Dulwich Harps GFC Club Notes

Dulwich Harps Club Notes 21st August 2017

Saturday saw the men’s team take on Moindearg in Wormwood scrubs in the second round of the junior championship. A stiff breeze blew across the common and the Harps lost the toss and were forced to play into the wind the first half. Nevertheless they took an early lead with points from Ciaran Stone and two from Mickey Clarke. Aided with the strong breeze, Moindearg were able to find their scores in the first half much easier and kicked a number of excellent long range efforts to keep them within touching distance of the Harps.

A few more points were exchanged with Darren White getting off the mark before a shot dropped short into the Harps box to which goalkeeper Niall Russell duly collected but was innocuously bundled over the line by the oncoming Moindearg attacker.

This left the score at half time with the Harps down by a point. 1-05 to 0-07.

To their credit the Harps came out for the second half with all the gusto and enthusiasm that you would expect in championship game and the in-form Ciaran Stone got them off the mark once more with a pointed free. The forward line were finding much more space with the early delivery of ball coming in and a this led to Darren White slipping the ball into the path of Stone who drilled it low and hard into the back of the net. Momentum was now with the men in blue and further points from Ronan Devlin and Dave Draper looked to give the south Londoners an unassailable lead. But to their credit, Moindearg battle back and after a great save by Niall Russell, their persistence paid off as they scored an opportunist goal to bring the game back to 3 points.

A further two points from Moindearg left the score difference at a minimum and the Harps were on the ropes heading into stoppage time. But the Blues managed to keep their composure and held possession to kill out the final moments of the game and take the win on the score line of Moindearg 2-09 Dulwich 1-13.

Whilst the Harps may have felt they under performed on the day, they showed great character and determination to overcome a very resolute Moindearg team. Stand out performers on the day were Tim Russell who seemed to be in perpetual motion in the backline, Enda Touhy who came out around the middle and set up numerous attacks and the inside forward line of White and Stone, with the latter finishing the day with a tally of 1-06.

This victory has all but secured progression to the semi-final stage for the Harps. They will play their last group fixture against Eire og on Saturday 2^nd September in Greenford with a scheduled throw in time of 5pm.

Training continues for the men’s team on Tuesday and Thursday evenings @ 7:00pm on Peckham Rye Common. For more information contact Alan (07472 211445) or Enda (07522 723765).

The break in the ladies fixtures has finally come to end and the girls will now have a busy week ahead of them as they travel to Greenford to take part in the annual Mary Fryday memorial tournament. The tournament will prove to be a great opportunity for the ladies to re-start their season and to also give some new players an opportunity to show their skills.

The tournament will take place on Saturday 26^th of August with registration taking place at 10:00am. The girls continue to train on a Monday evening on Peckham Rye Common with a start time of 7:00pm.

For more information please contact Aisling on 07961 577433 or email us at dulwichharpsladies@gmail.com