Cup holders Brideview play semi-final this week
Last week saw two games in the Dungarvan Leader Cup taking place. On Wednesday night Ballyduff defeated Cappoquin/Railway in a penalty shoot-out after the teams finished level and will now meet the holders, Brideview, this Wednesday in the semi-final. The other semi-final between Clashmore Ramblers and Dungarvan Celtic saw the Ramblers win and are now into the final. The final is planned for weekending 27th May.
In our ‘Memories’ segment this week, we continue with the early part of the 2000s and when the league entered a team in the Oscar Traynor Cup for the first time. For many, this period in the history of the league was one of the most exciting times to have been involved as many past committee members have told us. We definitely agree.
WATERFORD LEAGUE
The Lismore v Tramore Rgs 2B League game on Tuesday night last at the Castle Farm Ground did not take place as Lismore received a walkover from the Tramore Rgs club.
Brideview’s home game on Saturday against Red Star did not take place as both teams agreed, with nothing at stake, to share the points.
This Wednesday 17th May, Clashmore Ramblers travel to Ferrybank to play their final league game of the season in 3B with a 6.30pm start. Clashmore have already won the Division and will be presented with their winner’s trophy afterwards.
Friday, 19th May Lismore play Tramore in Division 2B at the Castle Farm Ground at 6.30pm. Saturday, 20th May in Division 2A, Brideview travel to Dunmore East with a 2pm kick off. On Saturday, 20th May Cappoquin/ Railway travel to play Kilbarry in Division 3A with a 2pm start.
DUNGARVAN LEADER CUP Clashmore Ramblers 2 Dungarvan Celtic 0
The first semi-final of this year’s Dungarvan Leader Cup took place on Thursday night last at Pablo Park, that saw Clashmore Ramblers defeat Dungarvan Celtic 2-0 in a very entertaining game.
Played on an excellent surface, both teams attacked from the very start. There was plenty of good football with the two teams attempting to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible.
The home team took the lead playing into the village goal, when Paddy Prendergast hit the net with a wonderful strike. The visitors rallied looking for the equaliser but the home defence with Graham Guiry excellent at the heart of the defence and Caelin Rooney causing problems for the Dungarvan team in the centre of midfield, and in fairness, Clashmore had chances to double their score but failed to find the net and led at half-time 1-0.
The second half saw Celtic chase the equaliser, but they never really caused too many problems for Ramblers’ keeper Pa O’Rourke. Rooney was a constant source of trouble for the visitors with his runs from midfield and the Dungarvan Celtic keeper made a few excellent saves to keep the home team from doubling their score. With 15mins remaining, a free to Clashmore from a few yards in from the car park touchline and in line with the edge of the penalty area, saw Johnny Walsh’s free kick turn in beautifully under the bar at the far post giving the keeper no chance. This was the goal to settle the nerves of the home team and supporters and Clashmore held out for the 2-0 victory and a final appearance against either the holders Brideview or Ballyduff.
Clashmore were the better team on the night, with some outstanding displays and without a doubt Caelin Rooney was man of the match, closely followed by Graham Guiry, team captain Danny O’Mahony and substitute Ben Lombard, who impressed when he came on a few minutes after the start of the second half.
Credit Dungarvan Celtic who never gave up, even when they went two goals behind and time running out. Overall, a very enjoyable and sporting game. Referee Dec Fogarty had an excellent game and his use of the advantage rule added to the game flowing freely for the 90mins.
To conclude our report of the game at Pablo Park, Clashmore were presented with a new away kit, jerseys, shorts and socks, by the main sponsors, the Old Still Bar, Clashmore. The presentation was made by Liz Salmon to team manager JP Carey.
Liz and all at the Old Still Bar are long time sponsors of Clashmore and this kit was badly needed this season when teams clash with colours and the Ramblers have to change. The sponsorship is greatly appreciated by the whole junior team and the club committee. Speaking to club committee members after the presentation, we were asked to mention that the club wish to thank associate sponsors for this kit, James Salmon of Salmon Carpentry and Alison O’Connor of Youghal Pharmacy, whose logos are both on the back of the new jerseys.
The second semi-final of the Dungarvan Leader Cup will be played this Saturday evening at the Castle Farm Ground, Lismore between the cup holders, Brideview and Ballyduff with a 4pm start.
The Dungarvan leader Cup final is planned for the following weekend. We will give date, venue and time in our notes next week.
AIRTRICITY LEAGUE
Our notes had been sent to the editor for printing last Monday morning when we discovered the breaking news from the RSC that Jon Walters had stepped down from his position as technical director of Waterford FC, and we open the Airtricity League segment this week with a small piece on his short time with the Blues.
Walters was appointed by the Blues in December with the task of overseeing the club’s long term football strategy, working closely with the head coach and the club’s academy. He shared this role with Fleetwood Town who play in League One of the EFL. With Waterford, he helped in bringing Keith Long as manager and Alan Reynolds as assistant manager.
On the occasions we met him in our League of Ireland duty, we found him to be a good listener and wanting to learn more of the various duties of FAI match delegates or referee’s observer. As a Blues fans on other occasions, he was aware he told us of the number of supporters who travelled from west of the county to the home games or away venues.
We ourselves expected that he would see out the season with the Blues, although he did say that it was time to move on as technical director of the Blues because it was the end of the EFL season. We find this hard to understand as he must have been made aware of when appointed, that the Airtricity League season does not end until November. Many of those we have spoken to during the week believe he is interested in a position within the FAI. If that is true and he does end up as an employee of the FAI, we wish him well.
Waterford 5 Cobh Ramblers 0
Friday night last saw a Munster derby at the RSC when Waterford had neighbours from “up the road”, Cobh Ramblers as visitors. Waterford went into the game on the back of two consecutive defeats, losses that see the Blues in second spot ten points adrift of leaders Galway. The Ramblers came to the RSC following two home victories in which they scored a total of eight goals. A crowd of just over 2,000 were present with Waterford showing a slightly different approach to their last two games, attacking the opposition from the very start. Leading goal scorer and player of the month award winner, Ronan Coughlan was unlucky after only a few minutes play, but he did not have long to wait when in the eight minute he headed to the net from a Killian Cantwell cross. Cobh can thank their keeper, Lee Steacy for keeping them in the game with two brilliant saves from Dean McMenamy and Giles Phillips, the latter’s effort resulting in a corner. From the resultant flag kick taken by Shane Griffin, Coughlan headed against the crossbar before being cleared.
On 30mins Paul Martin was called into action when saving from Wilson Waweru. Waterford were totally on top and one felt should have been a few goals up at this stage. The Blues did double the score on 37 minutes when Roland Idowu passed to Griffin, who flicked the ball over Jason Abbott before finishing to the net. A goal worth seeing anytime in any game. Half-time arrived with the Blues comfortably leading 2-0.
The second half was more or less the same as the opening half with Waterford in attacking mode and really playing the better football and totally on top. The third goal arrived 5mins after the restart with Coughlan turning provider for Barry Baggley who hit the net. The fourth goal came, again with assistance from Coughlan, when he played in Roland Idowu to give Steacy no chance from just inside the area.
With a minute remaining, Oluwa set up Wassim Aouachria to score and when referee Marc Lynch blew for the end of the game, Waterford were back to winning ways with 5-0 drubbing of their near neighbours in Cobh.
This was a win Waterford badly needed, having lost six points in the previous two weeks, and will for the next two weeks be on the road starting this Friday night away to Finn Harps at Finn Park, Ballybofey.
When the teams met at the RSC the last Friday in March, the Blues won easily 7-1. Harps are at present in second last position and lost last week 2-0 away to Bray. Finn Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Waterford teams through the years, but the Blues cannot afford to drop any more points.
Galway continued with another win last Friday night at home to Wexford, winning 2-0 and the ten point lead at this stage looks to be a winning lead even at this early stage. But as we always write, football is a funny old game and with 23 league games to play, one never knows or loses hope.
Friday night’s defeat for Cobh was a hard defeat to take for the players and management, as the team has improved in the past few weeks. Shane Keegan and Franny Rockett will have to work hard this week to get the players motivated after the heavy defeat.
This Friday night Cobh have Athlone Town as visitors. Athlone have the distinction of being the first league of Ireland team to be defeated by the newest club in the league, Kerry FC. The Kingdom team won on Friday last at Lissywollen 2-3 to give Billy Dennehy his first win as manager in the league.
As we wrote, Shane Keegan will have to get his team motivated after the display against Waterford last week, but the Ramblers should be strong enough.
Dundalk 2 Cork City 1
Cork City travelled to Oriel Park on Friday night and came away empty handed as they conceded two late goals in injury time for a 2-1 victory to Dundalk. Cork City went into the game on a run of five consecutive defeats. Many of the losses resulted in games they had been leading until late in the game. The same scenario occurred once again at the Co. Louth venue on Friday night. Still without a permanent manager the Cork team were managed by interim manager Liam Buckley, assisted by Richie Holland and Liam Kearney.
Our City colleagues kept us in touch and reported that the team attacked the home side from the start, taking the game to a Dundalk team that had won their last three league games that sees them in fourth position in the table. Cork City took the lead in the 19th minute when Ruari Keating played in fellow striker Owolabi who scored past the advancing home keeper, Nathan Shepperd.
This was a deserved lead, but Dundalk then put on pressure. Pat Hoban leading the home attack was beginning to cause problems for the City defence and City keeper Jimmy Corcoran had to be alert to thwart Hoban on two occasions. Half-time arrived with City leading.
The second half we were told saw the City defence, while under pressure, dealing with the Dundalk attacks stemming from midfield. In the 77th minute City lost Josh Honohan to a second yellow card and a head injury to Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh, which resulted in a long delay while the player received medical attention. He was replaced by Aaron Bolger. Down a player, the Cork City defence still managed to hold out until three minutes injury time was played when Dundalk scored.
Team captain Cian Coleman then received a red card for a foul on a Dundalk player. This saw City with nine players and a few minutes of injury time still to be played. In the 97th minute Dundalk struck through home favourite, Pat Hoban and shortly after the full time whistle sounded and Cork City’s dismal run in the Premier Division continues, making this the tenth defeat in fifteen league games.
The display of the referee on Friday night came under criticism once again from the Cork City contingent. We hear that the red card shown to Cian Coleman is to be appealed by the club to the FAI Disciplinary Committee. This is not the first occasion that City have been critical of some refereeing decisions that have gone against the club. We will not comment on any of this as we await to hear the result of the appeal.
This Friday, Cork City have Sligo Rvs as visitors. The Bit O Red are not having the best of seasons themselves and are in fourth last position, ten points better off than Cork City. Sligo lost at home on Saturday night to Shelbourne 0-3. The win by Damien Duff’s team sees them into fourth place in the table, six points adrift of leaders Shamrock Rvs.
The Cork City fans will be hoping for a bit more luck than in previous home games and will also hope that the managerial position will have been sorted sooner rather than later. We are hearing of various names being mentioned, but we believe regardless of who is appointed, there is much work to be done in building a squad of players that will get City out of the play-off position they find themselves at present. There are still enough games remaining in the season for this to happen. Some fans believe the best that can be expected is a play-off at the end of the season against Waterford, as the general opinion is Waterford will be runners-up to Galway and the Blues should be good enough to qualify from the Division play-off to play the second last in the Premier Division, which unless things change drastically, will be Cork City.
For this to happen will be, as someone said to us last week, a disaster. Both Cork City and Waterford have the largest support outside of Dublin. The attendance figures from this season’s games confirm this. The perfect scenario would be if both teams were playing in the Premier, and the crowds that would be seen at Turner’s Cross or the RSC. All of this is for another day.
MEMORIES
We have for the past number of weeks concentrated on the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s. This was a period for those involved that will never be forgotten. The league went from being Associate Members of the Waterford and District League to a league affiliated to the Munster Football Association and the FAI, with a league representative on the council of the MFA and FAI Junior Council. At the same time, the league had 24 teams competing in three divisions and also clubs that were competing in the FAI Junior Cup and the MFA Junior Cup, two competitions that the league committee felt would improve the standard of the league as the clubs were playing sides from other leagues, especially clubs that had proven records in these competitions.
All of a sudden, clubs such as St. Michael’s and Clonmel Town from the TS&DL, Waterford Crystal and Carrick Utd from the Waterford League, just to mention a few, were visiting or hosting clubs from the Red House League. The local clubs were delighted to be able to play against clubs that were household names in the junior game, and clubs that had been previous winners of the FAI Junior Cup or the MFA Junior Cup. We remember when Lismore hosted St. Michael’s shortly before they went on to lift the FAI Junior Cup and also Waterford Crystal, who at that particular time was the only junior team to lift the Munster Senior Cup. This feat was also achieved by Carrick Utd in 2011 when they defeated Limerick FC in the final played at Tom Drohan Park.
In September 2011 Inch, as Red House League champions 2010/11, welcomed the forementioned Carrick to Sexton Park in the 1st round of the Champions Cup. This was the very first year of this new competition which saw the top team in the top division of the twelve leagues in Munster go into the draw. Inch lost out to Carrick on the day.
As far we know, both Waterford Crystal and Carrick Utd are the only two junior teams to have lifted the Munster Senior Cup and both teams from the Waterford League.
It is worth mentioning when speaking of the late ‘90s and the start of the current century, that not only were junior club teams playing in national and provincial cup competitions, there were also youth teams playing in the equivalent youth competitions. We remember criticism levelled at the league committee in the past ten years for the failure to organise a youth competition.
While the memory is no longer what it was, we do remember that it was explained why there was no youth league, as the clubs themselves did not enter youth teams in the league.
At one particular meeting there were only four clubs interested in entering a team in a youth league. We could continue this little piece of history, but we are glad to see youth teams playing in other leagues as the future we always say is with underage and youth football for any club to continue into the future.
Speaking of the end of the ‘90s and the commencement of the 2000s and the Red House League, a league on its own, apart from clubs playing national and provincial competitions, the league entered teams in the Oscar Traynor Cup which was an interleague cup competition. At that particular time, the Oscar Traynor Cup was regarded as the blue riband competition in junior football, as this brought the best players in their league together and while a player may not have had the opportunity to play against better opposition if his club did not enter any of the main national cup competitions, selection on an interleague team ensured playing against the best players in the junior game in Ireland.
In January 2001 the Red House League played their very first game in the Oscar Traynor Cup, travelling to Ozier Park, Waterford to play the Waterford League.
At that time the competition was played on a knockout basis. The report of the game in a local Waterford paper stated that the Red House League had a chastening introduction to Oscar Traynor Cup football, when in their first ever game in the competition they were hammered 6-1 by the Waterford League selection.
Those of us who were at the game remember it for two very different reasons. One, the league fulfilled a dream that many of the RHL committee had hoped would happen on their watch, to play in the Oscar Traynor Cup. Second, disappointed to lose so heavily, but for the players on the day and the management it was a learning curve that would stand to the league in later years.
For the record, the team that played that game on Sunday, 21st January 2001 was: Shane Fitzgerald (Valley Rgs), Paddy O’Mahony (Inch), Denis Martin (Brideview), Peter Horgan (Mogeely), Chris Hegarty (Castlebridge), Stuart Barry (Brideview), JP Grey (Brideview), Shane Kearney (Valley Rgs), Caimen Radley (Blackwater), Anthony Aherne (Ardmore), Darren Sheedy (Castlebridge). Reserves: Leonard Byrne (Gortroe) for Caimen Radley, George Leetch (Castlebridge) for Darren Sheedy, Tommy Seymour (Kilworth) for Peter Horgan.
The joint managers of the team were Sean Kerins and Jim Foley.
The following season, the RHL was drawn against Waterford once again. The game was played on Sunday, 9th December, 2001 at Ozier Park with Waterford again scoring six goals, this time without reply.
The report of this game says the Waterford League took the lead after just one minute’s play, which was the worst possible start for the West Waterford team. As a contest the game was over by half-time when the home team were leading 4-0. They scored twice more in the second half and for the two seasons the RHL have entered the competition, they have met an inform Waterford League team.
The RHL team was: Shane Fitzgerald, David Whelan, Alan Landers, Peter Howard, Leonard Byrne, Michael Shanahan, David Howard, Brendan Landers, Eoin Murphy, Brendan Hannon, Terence Rumley. Reserves used: Sasha Kazanyak, Sergy Rypin, Colin Horgan, Keith Hornibrook.
After two drubbings in consecutive years, questions were asked if the league should continue entering a team. But two years later there was a change in the rules of the competition when the Key Committee of the FAI Junior Committee decided to change the format of the tournament from knock-out to groups and this suited the RHL, especially as it became a two year cycle guaranteeing home and away over the two years. It is hard to believe after the two opening years and the two hammerings received, the year 2004 is a year the RHL will never forget as this was the year the team qualified for the open round of the competition.
The open round is when the top two teams from the group stage enter an open draw throughout the country. In a three team group, TS&DL, the Desmond League and the RHL, the RHL lost to the team that won the competition the previous season, TS&DL by the only goal of the game played at Modeligo. The Desmond League drew with the RHL, but lost heavily to the Tipperary team and the RHL ended runners-up on goal difference and thus qualified to meet the Sligo/Leitrim team at the Ray McSharry Sports Complex, Sligo. We have written on this game in previous segments of Memories, with the home team winning 2-1 with the winning goal scored in the last minute. But what all this shows is the improvement there was in a matter of years and the interest there was in the competition for at least two decades.
This period also saw the league enter a youth interleague team in the FAI Inter-league competition. Similar to the juniors, after two years playing against top leagues in Munster, the RHL Youth team did start to get into the open round of the competition. Considering the few youth teams at the time, to reach the last 16 in the country was an achievement on its own.
Next week, we will continue with some more memories from the past and if any of our readers wish to contact us with some of their own memories, we are only too delighted to include them here.