Aladdin's Reports from last Season
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Aladdin's Reports from last Season |
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At the beginning of last season Karol "Aladdin" Butler became our un-official club reporter puting together match reports for a few of our games. Subsequently he e-mailed them out ot a number of lads and possibly thought that they would never be seen again.
Well I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients on that list and I have
delved into the archives to retrieve these e-mail to bring you Aladdin's match
reports from last season. Some of them are a bit long but definitely worth the
read as they contain some classic stuff. Enjoy!
Rosses Point FC vs Quayside Rovers (Report was sent on the 2nd October 2001)
The whole match report thing got a little out of hand this week, so due to its increased coverage the words pressure and pepperoni spring to mind. Instead of being the critic, I am the one open to criticism but in the words of someone, “who gives a shit”. One thing that I will not do this week is criticise anyone, as the performance was top class. ***** (For those of you who might be a bit slow those are stars, i.e 5star, and not a curse word)
Our local bookie,aka my good self, was not giving any odds on a Rosses Point victory this week. I have to admit that once again I was late, just the five minutes this time. Our super sub, the birthday boy, Diahroea tablets Johnson arrived at the school at 3.02 and had missed two goals already. We were missing our rock in central defence as “r ya really droopy” Keane was in Galway. The defence didn’t look as solid as it had in the last few games but as the game progressed Buddy, Horse and Brehmah all proved their worth. Rosses Point went 1-0 down early on. However from several reports I have gathered that David “Di Canio” Mc Dermott scored a cracker. I managed to speak to the star (seen as there seems to be only one Butler he will talk to these days and even at that, they don’t talk much) afterwards, who described his goal as “my back was to goal I did a little shimmy to the left, sold the defender went the other way and bent a left footed cracker into the top corner” and judging by what some were saying he wasn’t lieing one bit.
One has to say that on what was a fairly miserable day the support was great. On behalf of the entertainments committee I would like to thank all. The first half was very open and both sides had good chances. The next Pointer on the scene was our inform winger Kenneth “Brucie” Henry. He received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, controlled it and burried it in the left bottom corner. His celebration was more timid this week with a happy family hug shared with his two older brothers walking back to the centre circle. Rumour has it they wanted Kevin and Patricia to join in aswell but couldn’t find them. Approaching half time the Henrys had another chance to share an intimate moment. Our new Turkish looking striker, David “silver” Henry got on the end of a pass and slid in to knock the ball past the Quayside Rovers Keeper. In the second half our injury list was lengthened when our inform keeper was blatantly taken out of it. How the tackle didn’t get a red card was beyond me. Our left back stayed on and did very well. One of our strike force, Nicholas Brujos decked himself out in the keepers kit. Straight away he was called into action where he reached out over about four people and punched away a corner that I don’t think inspector gadget would have got to. Straight after that, one of there players was sent through Nicky saved well and then jumped on your man in a move that any wrestling star would have been proud of. At this stage fitness really started to show. Rosses Point upped a gear and destroyed the helpless oppostion. A ball was crossed in and their central defender headed it into his own net. A few minutes later captain fantastic Vikram Henry chased on to a pass and ripped the defence apart with his run then neatly burried his shot in the back of the net. To Quaysides credit they kept on trying and once again Nicky made a cool save to deny Quayside their second. Ian Burke came on as sub for his debut but the turning point of the match was when super sub and player manager Keith McDonagh came on. He was straight in with the diving tackles. Silver Henry was sent through, he appeared to have his man for pace and was tugged back. It wasn’t vicious but had happened a few times so the referee had no option but to give a penalty. Up stepped the maestro himself, Keith Mc “tellytubby” Donagh. What a penalty. In off the cross bar, sheer genious.
6-1 to the point, what a performance. The return of Silver up front was a huge plus and Gavin Mc Donagh had arguably his best game to date, as did Brehmah. Captain fantastic and Brucie put in performances that we are becoming delightfully accustomed to. Everyone else played equally as good but for me, there was only one man of the match, well done "an bainisteoir".
Rosses Point FC vs Laurencetown (Report was sent on the 31st October 2001)
Once again I apologize for the delay on the report. It is now exactly one week since the match, and seen as I didn’t have a pen or paper, I have forgotten most of the action (not that that means there was a lot to report).
On Sunday Rosses Point aimed to continue their excellent form in the first round of the Connacht cup where they took on the highly regarded Roscommon outfit, Laurencetown. A lot was made of the fact that these roasters, (sound as they were, there is still no denying that they were well up there amongst the turbo ranks), had beaten superleague side MCR in the same competition last year. On the contrary, although they worked hard, Laurencetown were quite poor, lacked the skill required to beat our well balanced side and were not helped by the fact that they only brought ten players with them. In a game where simple football was required Rosses Point failed to string any passing moves together and regularly lost the ball due to sloppy football. After a few minutes David Mc Dermott (if it was you silver I apologize) had a shot pushed on to the post by the keeper. Their keeper, who was undoubtedly the best player on the park, was brought into action again a few minutes later. After he had committed himself Kenneth “brucie” Henry had a shot that was heading goal bound saved by their captain who must have thought it was 1st man back in goals. The referee was given no choice but to give the defender his marching orders. Up stepped our wizardry front man, Zorro Mc Dermott. After placing the ball on the spot young Zorro proceeded to casually stroll back and line up to strike it with his left foot. I am not sure if the crowd knew he was right footed but it seemed a touch cheeky. The magician ran up and amazingly put his left foot to the right of the ball, whipped his right foot around behind his left and sweetly smashed the peno in off the cross bar to the keepers left. It was probably the quietest cheer of the season. I assume everyone else was in the same state of shock that I was in. Never have I, nor will I ever again witness such an act. To make matters even more astonishing there was a rumour going around after the match that he tried 2 of them before the match and missed them both.
Into the second half and despite playing against nine men an out of sorts Rosses Point could not finish off the match. The main factors preventing a stroll in the park was some poor finishing and some excellent goal keeping, however the break finally came when a cross by Brucie deflected off the defender. Whilst everyone was shouting handball, the ball kindly fell to David Mc Dermott who buried the ball in the left-hand corner. Soon after this the keeper made an outstanding acrobatic save from captain fantastic Vikram Henry. Vik cracked a half volley destined for the top right hand corner, which was somehow tipped away for a corner.
Barring a few roars from our turbo counterparts little else entertained the crowd. Some players’ presence was very very limited and the team failed to gel in the manner that we have become delightfully accustomed to. In the end of the day Rosses Point are still in the cup. We can’t expect to see our new heroes playing world class football every week and like most good sides, we played well below capability but still managed to win. We now play first division side Cloonamahon in round two.
Man of the match: David Mc Dermott. Although he played poor, as one fellow member said, he is a striker and done what he is not paid to do, score goals. It was a tough decision as no one really stood out in the team but the Point go marching on. Brucie was a close second. He had a good game but sometimes his distribution let down all the hard work he had put in.
Rosses Point vs Boyle Celtic Reserves (Report was sent on the 7th November 2001)
Rosses Point took on Boyle Celtic Reserves last weekend where a comfortable victory was expected. Boyle have been propping up near the wrong end of the Thomas Connelly league table however they were quite resilient and proved that they are no walkover with a solid first half performance. The fact that the pitch was in a very bad state didn’t help the Points cause at all, and it was the defense that seemed to have the biggest problem coping with the muddy, hilly surface. As a result of this and quite simply some very poor defending Rosses Points newest heroes were beaten three times in the first half alone. Rosses Point went 1-0 down quite early on when the offside trap was easily beaten. The Boyle Celtic front man had all the time in the world and casually chipped the ball over Stephen’s head and into the back of the net. Rosses Point bounced back immediately when man of the match David Henry latched onto to one of many through balls and coolly bent the liathroid around the keeper and into the back of the net. Two minutes later and the away team went ahead after some great passing.
Alan “Vikram” Henry passed the ball forward to the highly impressive debutante Damien Kennedy who neatly flicked the ball on with the outside of his boot. David “Trap 6” (as he is know known, compliments of Punjab Johnson) Henry used his exhilerating pace once again and from the same angle as his first goal, achieved the same result as he hit the back of the net with pinpoint accuracy.
One might have expected the league leaders to move up a gear and kill off their opponents at this stage but with only a few minutes to go before half time Rosses Point suffered a double blow. Another ball over the top and the opposing striker levelled matters up. There was no question that he must have been offside, but in a game where the referee is expected to call offside from anywhere on the pitch it is too risky to be employing these tactics. It was a harsh goal but one would expect that Rosses Point would learn there lesson from this. Straight away from the off and the defense was beaten again, Alan “Droopy” Keane was close in pursuit and clearly tugged the opponents jersey. Our central defender may consider himself to be very lucky as once the referee gave the free, it must have been adjudged to have been a professional foul. No card was produced and all could breathe a sigh of relief: or so we thought. From the resulting free kick a beautiful strike flew into the top right hand corner. It wasn’t a bad performance in the first half, where Kenneth “Brucie” Henry was once again excellent and Gavin Mc Donagh was very good going forward. Questions would however have to be asked as to why Damien Kennedy was up front and Gavin in midfield. Damien clearly was not used half enough in the first half and his all round ability would have been much more advantageous to us whilst playing in midfield. Gavin seems much more at home up front, sitting in behind the main man. This tactic was employed in the second half and proved far more fruitful.
The second half was a story of sheer dominance as fitness and skill came to the fore. Boyle Celtic Reserves, barring one worrying moment at 5-3 had no chances at all. Vikram and Damien were given acres of space in the central midfield area and took full advantage of it, ripping the opponents to shreds. Shane “billy” McMunn showed glimpses of what we all know he is capable of with a few mazy runs around the park not to mention a cracking strike that hit the post and was unlucky not to cross the painted line.
Rosses were quickly back on level terms when Kenneth “Brucie” Henry latched on to an Andrew “Brehme” McLoughlin corner. His half volley from six yards gave the keeper no chance. This really opened the match up and Rosses Point played some of their best football to date. David “trap 6” Henry’s pace was used to maximum potential and after another through ball he neatly tucked away his third and the first hatrick in the Points history. Damien Kennedy then added to his already fine performance with his first goal for his new club. Another brilliant passing move led to Rosses Points 6th goal. It started right from the back with Alan “Droopy” Henry. He passed it forward to Gavin McDonagh; after running across field he released it to Brucie. Brucie slotted it into Damien Kennedy who took one touch to the right and beautifully buried his hoof.
Gavin Mc Donagh had an acrobatic shot saved at the death. After a high cross into the box, Gavin hit a lovely volley on the turn, which unfortunately for him was directly at the keeper who comfortably tipped it over. From the resulting corner the Point completed their victory where brehme swung a corner in right at the keeper. Super sub Punjab Johnson and some other Rosses Point punter attacked it and the ball somehow finished in the net. Probably a little harsh on the sub keeper as he was only about 5ft7” and didn’t stand a chance against the black giant. There is a debate as to who actually got the goal but we will let them argue that amongst themselves although as they pointed out it could well have been a dead heat.
Man of the Match: So many very good performances with all the midfield performing very well. Excellent debut for Damien Kennedy, Brucie was very good once again and the defense returned to its normal stature in the second half. But for me man of the match has got to be David “trap 6” Henry. In the absence of his strike partner David “Emmanuel Petit(doesn’t travel to away matches)” McDermott, trap 6 was outstanding and finished every chance that came his way. Great all round performance from everyone. Well done lads. Final note, I nearly forgot and seen as captain fantastic pointed it out, it would be a shame for me not to mention it. As of this week Rosses Point are the only team with a 100% record in the Sligo/ Leitrim league.
My only problem is that we have to wait over 3 years before we are crowned super league champions.
Rosses Point FC vs Aughanagh Celtic (Report was sent on the 12nd November 2001)
Rosses Point were away to Aughannagh United last Sunday in what was the most important game of the season to date. In a highly entertaining and extremely hotly contested game of football Rosses Point lost the last 100% record in the Sligo/Leitrim league. I do apologize to all of the readers, as Ciaran “McChunk” Dermott informed me that in the last report I made some spelling mistakes. I will be more careful this time and will make sure to use spell check.
I have to be honest and say that our first half performance was very good with some lovely midfield passing, linking up with David “trap 6” henry up front. One move in particular caught the eye with a very pleasing move by Trap 6 and Gavin down the middle of the park. Some beautiful one twos resulted in trap 6 shooting narrowly wide. Trap 6 could have had one or two in the first half and the half time scoreline of Aughannagh 2, Rosses Point 0 was, to put it mildly, very harsh. Our defense seems to have temporarily lost the solidarity that we had become accustomed to. The back four were split apart on several occasions and although we definitely should have scored one or two, it could be argued that so could they.
We played up the mountain in the first half on a pitch that must only be used for sledding in the winter, and climbing the rest of the year. On a day where Aughannagh won absolutely everything in the air, it was ominous that they would score one from the ceann; and so they did. From a good corner an unmarked man beautifully finished his free header in the bottom corner. Not long after this, the opposing no.9 was on the left side of the box; he turned and had a shot come cross, which Sutton probably should have tipped over for a corner. His palm went straight to the other striker who wellied the liathroid in true turbo finesse, into the roof of the net. Rosses Point were very unlucky and one felt it was only a matter of time before we scored. Trap 6 started up front on his own and did well against a central defender who was undoubtedly the best I have seen to date. He worked very hard but that final killer instinct just eluded him at the vital moment. One felt that perhaps we needed that touch of magic from the absent David “Emmanuel Petit” McDermott. It is a petty that when some boys (aka Alan Droopy Keane) can travel from the likes of Galway just for the match that one of our superstars couldn’t be bothered travelling 20minutes down the road.
Everyone gave it 110% in the second half but we failed to carve open their defense as often as we did in the first half. Not long into the second half and Rosses Point were facing a mountainous task as we conceded a third. From a corner the ball fumbled its way to the their left back who informed us that, “he wash only up there to go on the back posht for the corner”. He finished the simple task of tapping it across the line although once again it might be added that, though it wasn’t clear from the touch line all of the players were adamant that the farmer was offside. Rosses Point made a substitution immediately and from this substitution Keith Mc”tellytubby” Donagh added to our poor disciplinary record as he was sent off, somewhat dubiously, for quizzing the referees failure to blow the whistle for offside for the third goal. Rosses Point’s defense was looking quite shaky at this moment but sometimes there was too big a gap between the defense and the midfield so the defense could have done with some more support from the midfield area. Sutton was called into action almost immediately as the Point looked seriously in danger of going 4-0 down. In a one on one situation Sutton got down well to save with his feet. Not long after, in a very similar position Sutton again did very well to deny the opposition in another one on one.
Kevin Dufficy came on not long into the second half and I have to admit he surprised me with a very good debut. The depth of the squad is growing to a very reassuring size with both quantity and quality present. We were for the first time this season quite weak down the right hand side with Kenneth “Brucie” Henry not having the best of days and with the absence of Bernardio Colburn at right back we lacked both defensive and attacking qualities. We can however take consolation from the performance of Kevin “wonderyears” Dufficy down the left and it was from here that most of our chances stemmed. As was the case with Billy Mc Munn in the first half, there was plenty of ball out the left we just didn’t have the right person in the right place at the right time.
Time was quickly ticking away and with that Rosses Point’s chances of winning were also imminently dashing. Never fear however, Captain fantastic is always here. In a scramble on the edge of the box as he and their left back were grabbing each other the referee saw one unmerciful tug from their defender and pointed immediately to the spot. Up stepped Damien Kennedy who, as cool as you like, tucked the penalty beautifully away in the left corner.
Virtually straight after this a ball was passed up to Trap 6 who neatly flicked the ball around the defender. He was cleaned out of it. The referee was given no choice but to award a foul. The big question was whether it was in or outside the box. It was a very tight decision but the Point were somewhat lucky to be awarded a penalty. Trap 6 jumped for joy and one had to wonder whether or not he thought he was playing in the Ireland Iran match. There was a sense of optimism now at this stage and happy faces not to mention proud ones (Donna) could be seen all down the left side of the pitch in the yellow colours. Damien played a lovely one two with the keeper for the penalty and made no mistake with the rebound. Tensions were getting extremely high and handbags were evident. After a bad tackle on Gavin, Alan “vikram” Henry was reunited with his former fighting companion of the home match. Turbo’s could be seen running in from all directions and one could only fear the worst for our junior side. Fortunately handbags was all it was and for a change the referee was cool-headed and just awarded a yellow card for the bad tackle. The referee played several minutes extra time before he blew up for full time. Contrary to what some people thought I didn’t think a goal was going to come as we just didn’t create enough clear cut chances and the two that we did score were from penalties. I thought we deserved something out of the game but in the end of the day we did not deserve to win the game and their players were a lot bigger when they needed to be. The pitch didn’t suit our passing style of play and their dominance in the air was worryingly superior to us. To make matters worse our goalkeeper got himself sent off after the final whistle with some unnecessary abuse to the referee. Everyone seemed fairly disheartened after the first defeat but we were never going to win them all and I have no doubt in my mind that we will still win this league. The team spirit can only grow from experiences like this as was seen by the fact that nearly everyone answered the beckoning call of Toffs that night.
We will bounce back to winning ways, hopefully next week where we play Cloonamahon in the second round of the Connacht Cup where an away tie in Galway awaits the winning team. Look forward to seeing you all at the home tie next Sunday.
Man of the Match: Could only be Captain fantastic. Brilliant, again.
Rosses Point FC vs Cloonamahon Celtic (Report was sent on the 20th November 2001)
After two somewhat suspect away performances Rosses Point returned home to the fortress of Realt na Mara where an away tie in Galway eagerly awaited the winners of this Connacht Cup 2nd round match. We were taking on division one side Cloonamahon but confidence was flowing throughout the team and all the supporters, with conversations of how we were going to get to the big game in Galway before the game had even started.
On what was a beautiful day Rosses Point had a nightmare start conceding early on yet again. Sutton had a major blooper in goals when his lame miscued pass went straight to the opposing striker who finished the job with ease. This was after only one or two minutes so just in case the players didn’t know our manager, Keith “mc teletubby” Donagh informed the lads that they were not out of it. These words of wisdom seemed to spark the players off. Immediately after Rosses Point applied some sustained pressure and were awarded when Kenneth “Brucie” Henry latched onto a corner that wasn’t cleared and hammered a half volley into the roof of the net. Rosses Point were not on level terms for long. A smart move down the right wing, with David “Trap 6” Henry causing trouble with his pace, resulted in a loose ball falling to the feet of Alan “Vikram” Henry. He whipped in an unbelievable cross (candidate for cross of the season) which was met with a diving header by our superstar guitarist Nicky Brujos. Keeper had no chance, Great goal.
In what was a great first half performance, the Point soon went three ahead. Buddy “Bernard” Colburn marked his comeback from injury with a good header from a corner, which took a slight deflection en route to goal. On the stroke of half time the match was killed off with a fourth goal for the home side. From a kick out Damien played a lovely one-two with Nicky and whilst running in on goal he was blatantly swept illegally off his feet. Damien didn’t even give us a chance to see the penalty as he briskly put the ball on the spot and buried it in the familiar left corner. Sutton made one or two good saves throughout the first half but had nothing to do for the second half as the Rosses strolled to an emphatic victory. Damien notched up his sixth and seventh goals early on. In a move that involved several players with Nicky again getting involved passing the ball to Damien who curled a lovely ball out to Brucie; he passed it back into Trap 6 who flicked it onto Damien who mad no mistake with the finish. After one or two sloppy balls, the manager let the side know that at 6-1 the match wasn’t over yet. This
Sparked the players into life again. Damien and Trap 6 were sent through in a two on one situation. It looked like Damien was going to return the favour to his Turkish colleague. The defender covered the pass and Damien selfishly decided to have a crack from all of 25yards. What a venomous strike. The under part of the cross bar was seriously rattled as Damien’s shot hit the back of the net for his hatrick.
All of the subs were used as David “diahorhea tablets” Johnson, Shane “Billy Elliott” McMunn, the teletubby and David “Emmanuel Petit” McDermott all came on to show us their silky skills. Always the entertainer, Emmanuel was not to be outdone. After some scrappy play, Arvin hit a shot goalbound; Emmanuel flew in with what looked like a diving header. He did infact punch it into the empty net. It was done so quickly that most people didn’t even notice it, and more importantly the referee didn’t.
Rosses Point missed a few chances but Captain fantastic rounded off a marvelous display with his second goal of the season with a back post shot which found the back of the net. 8-1 to the Point. To put it into a few words, the referee who has refereed matches three divisions higher said that we were by far the best side he has seen to date.
Bring on Kiltullagh. They are supposed to be a good side, but we are a very good side so judging by yesterday’s performance we have nothing to fear. Man of the match: Several great performances with Nicky capping off his best performance to date with a goal and an accomplished display by our midfield. Defense didn’t have much to do but did what it had to do well. Man of the match however has to be Damien Kennedy as his excellent passing in midfield and his three goals made a huge difference to the match. Anyone wishing/interested in travelling to the match should contact Trap 6.
