CLASHMORE CLOSE IN ON LEAGUE HONOURS

There was plenty of activity last weekend with teams playing in Waterford in both league and cup. The weather was kind to everyone after the previous few weekends that saw games cancelled. We will be reporting on the success of Clashmore Ramblers in the league and Brideview in the cup, while Lismore lost away in the cup, but the Lismore youth team had a marvellous win at Graun Park against Tramore.

All the clubs will be playing league football this weekend, as will Cappoquin/Railway.

We give the results also from the Munster Junior Cup semi-finals that were played last weekend and give venue, date and time for the FAI Junior Cup final.

In our ‘Memories’ section this week, we write of a chance meeting with a former player from the Red House League era and listened to his views of how disappointed he is that there is no longer a league this side of the county.

MUNSTER JUNIOR CUP SEMI-FINALS

The two Munster Junior Cup semi-finals were played last weekend at Jackman Park, Limerick. On Saturday, Regional Utd from the Limerick league defeated Ballynanty Rvs (Limerick league) 4-2 and on Sunday, Newmarket Celtic (Clare league) defeated Fairview Rgs (Limerick league) 1-0, with the final now between Newmarket Celtic and Regional Utd.

Newmarket are having a wonderful season to date as they are also in the FAI Junior Cup final. At the time of penning our notes we do not have a date or venue for the final.

FAI JUNIOR CUP FINAL

The FAI Junior Cup final between Newmarket Celtic (Clare league) and St. Michael’s (TS&DL) will take place on Saturday, 29th April at Jackman Park in Limerick, with a 5pm start.

SYMPATHY

Sincere sympathy to Dick and Sean Sheehan and the extended Sheehan family, on the death last week of Art Sheehan, Dublin Hill, Cork. Ar dheis Dé ar a anam.

WATERFORD LEAGUE Clashmore 5 De La Salle 0

Clashmore continued on their winning ways in Division 3B when they defeated De La Salle 5-0 at Pablo Park on Saturday afternoon. With just two more league games, both away, a quick look at the table shows that one win or two draws should suffice to see them crowned league champions. The scoreline on Saturday appears to be a comfortable win for the Ramblers, but the visitors made them battle hard for the best part of 70mins, before Clashmore started to pull away with four goals in the last 20mins.

Graham Guiry opened the scoring in the first half when he headed to the net from a corner kick. This was the score at half-time.

Clashmore attacked straight after the restart looking for the goal that would ensure all three points, but the visitors battled hard and the home team did waste a number of very good chances in front of goal. In the 70th minute, Guiry scored his and Clashmore’s second goal and this score allowed the home team more space with the visitors not able to match the home team. When Robbie Deady added a third, the game as a contest was over. Bobby Coonan added goal number four, before Daniel Lenane completed the scoring when he found the net for the final goal.

A hard fought three points, but Clashmore Ramblers now have a ten point cushion over nearest challengers Dungarvan Celtic who have two games less played.

This Sunday morning, Clashmore travel to Kilmacthomas with an 11am start, and a win here will see them crowned league champions. The following weekend, they have home advantage when they play St. Pauls in the cup.

JIMMY O’NEILL 2ND DIVISION CUP Brideview 3 Park Rgs 2

Brideview played at Leonard Fraser Park against Waterford team, Park Rgs on Saturday afternoon last in the Jimmy O’Neill 2nd Division Cup and following a very good game of football, came out on top 3-2. There was plenty of attacking football from both teams over the 90mins.

Brideview took the lead in the opening half when Richie Ryan converted a penalty and this was the score at half-time.

The second half started with the visitors going on all out attack as they battled for the goal that would bring them level. In a three minute period Park Rgs did better. They equalised in the 55th minute and three minutes later took the lead. But back came the Tallow team and in the 60th minute Stefan Tobin scored and the teams were level 2-2. With time almost up, in the 90th minute Brideview were awarded a free and Ben Aherne’s shot went into the net to send Brideview into the next round.

This Sunday, Brideview play Park Rgs once again, when they travel to Waterford for a league game with an 11am start.

St. Pauls 7 Lismore 1

Lismore played away on Saturday to St. Pauls in the Jimmy O’Neill Division 2 Cup and lost 7-1. The home team were leading at half-time 3-1 with the Lismore goal coming from the penalty spot, scored by Aaron Whelan. In the second half, Pauls took complete control and scored four more times for a comfortable 7-1 victory.

YOUTH A LEAGUE Tramore 2 Lismore 3

There was better news for the Lismore club on Sunday as the Youth team had a very good win in the Youth A League away in Graun Park, Tramore.

Tramore took an early lead in the first half and then took a two goal lead, both goals coming inside 15mins. But Lismore fought back brilliantly to score twice before the break and the sides were level at half-time.

Lismore really upped their game and scored the winner in the second half, but had to withstand nonstop attacks from their hosts, but the Lismore defence and goalkeeper Oisin were outstanding and at the final whistle, Lismore were winners 2-3. This was a wonderful win for Paul Quinn’s team against one of the strongest youth teams in the league. Well done to all concerned.

This Sunday the Lismore youth team travel to play Kilmacthomas in the Youth A League, with a 2pm kick off.

Elsewhere, this Saturday 22nd Cappoquin/Railway have Piltown as visitors to Cappoquin in Division 3A, with a 2pm kick off.

AIRTRICITY LEAGUE

We were among the 2,200 attendance at the RSC last Friday night for the very first visit of Kerry FC in the Airtricity League. The newly formed Kingdom outfit, with former Cork City and St. Patrick’s Athletic player Billy Dennehy as manager, received a wonderful reception from the Blues’ fans. Kerry have yet to register a win in the league and while we expected Waterford to win, we did write a few weeks back having seen them play Athlone at Mount Hawk Park, that they are a team that will improve as the season progresses.

Before the game commenced there was a minute’s applause in memory of Craig Breen who died following a crash in training in Croatia

The game started with Waterford attacking the city end and having scored 10 goals in their last two games, the home fans were expecting a goal feast against the bottom of the league side. But Billy Dennehy set up his team in a defensive formation to try and limit the goal threats that the Blues have posed in the past two weeks. This definitely worked and Kerry goalkeeper and captain, Wayne Guthrie was kept busy and made a few very good saves, including one from Shane Griffin whose header from a Dean McMenamy corner kick was tipped over the bar. Then, just before the break he saved from Ronan Coughlan at the expense of a corner.

The second half was similar with Waterford doing all the attacking, but the Kerry team were dangerous on the breakaway and as the half went on, the Blues’ supporters began to get frustrated with the chances that were being missed. However, in the 70th minute a corner from the old stand side at the country end was headed powerfully to the net by Coughlan, giving the Kerry keeper no chance. There were a few more opportunities to put the game to bed for Waterford, but the chances were wasted with, on a few occasions, the wrong decisions being taken by the players.

Waterford resorted to the high ball into the area and these were easily dealt with by the twin centre halves of Kerry, Sam Aladesanusi and Kevin Williams, both over six foot in height, and they won all the aerial duals. When referee Chris Sheehan blew full time, there was relief on the faces of the Blues’ fans that the three points had been secured and Waterford had leapfrogged Bray into second place in the league table.

The display on Friday night was not one that will beat better teams than the Kerry newcomers. Keith Long has now taken full points from his three games in charge and while this is encouraging, Galway are setting a pace so early in the league season, having played and won their nine games and are definitely favourites to be the automatic team promoted come November. Having already beaten Waterford at the RSC, the John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan managed team are the ones to catch, setting a blistering pace so early in the season, not having dropped a point in their nine games played to date.

Waterford will be playing their postponed game away to Treaty at the Markets Field on Monday next and that will bring them level on games with the teams around them.

This Friday night, Waterford will have Athlone Town as visitors to the RSC. Athlone defeated Cobh 2-0 at Athlone Town stadium last Friday and are in fifth place in the league table, four points adrift of Waterford, but a game more played than the Blues.

Cobh as we just wrote lost away to Athlone on Friday night and this was their second consecutive league defeat, having lost to Waterford the previous week. Athlone had lost their two previous games also and we had two teams looking for the three points that would keep them in the top half of the league.

According to our Cobh colleagues, the opening half did not offer very much in attacking football from either team with the opposing goalkeepers only called upon once or twice. The second half was only five minutes old when a free to Athlone from all of 25 yards was powerfully struck to the net, giving Cobh keeper Lee Steacy no chance.

Cobh then took control of the game as they attacked in search of the goal that would bring them level. The Ramblers were totally on top and it took a wonderful save from the home keeper to deny Wilson Wawereu from equalising. With five minutes remaining, a player we have mentioned here before, Adam Lennon, took advantage of a mistake in the Ramblers’ defence to find the net and ensure the three points for Athlone, who are now just a point behind Cobh in fifth spot. The two consecutive defeats for Cobh see the Ramblers slip from second to fourth in the table with Athlone breathing down their necks.

This Friday night, Cobh have home advantage when Treaty Utd visit St. Colman’s Park. Treaty lost away to Harps on Friday last and we will have two teams battling for points, having both lost last week.

Cork City after their heroics on Easter Monday at home to Dundalk, in which they claimed only their second league win of the season with a 1-0 victory, travelled to the Bowl on Friday night to play bottom in the table UCD in the return game. City’s other win was also at home in which they scored four times without reply against UCD, a game we reported on in our notes.

In our preview of Friday’s game in our notes, we wrote this was a must win game for City. With less than a minute on the clock, City were a goal down - the worst possible start to the game for Colin Healy’s team.

On Saturday at a Women’s league game we attended at Turner’s Cross, we spoke to many of our City colleagues who keep us in touch at away games and they were bitterly disappointed, not just with the result, but with the overall performance. We were told this was the worst away performance of the season, even worse one told us, than the heavy defeat to St. Pats at Inchicore a few weeks back. City’s woes stemmed from players being unable to hold onto passes and making wrong decisions.

Goalkeeper Kian Moore in the UCD goal had very little to do over the 90mins. One supporter told us City had only one shot on goal in the entire game. The league table shows Cork City second last with nine points, four clear of UCD who are bottom.

This Friday night Cork City play at home at Turner’s Cross when Derry City visit. Derry played their delayed away league game with Dundalk at Oriel Park on Sunday, because of President Biden’s visit to Co. Louth, and had to come from behind for a share of the points in a 2-2 draw.

When Cork City travelled to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium at the end of February, they lost to the Candystripes 2-0. Derry have slipped to fourth in the table following two consecutive home games in the past few weeks. The draw on Sunday will help with moral in Ruardhi Higgins’ team and they will pose a big threat to Cork City. To get at least a share of the points, Cork City will have to show a much improved performance to last Friday night at the Bowl.

To conclude this segment, we have spoken to many fans of teams since the league commenced in February and all agree that the attendances this season are the largest in many years. The standard of the top teams, especially in the Premier, is now at a level we have not seen before. Young players are beginning to make a breakthrough and of course the rule that does not allow them go across the water until they are 18 years of age is helping most of the clubs. When we look at the panels selected by Stephen Kenny, we see the number of players who have come through the underage international system and started their league careers in the League of Ireland.

With the standards improving, attendances will increase on Friday and Saturday nights.

In the 1st Division, both Waterford and Galway are attracting large crowds to the RSC and Eamonn Deacy Park, while our neighbours in the Premier, Cork City, have one of the best attendance records in the entire league outside of Tallaght Stadium.

RELIVING MEMORIES OF THE LATE ‘90’S WITH FORMER PLAYER

Last week in this segment we wrote on season 2022 that brought us into the current season and how for the first time in almost 50 years, there is no longer a WW/ EC Junior League. Unfortunately the number of clubs dwindled in the past number of years and clubs began playing each other too often. Last August a decision was made and clubs registered in the Waterford and District League, the Munster Senior League, the Cork AUL and the Shipping and Business League.

The clubs playing in Waterford are having an excellent season and from hearing the various reports, all the players are enjoying the new challenges and playing against new teams. However, for the first time since 1999, there is no representation from the west of the county on the MFA Council, as there is no longer a league, there are no clubs registered.

On Thursday last in a well known store we met a former player from the Red House League days, whose son has played in the WW/EC Junior League and at inter-league level. It was very interesting to listen to him and his views and how the league had gone from a high of 24 teams to a low of six teams last year. His views are shared by everyone involved, not only in association football, but sport in particular, that the past twenty or thirty years has seen such a change in society with so many other attractions outside of sport taking a hold. He spoke to us of, as he said the good old days, in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. We did agree, but that was the past and we now live in a completely different world.

What we once knew as normal has now changed to a ‘new normal’ since 2021 and Covid. Life is no longer the same and while we like to dwell in the past on occasion, time does not stand still for anyone. He told us he enjoys reading our notes, especially the Memories section, as he can recall so many of the player’s names and photographs that appear weekly.

Writing last week and this week of 1999, that year is so very special to so many that were involved in the league at that time. We did a quick look into the archives and while we did write on the league’s - Red House League - application, to fully affiliate and be accepted by the Munster Football Association, a number of years back in another piece entitled ‘Blast from the Past’, we decided we would give a brief few lines on what was for many committee members a momentous occasion.

We go back to the end of the ‘70’s and the start of the ‘80’s before the Jack Charlton era, with new clubs starting to appear in many rural areas throughout the country, and West Waterford and East Cork was no different.

Three committee members of that time, Donal Shanahan, Paddy Pollard and the late Patsy Quinn had a meeting with the executive of the MFA in their office on Patrick’s Hill Cork at the end of 1983. The three explained why they wanted to affiliate to Munster and the advantages it would have on football in the area. The executive asked the three delegates to wait for a few more years for experience, but they would meet with the league again. This did happen when three of the executive came to Lismore on 12th July, 1984 to a delegate meeting in the Red House and meeting with the committee before the meeting, then listened to the delegates at the delegate meeting. We were informed that the MFA was impressed with the way the league was managed but suggested the league continue as it was while the MFA held a meeting with the Waterford and District League in September.

After discussions between the MFA and the Waterford League, it was suggested we become associate members of the Waterford and District League with our own autonomy. This happened in 1985 and as associate members, would be liable for full MFA and FAI affiliations with an agreed associate fee to the Waterford League.

The Red House League had a representative, without voting rights at all delegate meetings in Waterford, while the Waterford League had a representative at the delegate meetings in the Red House League.

Those of us from that era remember Noel Wallace and Dick Barry attending the delegate meetings each month and the words of advice from Noel through those years.

We now go forward to 14th June, 1999 when the MFA, the Waterford and District League and Michael McBride, Liam Fraser and Paddy Pollard representing the Red House League, met at Ozier Park, Waterford. Looking at the archives for 1999 we give a report that appeared in the local papers of the league AGM held on 26th July at the Red House in Lismore.

The report tells us that the then league chairman, Paddy Pollard told the delegates, that Liam Fraser, Michael McBride and himself attended a meeting at Ozier Park, Waterford on 14th June, with officers of the Waterford League and the MFA. The boundaries for the Red House League were drawn up and signed by the two leagues and the MFA. Arising from this meeting, the Red House League was affiliated on its own to the Munster Football Association and the FAI.

From September 1999 the Red House League would be represented at all Munster Council meetings.

With no league now and no clubs registered, what was formerly the Red House League and then the WW/ EC Junior League representative on the MFA Council is no more.

As we wrote at the start of the segment, this “history” lesson came about when meeting a former player of over 30 years ago who still follows the football in the area and hopes that there will be a league up and running again. Our own view is this will not happen for many years to come as there is much work and planning to take place and a lot of commitment by everyone for this to happen.

Next week, we will look back into the archives once again and select a year for another piece of history to be retold.