posted by Dr G on the pats fans match report service
FITA 25
St. Patrick’s Athletic V. Cork City FC
Richmond Park
League Cup Semi-final
Score: 3-1
Penalties AET
7th July 2003
Revenge is a dish best served on a Summers evening
Last Friday it was my birthday and whilst I was delighted to receive presents all though the weekend the best one of the lot was served to me last. It was seeing Eamon Collin’s red and white army beat Dolan’s Cork City 3-1 on penalties in the League cup semi-final. In the league when the big man came back to Inchicore his new team had managed to pox a draw with the final kick of the game. But last night against the youth team Corks stars couldn’t do the same.
I arrived fairly early for the game and was volunteered into holding up a banner that read “Finally, Ni Neart go cur le Cheile” for Pat Moanin Dolan to see when he emerged from the tunnel. Yes the unity and strength in togetherness was exemplified by the young side that Eamonn picked to line up for St. Pat’s. With the exceptions of Baz Penderville and Davy Byrne all the players were pushing for first team places. There was great hunger amongst the Supersaints and from the kick off they tore into the Cork team.
Liam George was fed with a ball straight down the centre channel and he was
Pushed wide left but still managed to get a cross come shot in which Devine gathered after he spilled it initially. Minutes later young Keith Dunne raced onto a similar ball and fired low and hard only for the Cork goalkeeper to boot it away at the expense of a corner. Cork looked unsettled as the ambition of the St. Pat’s players was there for all to see.
Within the first ten minutes of the game Devine was called into action no less than three times to save his team. The third attempt on goal came from a cross in by Quigley (starting at right back) who crossed it in for Dunne to get a weak header on target which was nodded back by a defender into the goalkeepers hands.
In the 16th minute Cork had their first real attack. It ended with a horrendous high shot which almost cleared the shed. Dolan made his first change on the night putting on Alan Carey for the virtually invisible up till then Kevin Doyle. Watching a team like Cork play like they do I was reminded of quote from the father of modern science. Einstein the man who gave us an understanding of relativity once said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Whilst the majority of saints fans have no wish to go back in time to the Dolan era watching this Cork team play was a reminder of it. Not much play was going though the midfield and the ball was hoofed up to the a forlorn O’Flynn or O’Callaghan. This appeared to be the only tactic.
They were still unsettled and in the 34th minute panic set in with a mix up between Alan Bennett (3) and Devine which was comical. Both left the ball
For the other and eventually Devine hoofed it off Bennett and it nearly went out for a corner. The Cork fans kept on singing despite their teams lack of any real goal scoring opportunities. They have a flag that reads 4 5 1 and I was wondering what that meant. Obviously a formation but Shay said it was more likely to be their bank balance or Dolan’s waist measurement.
Just before half time there was a header on goals from a Cork attack which was easily dealt with by Jamie Gallagher. Finally just before the half time whistle Liam George did a bit of ball juggling down the left wing and ended up sending in a cross which was too deep and sailed high over the head of Quinn on the back stick. As the whistle went for half time one punter got it right when he said “we are going to be here all night.”
For the start of the second half Charles Mbabzi Livingstone came on for an injured Holt who’d been rugby tackled to the ground in the first half. There was an air of expectancy that Charlie held the key to unlock this deadlock. That wasn’t the case as for most of the evening he was ineffectual. The Saints were desperately unlucky not to take the lead when George was sent though on a one on one with Devine. Devine won the race (as George appears to be lacking some pace) and cleared the ball only as far as Keith Dunne who had a blast which was destined for the top corner with the keeper still stranded on the ground. Bennett bailed out his keeper by getting his head to the powerful shot and knocking it out for a corner.
Quinn was subbed off and on came Tony Bird. The Bird man of Inchicore raised the whole class of the saints attacking options. The home crowd came to life and we sensed that a victory was there for us now. Almost immediately there was some pay back as George set up Bird with a neat return pass on the edge of the box but the linesman shot his arm into the air. In the 67th minute a cross from Dunne almost finds Bird but a vital tackle saved the day when it looked like our predator was going to pounce. In the 75th minute Quigley was tackled terribly on the edge of the box by the Cork no. 25 but still no card was produced. Nothing came of the resulting free kick.
part two next post...
09/07/2003, 9:52 AM
wws
part 2
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In the 80th minute Cork looked like they were going to score. The ball was swung in and bounced across the face of the goal only for Penderville to hook it clear with an overhead from the far post. The second half really came to life when O’Flynn was disposed in a biting tackle by Anto Murphy. O’Flynn immediately retaliated and sent Murphy to the ground. Murphy is the type of player that every team needs. He plays with complete commitment and has a fire in the belly which you need if you going to be in the engine room. If you could bottle what he has then the first person I’d give a pint too is Liam George who too often tonight gave up the race before it had begun.
A couple of minute’s later O’Flynn get’s his own back on the St. Pat’s fans by blatantly handling the ball and playing on. Of course McKeown the referee didn’t notice and waved play on. O’Flynn was best man on the pitch for Cork but you’ve got to feel sorry for him given that he had to constantly come back into his own half to get a sniff at possession. As Eamonn had written in the program notes in a poorly disguised dig at his former boss “we are encouraging the players to retain as much possession of the ball as possible. This is a different style of football to what they have been ised to but retaining the ball and flowing passing football is what myself and Martin Russell firmly believe in.” Unfortunately for O’Flynn he’s finding out that this is not what his new boss believes in.
Still despite all this he managed a few shots and had one near the end of the game which went wide to the right.
We went into extra time. The first chance came from a free on the edge of the box which Davy Bryne curled around the wall and just wide of the right hand post at the Inchicore end. Charlie also had a chance in this half and with the defender’s backing off him after he’d magically skinned a crowd of his previous markers he never really connected with the shot properly and it went wide to the left.
In the second half Darragh Maguire who’d come on for Quigley had a free header which he stopped to connect with but it curled wide. In truth it was
Curling in the right direction but it still wasn’t on target and he was annoyed with himself for that.
With the game looking over some brilliant link up play between Charlie and Tony Bird on the left wing had set our Ugandan free. Livingstone raced into the box and was tackled from behind where the Cork defender appeared to get as much if not more of Charlie as he did of the ball. The yellow man in the middle made a yellow decision and waved play on. The ball went right up the end and O’Callaghan skipped past Penderville and rolled the ball towards their marksman O’Flynn. He pulled the trigger only to see his shot whistle past the post wide to the right when most of the Cork boys would have put their cheap houses on him scoring.
So extra time came and we all wondered about the shot stopping abilities of Jamie Gallagher. The Irish youth international keeper hadn’t seen much service under Dolan and was used by Eamonn extensively in this competition.
As usual Dolan waddled onto the pitch to moan at the ref about something. Probably because the penalties were to be taken into the Shed end goal. The Shed End Invincibles moved down to the nearer side of the Camac and more went behind the goal. All around the ground the chant of St. Patrick’s rang out.
First up. Tony Bird taking the responsibility and we were as confident as he was. He stepped up and sent Devine the wrong way and the ball to right.
Perfect strikers penalty. 1-0.
First man to take one for Cork was John O’Flynn. The newly blonde no. 9 sent his shot low to his left and Jamie stretched and got a hand to it but not enough to divert it. 1-1.
Davy Bryne was elected to take the second penalty for St. Pats. He didn’t
Take much of a run up and hit it hard and to his right but this time Devine was going in the same direction and it was a good height for him. He saved it very well. 1-1
Billy Woods stepped up for Cork. A man who hadn’t enamoured himself to the crowd with his own liberal interpretation of the rules and with some of his tackles. He struck a good penalty low to his left but Jamie Gallagher had made the right guess, he dived full length and got his fingers to the ball and touched it onto the post. 1-1
Keith Dunne stepped up for us. The young blonde bomber drilled his penalty high to his left and gave the Cork goalkeeper no chance. Then Keith stood there pumping his fist like he really wanted this victory. 2-1
Conor O’Grady now felt the pressure for the lee siders. He decided to drill it to the right as Jamie had saved the previous one to the other side. But he decided wrong as Gallagher flung himself to the same side and touched it wide of the post. Still two one and you felt like Gallagher was enjoying his moment to shine.
Anthony Murphy stepped up to put St. Pats into an almost unassailable postion. He’d played another great game and his stature within the team grows on a almost daily basis. His penalty was to be the pick of the bunch.
He ran up slowed down did a little stutter step and then planted the ball to his right with Devine a helpless confused mess on the other side of the goals. 3-1 it looked like the youths were going to the final.
But still there was another penalty to come. Denis Behan stepped up and took a thunderbolt of a penalty high to his left. When he stuck it I was certain it was going in but Jamie had saved his best till last and he sprung with superb reflexes towards the flight of the ball. This time he had to use his full height and agility to reach the ball but he managed to get his right hand into it’s path and then he had the strength in his wrist to divert high over the angle of the goals. 3-1 and St. Patrick’s athletic thanks to the squad and mostly to the young players were going to the League cup final.
The team raced towards Jamie and he was swamped in a sea of red and white jerseys. Then he was carried over towards the main stand and on the terraces we chanted “Dolan Dolan what’s the score.”
Football beats at the heart of Inchicore. Sometimes it pumps out sorrow sometimes pain. But when it beats with joy like this it’s a high that’s unmatchable. Eamonn Collins knows that there is phenomenal strength in unity and togetherness. That’s why he trusted the young players to bring us to the final and they repaid that trust. For the first time in seasons we truly know what our club crest means.
