Played under the shadows of the Loughcrew Hills ,where Cromwell created such havoc just a few centuries ago ,the pitch in Millbrook was resplendent .From ferrying juvenile teams all over the county for two decades you get to know every nook and cranny in a County.I have always found it hard to find this pitch and the pitch of Moylough and for this reason was a little late.Parked at the back of the goal ,where I had a bird's eye view of proceedings.Just after I landed Ollie Murphy punched a goal.According to an astute reader of the game ,we were well in control up to that point.And the goal reduced our lead to a point.Ollie has a crocked knee it seems and wears sports tights to keep his joints in place.Despite these handicaps he is a class act and hard to handle.He won a penalty later in th game ,which Jennings parried and cleared.Had it been converted who knows whar would have happened,but from what I saw we have an edge over Carnaross,who were missing John L.Mc Gee on the day.
With Andy Coogan suspended the team that lined out for Dunderry was.
Jennings
Callaghan( Darren) Kelleher Mc Cormack(David)
Newman (Gary) Stephens (Evan) Clarke
Dempsey (Liam) Farrell (Conor)
O Shea Callaghan (David) Dowd (Kevin )
Newman (Aaron) Kenneally (Paddy) Coogan (Stephen)
Peadar Callaghan replaced an unhappy Dempsey mid way through the second half.
Of the Dunderry team I managed in 2005 nine of the starting line up played then.So we have found 6 in the intervening years.We went down that year and since then Carnaross,Ballinlough,Trim and KIlmainhamwood,Courtown.Ultans and I think Oldcastle have followed suit. Unhappy times indeed for rural clubs.
My tape recorder gave up the ghost during the game so what I record here is from memory.
We played Aaron Newman as a third midfielder with a two man full forward line.Indeed it is my recollection that every score save a single poinrt scored by Farrell was by Coogan and Kenneally.
We came ,we saw and we conquered.Mission accomplished .The backs ,particularly the half backs ,did very well.To restrict the opposition to a goal and four points over an hours football is as much as you could expect.Midfield was fair and neither team dominated there.As already said the two man full forward line did the bulk of the scoring.And a winis a win is a win.And I do not wish to detract from the management nor the players.
From my perch above the action and in the company of two older and true blue Gaels we analysed the game and indeed the direction football is taking generally.The conclusion reached is that the confidence to playthe ball with the foot has been coached out of players who take winning seriously.For whole tranches of the match there were safe and crabwise hand interpassing movements which had an entertainment value equivalent to watching paint dry.For much of the second half upwards of 25 players were concentrated in a square between our twentyone and our fifty with only three of four players in the Carnaross half of the field.
As another old to timer put it "this is not football as we know it".And it is not just Dunderry and Carnaross but all over at serious Club and Inter County level.Just look at the inability of Westmeath to hand pass the ball furter than their thirty yard line and the embarassing in anability to make any decent effort at a reasonable foot pass.
The game is being destroyed as a spectacle by the the relegation of the foot pass to history and the dominace of the fisted and hand passes to painstakingly make ground.This stye of play is killing off the traditionsal skills of the game as the opportunity, for example ,a high catch is limited .O Shea made one that sticks in the memory.I can't remember another one.This is the whole point.Keep possession,Hand pass hand to hand
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