Ronnie stars on big day at Woodlands!
Greystones United AFC host superb event
GREYSTONES United AFC celebrated 30 years passing since the ‘The Boys in Green’ travelled to West Germany and competed in an unforgettable Euro 88 Championship last Saturday afternoon.
Irish football legends Paul McGrath, Tony Cascarino, Ray Haughton and Ronnie Whelan came together for the celebration on Saturday afternoon to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans from all over Ireland young and old. RTE soccer commentator George Hamilton also attended and used his extensive knowledge of the game to provide his expert commentary throughout the three games.
Midfield maestro Ronnie Whelan was the only remaining Ireland legend available to play in the game against Greystones United as McGrath, Haughton and Cascarino did not tog out for the game due to their old playing injuries still remaining a problem, but Whelan did not shy away from the challenge and started the game in centre midfield for the Ireland Legends team.
Although Whelan was rarely going on darting runs from centre midfield, the former Liverpool man certainly hasn’t lost his touch or vision for the game.
Whelan sat in the centre of midfield for the first two games and sprayed balls around the pitch and looked desperate to set up former Wolves striker Glen Crowe as he instantly played the ball into the striker once gaining possession of the ball.
Crowe had an incredible goal tally during his career in both England and Ireland, scoring over 100 goals throughout his career and showed some of his eye for goal on Saturday as he scored a whooping seven goals throughout the games.
The first game of the three ended in a 1-1 draw with Gary Dempsey coming up with the goal for the Legends side.
The former Bray Wanderers midfielder was one of the players on the pitch for the Legends team that still had the fitness and the pace to go past players without having to go off to the side line for the oxygen tank!.
Whelan definitely wasn’t short of confidence as the Dublin man togged out for a second game to everyone’s surprise as he looked to be panting very heavily towards the end of the first game.
But the midfielder was determined to continue and got an assist early in the game with a sweet curling ball into Glen Crowe who got the smallest of touches to flick the ball around the Greystones keeper and into the net.
Crowe was hungry for even more goals and bagged another two to get his hat-trick. Crowe’s third goal wasn’t the prettiest of finishes as he was waiting at the back post from a corner and forced the ball into the net with what looked like with his chest but may have been his stomach and there was a few giggles around the grounds as the ball went into the net.
Whelan limped off with minutes to go in the second game in what looked like a mixture of tiredness, out-of-breathness and a genuine injury to his calf. The midfielder left the field of play and immediately got treatment from a fellow Irish legend, Richie Byrne, who aided Ronnie in the dugout. The second game ended in a comfortable victory for the Legends side as they strolled to a 4-0 victory.
The third and final game was literally separating the professional players from the amateurs.
Credit to the Legends side who hadn’t used many substitutes in any of the games apart from Whelan, but continued to boss each game.
Crowe was again in on the scoring act with another three goals and scored the perfect hattrick, one with his left foot, one with his right and the final one with his head.
With Daryl Murphy retiring and Shane Long on poor run of form for Ireland at the moment it’s a genuine mystery on why Martin O’Neil hasn’t given the goal machine a call for the upcoming Nations League campaign.
RTE sport correspondent Tony O’Donoghue made an appearance late on in the final game with a late substitution for the Irish Legends side.
O’Donoghue had a few touches before the final whistle but there was no doubt that every spectator in the grounds was thinking the same thing: ‘Stick to the television work, Tony’.
The Ireland legends team dominated the three games overall, scoring a whooping ten goals throughout the match.
It was a great turn out for Greystones United who raised funds for both their new clubhouse and the ‘Gavin Glynn Foundation’.
Credit has to go to Ireland’s rock in defence, Paul McGrath, who stood in the cold for over three hours to sign autographs and take pictures with fans.