St Vincent's DFC

Due to Ciarán's new job, he is unable to provide written match reports until Xmas so we wish to thank Ronan Dunne who agreed to give a signed match report from his own personal view.

1st round of Frank Roe Cup Result:
Tolka FC 4-3 St Vincent's DFC

Scorers: Moloney, O'Callaghan and Smyth.

First XI: Lowry, Wilson, Archer, S.Foy, Moloney, Maguire, Green, McMahon, O'Sullivan, K.Byrne and O'Callaghan (c).

Subs: Keogh for Moloney, Smyth for K. Byrne and C.Dunne for Green.

Man of Match: Jamie Wilson

St Vincent's DFC 1 – 2 Shanganagh Cliffs FC

Maguire (35)

St Vincent's quest to record their first victory of the season continues after suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of visitors Shanganagh who survived a quite a scare when O'Callaghan fired a golden chance over the bar in the dying seconds of the game. It was a game in which the Blues's lack of focus played a part in their downfall.

In response to the disappointing performances in the weeks prior to the match, Geoff Foy vowed to make some changes and he did just that by giving Dunne, Keogh and Moloney their first starts of the season while juggling the positions of some players at the expense of others who found themselves relegated to the substitutes bench. The new look starting line up took some time to get settled and the match was tight with two teams battling for supremacy. An early chance presented itself when Justin Smyth broke free of his marker and bore down upon goal, but just as he was about to pull the trigger he had the ball snatched off his toe by the recovering defender. Shanganagh gave us a fair headache too and our new central defence partnership of Stuart Foy and Archer had to be alert whilst marshaling a defence complimented by Dunne and Keogh on either flanks.

As the match remained delicately in the balance, St Vincent's DFC had a period in which they almost came close to breaking the deadlock. After Maguire was felled just outside the box, Stuart Foy sent a sweet low free kick but the Shanganagh keeper was at full stretch to parry it out for a corner. Several minutes later, the Shanganagh defence breathed a sigh of relief after they had failed to clear a corner properly, narrowly escaping punishment as Moloney's sweetly executed volley from 12 yards out crashed against the crossbar.

There were chances at both ends and Shanganagh were just as threatening as we were. We had a scare ourselves when their left winger whipped in a deadly in-swinging cross which Lowry failed to meet and it looked on course to end up in the back of the net but much to our relief their striker decided to plant his head at the end of it only to see his effort go over the bar.

The game was already in throes of life, when the inevitable goal arrived after 35 minutes. After dropping deep, target man Moloney received a fine pass from the quick footed Watson to send Maguire clear with a through ball and the 18 year old prospect grabbed his second goal in as many matches by tucking the ball past the flailing keeper. Ten minutes later, an identical move materialised with Smyth being the benefactor but just as he broke free of the defence, the referee blew for half time much to the bewilderment of the St Vincent's sideline.

The second half saw a formational shuffle in a conservative approach but yet still retained an attacking element with O'Callaghan, Maguire, McMahon and Watson pressing forward at every chance.

However much to our frustration we were foiled by some good defending from Shanganagh and also by our lack of clinical finishing. After 15 minutes into the second half we were left cursing ourselves when we failed to close down their intruding midfielder who was allowed to fire a poor long range effort which looked to be going out for a corner but fortunately for them, screwed itself into the path of their winger who didn't need a second invitation to plant the ball past Lowry.

Five minutes later we were delivered a massive blow when Keogh was penalised for pulling his opponent's shirt inside the penalty box and the resulting penalty kick was coolly dispatched into the bottom corner despite Lowry's efforts to keep it out. This immediately seemed to revive the Blues back into life for the next ten minutes but we still couldn't get back on level terms before we disappointingly started to fade away in the last ten minutes.

As the full time whistle loomed, the Blues did not look like scoring again when suddenly Shanganagh's goalkeeper made a right mess of clearing a back pass and must have been the most relieved man in Dublin to see O'Callaghan send his effort sailing over the bar. While the usually reliable skipper would be the first to admit he missed a golden chance to rescue a point for his team, the harsh reality is that his fellow team-mates were guilty of making mistakes too in the same match and manager Geoff Foy stressed this by telling his troops that they must up their game, train harder and cut out the mistakes if they want to start climbing up the league after a disappointing start to their season.

First XI: Lowry, Dunne, Archer, S. Foy, Keogh, Watson, Maguire, K. Byrne, O'Callaghan (c), Smyth and Moloney.

Subs: McMahon for Moloney, S. Byrne for Smyth and Doyle for Maguire.
Unused subs: Connolly, Doona, Keating and Grattan.

MOM (as decided by management) : Robert Archer



Report written by Ciarán Moloney

Lusk United FC 3 – 3 St Vincent's DFC

                                   Green (15)
                                   Maguire (25)
                                   K. Byrne (55)


When the final whistle blew at Old Station Road, home pitch of Lusk United, the Blues frustrating start to the season continued as once again they had deprived themselves the maximum points through lack of mental stamina, despite having the luxury of a two goal cushion twice during the game.

With manager Geoff Foy absent due to prior personal commitments, his brother and assistant Stuart took charge and made a few changes to the starting line up due to the absence of midfielders McMahon, Geoff Foy and striker Justin Smith. However his tinkering did not seem to have an adverse effect as the boys hit the ground running. Immediately Lusk Utd looked at sea as they struggled to cope with the pace and trickery up front courtesy of the new strike partnership in O'Callaghan and Watson. Within the first five minutes, a chance to register our first goal went abegging after good work by O'Callaghan teed up the incoming Maguire but much to our agony their keeper was equal to the Kerry man's effort, palming away his low shot out for a corner.

However the momentum was clearly with us as we looked menacingly dangerous on the attack, threatening to open our account any time soon and sure enough Green demonstrated how to do so in an acrobatic fashion, sending a volley into the top corner from 18 yards out. Five minutes later, another goal chance presented itself when Lusk United attempted to spring the offside trap only to succeed in playing Green and Watson onside. Green took the bull by the horns by latching onto the ball while Watson had to settle for a poacher's role, following behind in the hope of mopping up any parried saves. However despite having time on his side, Green could only shoot directly at the onrushing keeper who was fast becoming Lusk United's most overworked player.

In contrast our own keeper Lowry had very little much to do and this continued to be the case as we launched yet another attack when O'Callaghan's magnificent 30 yard strike could only hit the crossbar and bounce back out. However we prevailed and finally had the ball in the back of the net when the 18 year old Maguire went one better than his last attempt, pouncing on a loose ball to fire us into what looked like an unassailable two goal lead at that stage.

However Lusk United had other ideas and as they began to gain composure after being on the back foot for an extended period of time, they hit back with a rare counter attack that had Lowry despondently picking the ball out of the back of the net.

This looked to have been a wake up call that seemed have been effective as we returned to the field after the half time break to reinstate our two goal cushion when K. Byrne profited from Watson's trickery, who had drawn the Lusk defence out of position before laying the ball off to the Tallafornian who had found himself free and unmarked to execute a fierce shot that impregnated the back of a net with a bulge.

However from this point on, the wheels from the St Vincent's train fell apart as the roles of the two teams were inexplicably reversed. The Blues who had been the dominant force for the best part of the match and should have had more goals to show for it, looked surprisingly meek and submissive as Lusk United were allowed back into the game scoring two soft goals in the remaining twenty minutes. In the end, the final whistle couldn't come quick enough for the Blues for they looked jittery and nervous, a hugely disappointing and frustrating contrast to their early positive and attacking verve that most teams in Div 3a Saturday would struggle to cope with.

First XI: Lowry, Wilson, Archer, Connolly, S. Foy, Doona, Green, K. Byrne, Maguire, Watson and O'Callaghan (c).

Subs: S. Byrne for Doona, Moloney for Connolly. O'Sullivan (not used).

MOM: None given this week. But unofficially speaking, captain Paul O'Callaghan would be a prime candidate in my eyes.

Report written by Ciarán Moloney