This was the proverbial banana skin. The pitch was on a heigth overlooking the harbour so was quite windy. It was really bumpy and really small. I couldn't get over the size of the pitch. there were reports that the ref didn't want to play it beforehand with concerns for the goals not being properly staked and the picth under regulation size.
We had a strong enough side out:
Mooney
Molan Purcell Wolfe Buckley
Kelliher (Finucane) Barrett Lester Heffernan
Waters (Guerin) Rose (McCarthy)
The changes all came late on. Robbie was playing on right side of midfield - did well - but he was up against a small fat lad. The latter took a few lumps out of him too. We scored in the first five minutes and were comfortable all the way through. No real chance to play ball but Lester had some nice touches. Rose and Waters up front looked okay - though Rose was living offside - against a smart defense he will be easy to catch.
They had two players sent off - one about 15 from the end and one about 5 from the end. Both second yellows.
All in all, a nice run-out and good to get out of there with no injuries and a creditable if not spectacular performance. At least there was an obvious difference in class between the teams and on a flat pitch it would have been much more straightforward.
