Eire Og 1:05 Dulwich Harps 0:12
On a sunny day in East London we lost our first competitive match of the season in the McArdle cup to Dulwich.
The game started at tremendous pace with both sides missing some early chances before Dulwich settled into the game and scored 3 unanswered points. Eire Og finally got on the score sheet with a pointed free after 15 minutes. Dulwich then took over for the rest of the first half by dominating the breaking ball. Several well taken points from their pacey forwards gave them a half-time lead of 0-8 to 0-2 as Full forward Sean “2 footed” Allen got Eire Og’s solitary point from play in the first half.
The second half started with more of the same from Dulwich and they knocked over a few points to increase their lead. Eire Og also had their keeper to thank for keeping them in the game with some excellent close range saves. Keith Doherty had a stormer in goal but would have been forgiven if his mind was elsewhere as he is expecting a new baby this week. We wish him and his partner the best of luck. Inspired by those saves and some excellent last gasp defending Eire Og picked up the pace and showed that the long training sessions over winter have been worth it as they produced a fantastic final 15 minutes to the game. Firstly Allen pointed again and then Johnny Costello effort was unlucky to hit the cross bar and go over the bar after a great run by Donal Flynn. Big Damo Shannon started to dominate the game in midfield and stuck over his first point for the club. Then with a few minutes to go another great move involving Sean Allen, Richie Graham was ended with a pass from Big Damo to Costello at the edge of the square and this time he made no mistake and hit the back of the net. If there had been another 10 minutes left in the game Eire Og could well have went on and won it but in fairness Dulwich deserved the win but the new Eire Og panel can take some great encouragement with how they finished the game.
Training will continue on Tuesday in Highgate wood School but will commence at 19:30 from now on. Thursday sessions will continue around the Emirates stadium again meeting at 19:30.
New players welcome contact – Paul 07551 992977 or visit http://www.eireoglondon.org/newplayers