Cork AUL 2007/08

[bogwarrior]

Its not as cut and dry as that littleman. Of course teams are going to up their game coming down to The Fort or heading up to O'Neill Park, it's only natural in my opinion. Even Alex Ferguson says the same about manchester united. Alan Matthews said the same only a few weeks ago about teams coming down to play in turners cross. They up their games because of who their playing. Players will want to see how they measure up against the best. Now it depends on how your team reacts to this challenge is the key. We were two nil down on tuesday night and came back to draw two all and could of won it. Same with leeside the previous week, down to ten men and came back to grab a point.

These are teams that in their previous games lost 4-1 to Glenthorn and 3-1 to Park?? That says it all for me.

Myself or le tizz have been the first to say our performance wasnt good enough if that has been the case so dont misinterpret it as looking for excuses. It's just an observation that i feel teams will up their games against us.

And why not? We have put ourselves up on this pedestal due to our wins in the past and are there to be knocked off. It's the beauty this game... only as good as your last result and all that..

Having said that - a victory on saturday will turn the season right on it's head for us. Both teams looking for a league and cup double that hasnt been done in quite a while. I for one cant wait!!

You mite want to throw this into your X-Files folder le tizz... the last time Kinsale played grattan up in o'neill park on the may bank holiday saturday will be four years ago to the day. It resulted in a Kinsale victory then... is it an omen for the game on Saturday??!

[toepoke]

Have to go along with you (bog) on teams upping their game against the so called better teams in the league. In fairness to Kinsale ye set the standard by winning 4 leagues in a row, Grattan rose to that standard last year and hopefully we will maintain it for years to come. Of course teams want to beat the favourites that's what makes it the beautiful game. That is why I posted earlier that we have a long way to go yet before any silverware is handed out.

Getting itchy feet and butterflies in the belly waiting for Saturday to come.
I remember that bank holiday match good tough game as there always is between us. I think the ref robbed us, ye're goal was 10 yards offside and we should have had 4 peno's, does that sound like an accurate re-cap on the game to ye........ha ha

[le tizz]

get a good nights sleep lads, we'll see ye for part 2 of the adventure tomorrow

well done to wilton who were promoted last night and look like going up as champs- a point needed from their last 2 games is good going by anyone's standards

although i've personally been disappointed with recent performances and more so with the results- we gotta keep at it, nothing comes easy nor do we expect it to do so (even if your slant on it was that i was looking for excuses- i'm too long in the false teeth to play that card littleman)

so no excuses will be offered for whatever the result.....the weather forecast looks good, both teams know what to expect from each other, the pitch should be as good as can be and if the officials dont interfere unless necessary (leave your egos at home please and try to remember to remain impartial, its not all about you ! both teams have been training since july last year and a lot of effort goes into every game, its not just a case of stretching the black jersey around the spare tyre and feeling great cause you've a whistle)

big prize for whoever wins so it'll be 90 minutes (maybe more) of fun for all, billy might even be up to take some snaps so make sure to put on the st tropez tonight weeman

[bogwarrior]

Grattan 1-2 Kinsale AET
Ballyphehane Celtic 1 Park United 2
Wilton Utd 2 Village Utd 0
Blarney Street Athletic 3 Springfield 2
Kanturk 4 Villa 1

Fantastic result for Kinsale yesterday. Thoroughly deserved victory and a chance now to win the AOH cup for the first time.

Park with another massive result yesterday! They are definately in with a shout of this league now. This was the table as on the 29 april so its not the most up to date. I think Grattan are level on points with us but they have a game in hand.. It's gonna be an unbelievable finish with plenty of more twists and turns!!

Pld W D L GF GA Pts .
Glenthorn Cel 16 9 2 5 31 21 29 .
Kinsale 12 7 5 0 34 11 26 .
Grattan Utd 11 7 3 1 32 16 24 .
Park Utd 11 6 2 3 24 14 20 .
Leeside 14 5 5 4 20 17 20 .
Villa Utd 14 5 4 5 24 28 19 .
Coachford 15 4 5 6 15 19 17 .
Ballyphehane Cel 10 4 1 5 15 19 13 .
Castleview 17 2 3 12 17 53 9 .
Kanturk 12 0 4 8 10 24 4

[littleman]

To start off I want to congratulate Kinsale,its players,management an supporters on their victory an wish them best of luck in the final.

To say I was gutted on hearing the final whistle would be an understatement.I wish I was able to turn the clock back to when I could play like I used to because I would have given anythin to get onto that pitch for the last half hour.I am lucky to have played in the AOH final itself on a couple of occasions an there is no better feeling to take part an indeed win one.I was told(with the intent to ease my sorrows) when I lost my first final that you had to lose one to appriciate the chance you had an that way you would learn how lucky you are to even have a 2nd chance to win the Aoh cup.The second time around as luck an hard work had it our club an indeed myself won our first an only Aoh to date.

Saturday,,,,,,well Tizz an Bog well done again.For me the word excuse is only used when someone dose not have the balls to admit that they either wer'nt good enough on the day or where they lost a game fair an square an are'nt man enough to admit it. We wer'nt good enough in critical areas an we lost fair an square.We have no one else but ourselves to blame.We had more than enough opertuinitys especially in the 2nd half to win the game an we just couldnt put the ball in the net.I thought kinsale were excellent at the back.I tip my hat to the Kinsale keeper(for me the man of the match),on the day he was the difference between Kinsale winning an loosing..Fantastic saves.He made a save towards the end of the match the likes of which I have never seen in any game.Make no mistake those of you who saw the save,the ball did not hit him he was on the ground tryin to get up an got his hand to deflect the ball over from nearly point blank range

The winner came against the run of play when I actually thought we had ye at breakin point.Just as Harry an Figo were about to bear down on yer goal the defender got the slighest of touchs to catch the whole Grattan team goin the wrong way and again indecision amoungst our defenders cost us.Simplest thing in the world to just kick/head a ball an all of a sudden we forget how to at the most cruical time.The only ones I felt sorry for at the end were the managment an the Chairman.They put a hell of a lot into those players an deserved better than what was given Saturday.I honestly belive there is greatness in this young side but to go from being a good side as we are now to become a truly great side we have to start to take the opertuinitys we are being given.

In the last 18 months we have lost the quaters of the Fai junior,Munster junior,the semis of the Mossie an 2 Aoh semis,all but one were our home fixtures.Being honest again in each of those games we had the games in our hands an let in slip away.As players you will only get to win things when you take the opertuinitys that ar there for you to take.Kinsale took advantage of our mistakes,again.We could do well to learn a thing or 2 from Kinsale.They defended simply an effectively,they never waited for the ref to bail them out they just played until the ref blew an took no chances.There goals were well taken with no extra touchs or messin about,bang into the net end of story.For some reason we expect the ref to blow his whistle just because we think there was a foul/offside rather than the ref or linesman makin the call.

For me this season has much in common with the previous one.We had excellent runs in all cup competitions an suffered heartbreak with in touchin distance of a couple of finals.We were left at the end of it having to raise ourselves from the pain of defeat to win the league.I hope the players are strong enough to do that again

[qwertyui]

Well done to Kinsale on saturday. Great result for the club. Lets Kick on and try and mount a league challenge now.

[bellavistaman]

do wiltonhave the prem a title wrapped up now, we only had 11 eleven vs blarney, including our 40 year old manager, and two players who havent played in 6 months(who were phoned a hour b4 the game, all signed by the way), and we only lost 3-2, blarney are a really poor football side, hope wilton win it.

[littleman]

Nearly forgot about that because I'm still a bit ****ed off at Saturdays resultm in the Aoh.Ya Wilton won Prem A on Saturday by beating Village 2/0.Well done to John Lennord an the Wilton lads.Also to Vincy Thompson an the Blarney Street lads they go up runners up.

[le tizz]

many thanks for the well wishes littleman
i feel your pain with the semi loss, its our 1st aoh final and even though we've had our share of great victories in the past few years this is definately a day out that all involved with kinsale has been hoping for and we will take our opportunity with full knowledge that theres a big prize at the end, we've likewise had bad days out that our lads will remember (including a turners cross loss to bally in the mossie this year) so hopefully that will still sting our squad into performing on the night of 23-May

just on the match on saturday, many thanks for the warm welcome to o'neill park, the pitch and support up there was the best we've encountered this year, the surface was immaculate and a huge compliment must be paid to all involved in the effort put in to get it in that condition

we were somewhat shaken to give a goal away so cheaply after 3 minutes, hurley in goal was rooted after some head tennis from a long throw in and it was a terrible start for us, i felt we defended very comfortably thereafter and even though ye seemed to have about 30 corners and just as many free kicks which were thrown into our area, pat murph and the rest seemed to lap it up, we always had a chance on the break and should have probably got an equaliser prior to scully nodding in from a long goal kick when your keeper seemed to be taking a walk

grattan certainly bossed possession, territory and as previsouly mentioned free kicks and corners but i felt kinsale have found a belief that we've been lacking in from recent games, richie holland scored a great goal after 5 mins in the 1st half of extra time and i thought he shone in extra time holding up play and forcing corners and throw ins deep in the grattan half

good scoring chances were not as common as previous encounters and maybe that suited us on the day, we'll have a good run off park down in the cross, we have to play them 3 times in the next couple of weeks and with them still in the running for the league these games promise to be big big clashes, we have them up at the fort next saturday and a lot will be taken from that game

glenthorn away tonight is a huge game for us, they've had a great season and we'll be getting nothing soft, time to forget about the aoh and get another 3 points on the board, kanturk up in hollyhill will give ye a game but i'd expect ye to bounce back after the disappointment on saturday, we'll see ye in a couple of weeks anyway and hopefully we're still in with a shot at the league holders

well done to wilton as champs and blarney st for promotion, will look forward to more footballers in the prem next year
any developments in things down in little island- the families of everyone involved are still in our thoughts so good luck with the remaining games if ye are going to take them on

[thirdeye]

well done to kinsale....definitely took the chances when they came and thought the keeper did very well when called on...two very good saves right on the ninety minutes and another in extra time that i'm still shaking my head over.....it was nice to see both sides affording the other respect during and after the game and a good raport sems to be forming there...good to see after some harsh words last season....hope ye go on to win it now....and hope grattan can find something to help them push on in the league after a huge disappointment.....

[Shilts]

A great win for Kinsale last saturday against the run of play. But that's their speciality with their pace up top. Grattan's possession couldn't open up Kinsale's back line for many clear cut chances and they should have done better with the few that they created. Hurley did well for Kinsale in goal and he was well protected by a powerful defence. A big question mark as to wether Grattan's late header was over the line before Hurley saved. From my vantage point it was over the line... but only for a second. This 'goal' would have won the game for Grattan... dem's the breaks!!! If Grattan play like they did on sat then they'll take some beating for the league where luck/ breaks even out over the season.

Congrats to both teams on an entertaining afternoon. A little surprised that there wasn't a bigger crowd up there though!

[littleman]

Premier League
Leeside A v Ballyphehane Celtic.........Dont even know if this game is on,should be called off if it is.
Glenthorn Celtic A v Kinsale,,,,,,,tough 3 points for Kinsale.
Grattan United A v Kanturk,,,,,,,,,,home win to pic the spirits up.

AUL 2
Glenvale v Grattan B.............We have to beat Glenvale to stay up.Its as simple as that.We go out with a draw against Lakewood an a win against Pearce in our last 2 games.Its the end of the road for me officially tonight.The final B game of the year.Check EBAY in the mornin as I will have a few pairs of boots for sale.Size 8 an in good nic.Thanks for the memories lads but its time for me to step off the pitch meself rather than be carried off.I hope I can jack it in with just one more win.It would be nice to finish it off on a good note,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[toepoke]

Well done to Kinsale on Sat, was depressed for a couple of hrs afterwards but its amazing what a good few pints of Murphy's does to change the mood. I think it has been said we just didn't take our chances and in fairness to Kinsale ye did simple as that, Best of luck in the Final, Can't believe it's kinsale 1st AOH Final.
I would have loved to finish my playing days with 1 final trip to the cross. Have some great memories out there 5 finals 4 wins 1 loss but the icing on the cake had to be the AOH win, same team as Littleman, got the winning goal with 20 seconds remaining.

Enough of this nostaglia crap onto the present

Leeside 0 Ballyphehane 1
Glenthorn 2 Kinsale 1
Grattan 8 Kanturk 1

It says 7 on billy site but the ref told me himself that it was 8.
Kanturk very poor. Went a goal up early thru Brian O'Sullivan and o.g. by Harry and then we went dead for the next 30 mins till Shinkwin popped up with a header at the far post. Then the gates opened and it was all one way traffic right till the final whistle

Glenthorn don't seem to want to give up top spot just yet, what happened Tizz / Bog any report.

[littleman]

All thats good an bad about junior football was summed up for me last night.Our A team won 8/1 against Kanturk an Kinsale lose to Glenthorn an to make matters worse we lost to Glenvale away to bar a freak result relegate us to division 3.

The A team went ahead but were actually pegged back to 1 apeice through Harrys OG.I was told then we just took our time to move away rather than the panic that might of set in as a result of Saturdays defeat.7 goals in the last 50 mins to cap off a good night is a very very good way to bounce back to gain another 3 points.

As I said last night there were 3 hard points for Kinsale in the away fixture to Glenthorn.I was'nt surprised to hear last night that Glenthorn won.They are very hard to play against out there an the pitch is terrible which suits there " robust " style.Still they are very consistent an deserve to be where they are an I credit them with that.Tizz - Bog I would like to hear any report regarding the game.I had a feelin Glenthorn might be up for this an I was hopin ye might have a little hang over from Saturdays after match celebrations.A tough run in just got an awful lot tougher.

We played Glenvale last night in what was my last official game for Grattan an it just about summed up everythin that is ****e about the junior game.Glenvale I dont have any complaints with but the pitch an the ref were typical Aul standard.We arrive out in Balincollig to the pitch,ye know the one I 'm on about.5 pitchs together.Theres 5 of th 4 cut an lookin pristene.Cut an rolled with lines done in Colgate to make um extra white.Ours had grass up to your ankles,more diviots that Lansdowne Rd after a rugby match an no side lines marked at all.The ref arrives roughy 2 mins before kick off to be told of this an when questioned about wether the game could go ahead because the pitch wasnt lined he replied it dosent matter to him as he gets paid wether the which.

Have no complaints about the loss,thems the joys just the attitude of the ref an the state of the pitch was terrible but nothing I was surprised to see.Tizz - Bog ye played Glenvale on the same pitch this season an I'd say it wasnt either cut or an I'm reachin here ROLLED since.You tend to expect that from teams who have to rent pitchs.Balincollig play on the rest as far as I know as well as a few Business/Shipping league teams an you can tell they have the few bob to get them taken care of.

For all the negative comments our pitch can draw know one can fault us for not makin sure its in good nic (as Kinsale much to there credit have said).We have had our pitch rolled 5 times this season alone.Cut every 2nd week,I would be surprised if anyone goes to those lenghts.Its expensive dont tget me wrong but all we can do is do the best for our players an we do all we can to give the players Aan B every chance to play on a decent surface.

One the referee problem it was'nt as bad back when I started playin 18 season ago for Grattan.Derry Barret (RIP) was refin still when I first joined Grattan an he was brilliant.He even had the look of a great ref.Eddie Mullins was 20 years younger an belive it or not mobile enough to get around the pitch an was always back then an excellent ref.Theres not many could get to there level now,more the bad luck for us.The standard is terrible.There maybe 3 or 4 gdod refs that I would have no complaints about havin for a game.The rest are just either little hitlers who wernt able to play when they could an want revenge or just want the easy money.Would'nt it be great if refs go paid on performance.Some of um would starve,a few would be drivin Mercs.I thank the stars above I dont have to put up with them anymore because I nearly lost it last might with the idiot we had in charge.From now on I will just watch the games an heckel an when the ref is havin one of his all to frequent off days I'l start " singin the referee's a ****** " an watch the game through the railings hahahahah

[le tizz]

glenthorn certainly gave us a game but it came down to our missed chances and poor finishing, i think the semi win hangover and tired legs affected some players and a bit of bad luck to rub salt in the wound

we started well but gave away a jammy goal after about 10 minutes, a pooly water shot trickled past hurley after some of our defenders seemed to be taking that same walk, we had chances playing up the hill (on a "fair" pitch) but went in at 1-0 down, a few enforced changes didnt help matters and any of our chances seemed to be from long balls and looking for 2nds from knock ons, the midfield for me let us down on the night and thorn went 2-0 up from a breakaway after we had a corner, small nippy young fella up front turned 2 defenders and managed to squeeze it home past hurley after about 60 mins

we managed to huff and puff and create lots of chances playing down the hill, their keeper had a very good game but it all came down to us not being as sharp as we should in front of goal, we pulled one back from a richocheted free kick in their box and chance after chance was squandered and 2-1 it finished, glenthorn players and supporters alike were time wasting after the 2nd went in, from booting the ball away after rolling over the line to plain old not giving a fcuk what the ref said- he even said that he'd write it in his report what was going on - what the fcuk is that gonna do about the result ???

stephen o'connell bottled out of a few big decisions, we should have had 2 penos in the 1st half and he didnt feel it necessary to book anyone for time wasting, they are not excuses littleman, its all down to our own bad finishing but it gets compounded when you dont get a fair shout with decisions, he added on plenty of injury time which glenthorn seemded put out by- even though they were wasting time for the whole 90 minutes but we just couldnt manage it, the result came down to us conceding 2 bad goals and not taking chances at the other end, glenthorn were a poor side but made us look worse on the night, looks like yours to lose now, we'll be having a look at park on sat but for us it looks like concentrating on the aoh for now

good win against kanturk and ye can nearly smell it, i dont see ye losing it now- might sound defeatist but i've been involved in too many games to not have some idea of how things will pan out, and best of luck to ye, ye've picked up the points when required, scored for fun against the poor teams and battled for points against the stronger teams, if that aint championship winning form then i might as well pack it in for tennis !

we might catch you for that pint in the anglers in a few weeks after all

[littleman]

Looks like you saw the other side of Glenthorn last night Tizz.They have some talented players but there attitude is bad,towards the ref an the opposition.I was tryin to sit on the fence an be nice regardin Glenthorn but I have never liked playin against them Aor B because anytime we played them they were more interested in kickin us than the ball.

With regards to the ref,I think hes an ok ref but can be swayed by the attitude of the players/sideline.He dosent like confrontation an I wont say he bottles it but he can take the easy option far to easy an walk away from things.Glenthorns sideline has always been there 12th man.They can be intimidatin enough on the pitch without havin to deal with what they can have on the line.

Still they are effective.Good talented players with bad attitudes.When we played them out there we had another questionable ref who had no interest in the game an we got hacked to death.We were missin our heavyweight players so to speak against them an without the protection of them or the ref we got kicked to death.Pa Connors was the victim of a brutal challenge that day which he still has'nt recoverd from an it wrecked any chance of him playin with the Irish juniors rite proper.

Glenthorn an a few others I take with a pinch of salt,here today gone tommorow springs to mind.Pardon me from celebratin just yet Tizz but I'll think we will wait till all the votes are in before we say who won what.

Leeside beaten at home by Bally,I was surprised it was even played,but as they say the show must go on.Rebel all our best wish's are for your manager.

[rebelrover]

cheers lads. It's looking good for grattan now in the league - there's to lose but at the same time kinsale and also park can't be discounted. Grattan have scored a ridicilous amount of goals this season in fairness.

Our manager Jimmy Barr is still very unwell. He's stable but critical in hospital and from speaking to others in the club he'll be in a medically enduced coma for a while yet. He wont be able to join us for the final the weekend after next but we're determined to do the business for him and he'll be there is spirit. Our 12th man so to speak! Pease god he'll recover fully in the not too distant future.

Wasnt at the game last night as I dont work in Cork and cant make the midweek games but looking forward to the MJC final now! By all accounts ballyphehane were just about good for their win.

[bogwarrior]

Took a while out lads. Too disappointed to put last nights game into print. I genuinely cannot believe our performance. All that was good about saturday thrown completely out the window. Only ourselves to blame. For all of Glenthorn's antics we were poor. Created bucket loads of chances as per usual but cudnt hit a barn door. Defending was poor for both goals. Gave them 3/4 chances and they took two. Fcuk anyway.

Too many people ddnt show up last nite. All over the pitch, not just midfield. Were we busy patting ourselves on the back over the weekend I dont know? Its all over in the league for me. We'll do ye a favour and beat park at the weekend and that should be that. Surely!! Fellas should be playing for their place in the starting line up for the AOH cup now so I hope to see a big improvement come saturday.

[toepoke]

I was looking at the tables and it looks like 42 pts will win the league outright for us, that is with Park getting full pts and finishing on 41. Kinsale finish on a max of 39 and with both of ye having a trilogy of games between each other in the space of 3 weeks we aren't counting our chickens just yet. I would say by next saturday it could be all sorted out as to where the title is heading. Two very tough games ahead with a trip to Coachford on Sat and then the derby game with Villa at home on Tuesday. Six huge pts to play for.
anybody have the weeks fixtures can't access them on Billy's site from work

[pass&move]

I was looking at the tables and it looks like 42 pts will win the league outright for us, that is with Park getting full pts and finishing on 41. Kinsale finish on a max of 39 and with both of ye having a trilogy of games between each other in the space of 3 weeks we aren't counting our chickens just yet. I would say by next saturday it could be all sorted out as to where the title is heading. Two very tough games ahead with a trip to Coachford on Sat and then the derby game with Villa at home on Tuesday. Six huge pts to play for.
anybody have the weeks fixtures can't access them on Billy's site from work

The Weekend ahead, any predictions

Saturday 10th

Premier League
Kinsale v Park United
Coachford v Grattan United
Ballyphehane Celtic v Kanturk

Tuesday 13th

Premier League
Park United v Leeside,
Kinsale v Ballyphehane Celtic,
Grattan United A v Villa United