the southside
club's Sports and Social Integration Project, the match of two halves
- Football & Hurling - pitted Cuala's singles, the so called
"Young Bucks" against their married 
team
mates, the "Old Dogs". The prize at stake was the right
to hoist Corn "Saol Ró Gear" ("Life's
Too Short" Cup) and, of course, the associated bragging rights.
At the end of a well-contested game, the "Old Dogs" pack
leader, Derek Dunne, stepped up to receive the
Cup. Judging by the success of the St. Stephen's Day event, it seems
certain that this will become a popular fixture in Cuala's calendar.
Pictures of well-contested engagement can now be seen in the |
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