Terenure FC

UCFL Div. 3
03 March 2012

Dollymount FC 1 - 1 Terenure FC 3rds

Where to start? For the first time this season we started with the same keeper, central defence, central mid-field and strike force, we were full of confidence after a good win over Castle and Dollymount have struggled all season. All the omens were good, except this was Dollymount and we've never beaten them, in fact they embarrassed us 5-0 in this fixture last season and beat us 2-0 at home this season, despite their struggles against everyone else. The game started fairly well for us as we maintained possession well and pushed Dollymount back from the start. The pitch was in atrocious condition and wasn't really conducive to the football we wanted to play but we stuck with it and started to create chances. Graham Maher was pulled up on a couple of very close offside decisions and I looped a header over the bar from a good Gary Clarke cross. Dollymount rarely threatened at all in the first half as they seemed content to defend and look for set pieces in our half when they managed to clear up-field.

Half time arrived without a breakthrough and maybe some tension was starting to creep into out play, at times we lost our shape as we were pushing on but with so much of the ball and territory it was hard not to. The second half continued in much the same vein, we were pressing without any reward and mid-way through the half Dollymount made us pay. Niall McCall pulled off a great save from a 20 yard half volley but could only turn it around the post for a corner, the corner was sent to the back post and headed across the six yard box by a Dollymount centre half, and another Dollymount player reacted first to get his head to it and despite Gary Revins’ clearance the referee ruled that the ball had crossed the line and awarded a goal.

This was a massive wakeup call and we upped the tempo of our attacks from the resumption. We continued to create chances with Graham Maher and Niall Coleman denied in one on one situations by the goalkeeper, while Matt Dean shot against the post and Paraig Conlon also went close on a couple of occasions. Eventually Gary Revins made a run from left back before squaring to Graham Maher to equalise going into the final ten minutes of the game. Revins went close himself with a free-kick and I reacted too slowly when the goalkeeper fumbled just yards from the goal as we searched for a winner, but it wasn’t meant to be. Dollymount continued their run as our bogey team and the point in the game does no favours to either team. We look likely to be stuck in mid-table and Dollymount will find it very difficult to get out of the relegation zone as the bottom two are now six points adrift.

Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	GF	GA	GD	PTS
Siemens FC	19	12	2	5	53	31	22	38
Brookfield Celtic 2nds	17	10	3	4	60	30	30	33
Glasnaoin FC 2nds	17	8	6	3	37	22	15	30
AFC Justice	17	9	3	5	37	24	13	30
Grant City	16	8	5	3	32	26	6	29
Castle Celtic 2nds	18	6	5	7	32	27	5	23
Dundrum Town	18	6	3	9	37	52	-15	21
Terenure FC 3rds	14	5	5	4	27	28	-1	20
Arthur Griffith Pk 2nds	17	5	3	9	30	41	-11	18
Phoenix Athletic	16	5	3	8	26	39	-13	18
Three Trout Rovers	19	3	3	13	22	42	-20	12
Dollymount FC	16	3	3	10	19	49	-30	12