Dulwich Harps GFC Club Notes
April 11, 2017
Dulwich Harps Club Notes
Our senior men’s team travelled to Greenford on a sunny Saturday afternoon to take on Eire Og in the second round of the McArdle Cup. Played in perfect conditions, the Harps set out their stall early with a quick point from Ryan McAearney within the opening two minutes. Eire Og responded to this with a pointed free before Ciaran Stone pointed another set piece for the blues.
The fullback line of Dara Walsh, Tim Russell and Dee Fitz remained resolute throughout and with stand in keeper Damian Rodgers kicking strongly, it gave the midfield paring of Clarke and Draper the opportunity to assert their dominance on the game. This pressure came to fruition when Ryan Brolly played a defence splitting pass into the path of McAearney who rifled it past the keeper. Further points from Stone and Ronan Devlin put the Harps further ahead before McAearney hit the net again following some great build up play from Adam Clarke and Enda Tuohy. Eire og hit back with a point to close proceedings for the first half to leave the score line at 2-04 to 0-02.
The second half started somewhat slowly for the Blues as they failed to transfer the momentum they had gathered from the first half. This slip in intensity allowed Eire Og to go on a scoring spree in which they amassed 6 unanswered points. But to the Harps credit they hung in the game and fought hard to reassert their dominance. This perseverance paid off, after a high lofted free into the Eire og box gave Mickey Clarke the opportunity to rise highest at the back stick and drive the ball into the back of the net.
This was a huge hammer blow to Eire Og’s resurgence in the game and allowed the Harps to tag over two further points from Ciaran Stone to leave the final score at 3-06 to 0-09 points.
Once again the Harps had a strong bench on the line and all 6 substitutions played the part in securing the victory.
Starting XV;
D Rodger, D Walsh, T Russell, D Fitzpatrick, A Higgins, S Lavery, A Clarke, D Draper, M Clarke (1-0), D White, R Devlin(0-1), R McAearney(2-1), R Brolly, E Tuohy, C Stone (0-4).
Subs used;
M Malone, H McCan, J Porto Vilarino, J McCabe, J Dempsey.
The club would also like to thank young Hugh McCan for his services over the past year as he returns to back to Ireland.
Next up for the Men’s team will be McCurtains in the McArdle cup. It is scheduled for the weekend of the 22nd/23rd April – time and venue TBC.
There will be a break in training over the Easter period but training will resume on Peckham Rye Common on Tuesday 18th April at 7:00pm and Thursday 20th at 7:00pm. For more information contact Alan (07472 211445) or Enda (07522 723765).
Pre-season training is well under way for our Ladies team and they will have their final session at Ladywell school, Manwood Road, SE4 1SA on Monday evening at 7:00pm. They will be returning to the Rye Wednesday 19th of April at 7:00pm and will continue to train, Monday – Wednesday from then on.
The ladies season is due to begin on the weekend of the 22nd/23rd of April were they are due to play Tara’s in Greenford in the junior league. Time and date are to be confirmed.
If you are interested in joining the ladies team, please contact us on 07907 301 806 or dulwichharpsladies@gmail.com
The London County Board are asking Gaels within the city for a donation towards the funding of the new stand development which is almost completed at Ruislip. For £125 you will be awarded with a seat plaque in the main stand and also entered into a draw to win two tickets for the 2017 All-Ireland Final. For more information on this please contact Tom Denning 07855 898205.
For more regular updates on training and matches please check out our website at http://dulwichharps.com or follow us on Facebook or twitter.