Shield Cup Round Up

19 May 2013

A sunny 17°C Ruislip was the location for St. Joseph's to face North London Shamrocks for the second time in as many weeks. This time, however, it was the quarter-final of the Sean Shield Cup that brought the two sides together. Playing conditions were perfect, with a slight cross-field breeze neither affecting nor assisting either team.
Both teams started off sluggish, with NLS hitting the first score a few minutes in, with a fine point from play. The Joes began to settle and their talisman, Mark McNulty, floated over a fine free to level the scores. The Joes had most of the play at this stage, but a lack of composure in front of the posts, from play and frees, let them down. NLS were a little more clinical, and another well-worked point, from a good passage of play, saw them go 2 points to 1 up 15 minutes in.
The Joes were imposing themselves more and more on the game, with Tom Gormley and Shane McCauley working hard in midfield; Armstrong, Walsh and Coppinger rallying in full-back; Killeen controlling the half-back line with Reaney and Mongan; McNulty and Stafford roaming from half-forward to half-back, and the three forwards of McGahern, Kilcoyne and Gervin causing havoc. Paddy Gervin was next on the score board, with a fine free way out on the left, after a foul from NLS. Tom ‘Gooch' McGahern was next to point for the Joes, after some fine football from the midfield through to corner-forward.
NLS struck what could have been a cruel blow to the Joes, when they netted, somewhat against the run of play, but the Joes rallied hard and stayed positive. Tom Gormley won a crucial high ball on the Joes' 13 yard line and worked the ball up the pitch through the two Marks, McNulty and Killeen. The resulting pass found Ambrose Stafford on a surging run, picking the ball up on the NLS 22, where he beat one defender and found the roof of the NLS net, through a hapless keeper, with a screaming left-foot strike. We were now approaching half-time and the Joes were on the ascendancy, with Gervin scoring a fantastic point from way out left just before the whistle for half-time. NLS were the happier of the two teams to hear the whistle at this stage, with lots to talk about during the interval. Scores at half-time were St. Joseph's 1-04 North London Shamrocks 1-02.

The Joe's tails were still up at the start of the second-half, starting with aplomb, winning the throw-in and delivering the ball in to Declan ‘Fuzzy' Kilcoyne at full-forward. Being closely guarded by his NLS marker, ‘Fuzzy' struck well, with the inside of his right boot, past the NLS 'keeper, who, getting a hand to it, could not deflect the ball around the post. The Joes were now 2-04 to 1-02 to the good, and it looked like they were going to run away with it. The entire team were working hard, defending from corner-forward to corner-back and giving their NLS counterparts no room to breathe, both on and off the ball.
Gervin was back on the score sheet, with another well-pointed free. A surging run up the right by midfielder, Shane McCauley, saw him round two NLS defenders before he was cynically brought down. The result was another fine-pointed free from Gervin.
The Joes, again, were ruling the roost when Kyle Mongan received the ball way out on the right from McNulty; Mongan made a dinky run along the Joe's end line and, somehow, the ball managed to roll through the goalkeeper along the NLS goal line. McCauley had followed the run and made a lunge for the ball, only to be forced to the ground by a poorly thought-out challenge from the NLS full-back. This left John Doyle with no choice but to point to the spot. McNulty stepped up to the mark and a good save from the NLS 'keeper was left unrewarded, as McNulty was the quickest to react and buried his own rebound, to leave the Joes 10 points clear with about 15 minutes gone in the half and with NLS yet to score. No one could have blamed NLS for letting their heads drop at this stage, as the Joes were commanding all the play. The exact opposite, however, was the case. This seemed to spur NLS into a fifteen-minute passage of play that the Joes could not answer to. NLS scored six points on the trot (one from a free) and it was now the Joes who were at sixes and sevens. So much so, that a miss-timed tackle in the Joes defence offered NLS a penalty of their own. This was not to be NLS' moment, however, with the Joes net-minder, Conor Hallissey, pulling off a remarkable save from a fantastic spot-kick. The rebound was claimed by the Joes and through Mark Killeen, Kyle Mongan, Mark McNulty and Ambrose Stafford, the ball was worked up to Kilcoyne who, with virtually the last kick of the game, slotted over with the left from way out on the right to see the game at 3-07 to 1-08, in favour of the men from Perivale.

This was another fantastic team display from St. Joseph's, from 'keeper, Hallissey, to corner-forward, Gervin. Ignoring a ten-minute slump in the middle of the second-half, they were the better side, and this was a much-deserved victory. They rallied hard, dug deep and supported each other. This is a team with a fine spirit, and a side that are thoroughly enjoying their football.

Team for St. Joseph's: Hallissey, Conor; Coppinger, Donal; Armstrong, Alan; Walsh, Dara; Reaney, Aodhán; Killeen, Mark; Mongan, Kyle; McCauley, Shane; Gormley, Tom; McNulty, Mark (1-1; 1f); Stafford, Ambrose (1-0); Boyle, John; McGahern, Tom (0-1); Kilcoyne, Declan (1-1); Gervin, Paddy (0-4; 3f)

 The North London Shamrocks View

 NLS v St Joseph's 19/05/13 - Shield's Cup QF
Sunday saw the second meeting in the past month between NLS and St Joe's. However, after a stalemate in the Murphy Cup St Joe's ran out winners in this QF by score of 3-07 to 1-08.
It was a beautiful afternoon for football in Ruislip and if London get a day like it next weekend supporters and teams will be very pleased. With the sun beating down and a slight breeze blowing towards the clubhouse, helping St Joe's in the first half, the referee got the game underway.
NLS were the better team for the first 10 minutes registering a couple of early scores from Healy and another from Murphy off his right boot. St Joe's were a bit wasteful in the early stages kicking a few wides before registering on the scoreboard with points from play and two frees. Midway through the first half a long ball was lofted into Phelan on the edge of the square and Collory coming at full speed collected the break and placed the ball into the back of the net. However, NLS' joy was short-lived as just before half-time St Joe's worked their way up the pitch and scored a good goal with the full-forward blasting the ball past McHugh in the shamrocks goal from short-range. HT score St Joe's 1-04, NLS 1-02.
The first 10 minutes of the second half proved to be the decisive period of the game. St Joe's started the brighter registering a point from play. Then after working the ball through the shamrocks back line a shot at goal took a deflection off a defender giving McHugh no chance as the ball found the bottom corner of the net. From the restart St Joe's again won the breaking ball in midfield and worked it down the right hand side of the field. Searching out another goal, a blocked shot from close range resulted in carnage in the shamrocks backline with the ball rolling free across the goals. With O'Regan clearing the ball successfully off the line the ref then awarded a dubious penalty for an alleged infringement within the large rectangle. Regardless, the penalty was well saved by McHugh but tucked away by the centre forward following up.
This incident seemed to spark NLS into action and seven points down with 20 mins to go they began to play. Unanswered points from Gallagher (2), McCafferty and Power brought NLS back in touch with only minutes remaining. Following a great break forward from Ward and a nice one-two with Phelan on the edge of the large rectangle he was hauled to the ground by St Joe's ‘keeper. Collory stepped up to hit the penalty but it was well saved by the ‘keeper diving to his right. St Joe's collected the rebound and transferred it downfield to score another point. With only minutes remaining NLS continued to carry the fight to St Joe's but it was ultimately in vain. St Joe's ran out deserving winners leaving NLS still looking for their first win of the 2013 season.
Best for NLS on the day were D Ward and A Power.
Scorers: Collory (1-1), Gallagher (0-2), Murphy, McCafferty, Power, Conroy & Healy (0-1 each)

Other Results

Harlesden Harp 2-14 Garryowen 1-6

Cuchullains 6-16 St Clarets 0-3

Tara WO V Heston scr

Semi Finals

St Josephs v Harlesden Harps

Tara v Cuchullains

Dates and throw in times TBC by the C.C.C