Supporters Club Notes

Supporters’ Club Notes (10/04/17)

CAR BOOT SALE

Don’t forget our Car Boot Sale is this Easter Bank Holiday Monday, April 17^th. As usual it takes place in the car park of the City Calling Stadium from very early till 3.00pm. In the unlikely event that you still haven’t experienced the colour and craic of your local Car Boot Sale, then this is your opportunity. For the club, it’s an important fund raiser and for the buyer/seller it’s one of the best in the country. The weather is promised to be excellent so see you there. And if you’d like to lend a hand, give Liam Healion a shout; no previous experience necessary.

THANK YOU

A big thank you to all who contributed to our church gate collections at the weekend. The costs of running any club seems to rise with each passing month and we’re most grateful to everyone who helped our cause.

SUNNY POINT

The sun shone brightly down in Wexford last Friday night but that was about as good as it got. It was a strange meeting of two relegated teams who now prop up the lowest rungs of the ladder. Wexford according to some reports are in deep financial trouble, which is a great shame if true. Maybe they’ll be baled out by Clare Daly. Anyway, we had umpteen chances of scoring but a nil all draw was the result which didn’t do much for our hopes of climbing the league ladder. However, the hosts were pretty dangerous on the break and a defeat would have been an awful result. as one traveller said, that’s two clean sheets and we remain unbeaten in our last three games. The glass is half full.

SECOND QUARTER

Already, we’re into the second quarter of our league with the arrival of Shels to the City Calling Stadium this Saturday night. We should have beaten them in our first game but since then, they’ve produced some very good results and will be a hard egg to crack this Easter. But, our luck has to change and it looks like some of our new signings are starting to show some promise. Our haul from our first quarter has been disappointing and every supporter hopes and expects for a better second quarter.

The team, in fairness have had a tough week, drawing at home to a robust Waterford side, beating Athlone away in a thriller and then journeying south to Wexford. Being a supporter can be demanding, being a player/manager is demanding.

CONGRATS

Well done to Davy O’Sullivan who bagged another hat trick last week in the EA Sports Cup match against Athlone. Martin Stapleton may correct this but how many players have scored three hat tricks for the club, two of them against the same opposition. Well done, Davy. Keep on banging them in.

It may be no consolation but congrats too to Boyle Celtic on reaching the semi-finals of the FAI Junior Cup. They were beaten 4-2 on penalties AET by Evergreen from Kilkenny. The beautiful game is obviously alive and well in rural Ireland.

Supporters’ Club Notes (03/04/2017)

HOME POINT

It was top against second from bottom at the CCS on Saturday night which many fearful before kick off. Waterford even had a bus load of travelling supporters for the first time in many seasons, so obviously their expectations were sky high. When Waterford were awarded a penalty for an offence committed outside the box, it looked like we’d be singing the blues. But it was Paul Skinner’s fabulous save that had us singing all right and it certainly wasn’t the blues. Overall the net minder had a fine game and on more than one occasion, kept our hopes alive with some other fine saves to his credit.

The visitors looked physically bigger and stronger and at times their physicality was borderline. Thankfully the ref was on his game flashing one red card but it could have easily have been two. When reduced to ten men, they just sat back and defended. The hosts were desperately unlucky on a number of occasions when the ball simply wouldn’t cross the line. The return of Don Cowan was a big bonus for us but there are still a few players who surely have more in the tank. We may have taken only a point from the game but it was against the millionaire, league leading side and we did keep a clean sheet too. Many would have settled for that before the game and we can certainly build on Saturday’s performance and push on. Following the penalty save it was great to hear the crowd become animated and getting behind the team. The crowd wasn’t the biggest but the lively atmosphere made up for that. Fair play too to the twitter writer who created an excellent atmosphere in cyber space according to many sources who couldn’t attend in person.

AWAY, AWAY

We’re back on the road again this week with an EA Cup game in Athlone against Athlone Town on Tuesday night,4 April. Then at the weekend, it’s the long trip down the south east where we face Wexford. At the moment Wexford is the only team below us and a win there could help kick start our season. We certainly could do with three points at the end of the first quarter. If we show the same commitment and passion as on Saturday night, then surely we should be in with a good shout. Fingers crossed.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Heartiest congratulations to Davy O’Sullivan who picked up the first player of the month award . He was presented with his trophy by Archie Bell before kick off on Saturday night. It was a well deserved award and hopefully will help Davy go on and score plenty more goals.

APOLOGY

Desi Maguire was supposed to make the presentation to Davy O Sullivan last Saturday night. However due to a communication problem, Desi wasn’t informed. Then the players returned early to the dressing rooms after their warm up which caused a minor panic. As the players trooped off the pitch, the photographer’s memory card was being uploaded to the Club’s computer with the pre match photos. So it had to be hastily withdrawn again, inserted back into the camera and the nearest half decent person was grabbed to make the presentation to a waiting, patient Davy O’Sullivan. So thanks to Archie for stepping in at half a second’s notice but a huge apology to Desi Maguire who got a bit of a land when he saw the presentation photo on the website. The next award will definitely be presented by Desi Maguire. Sorry again Desi.

BEST WISHES

The Supporters’ Club sends best wishes to Pauric Connolly who is recovering after a successful procedure. Seemingly, from now on Pauric will definitely have superior eye sight to any match official. Looking forward to seeing and hearing you back very soon Pauric.

CAR BOOT SALES

We’ll be having two car boot sales within a very short period. Easter Monday, April 17^th is the first of the two with our second one close behind on Monday May 1^st. Again, we’re asking for a few more volunteers to help out. Even an hour or two would make a difference. Give Liam Healion a shout anytime, he’d love to hear from you.

YOUNG GUNS

Well done to both our under age teams who had excellent victories at the weekend. The future looks bright with so many talented youngsters and their managers putting in such hard work week in, week out. And talking of youngsters, it was lovely to see two very young children at the match on Saturday night, Alan & Caitriona Kirby’s little girl and Margaret and Liam Healion’s grandson. Now, wouldn’t that be some match for the future !!!

Supporters’ Club Notes (27/03/2017)

BOWLED OVER

The UCD Bowl wasn’t exactly a happy hunting ground when De Town fell to another defeat there on Saturday night last, going down 2-0. Once again, expectations were reasonably high beforehand with the optimists pointing out that our away record was good. Alas, no longer. It almost defies belief that so many of our first choice players have been out injured so early on in the season and for so long too. Now that we’re moving on into April, hopefully we’ll see them return and maybe turn things round in the process.

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Supporters’ Club Notes (19/03/2017)

CAR BOOT SALE

The weather certainly played its part in our first Car Boot Sale of the season. According to the weather forecasters we should have called it off but car boot folk are hardy folk. So despite driving rain and high winds in the afternoon, the show still went on. Traditionally the St. Patrick’s Day event is the quietest but we still had an excellent turn out. Some were turned off by the forecasters but those who did turn up have a great day. Once again, fair play to our incredibly dedicated volunteers who were out of their beds way before day break to ensure the coffers of the club continue to tick over. Later on in the day, there was a vast array of volunteers making sure Longford had a great parade and again full credit, especially to all the children who participated. It’s easy to be negative and knock local efforts, it takes a bit more to get involved and make a difference. Well done to all local volunteers.

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