Section O Says Hello (27/05/15)

Good evening ladies and gents from your compatriots on the other side of the ground! 3 games into the second round of fixtures, and after the double act of Dundalk and Rovers, we’re now one match into an important trilogy of games with Limerick, Bray and Galway. Thankfully I’m writing this after De Town sent Limerick back home empty handed on Saturday night last in CCS. The first act in any trilogy sets the scene for the rest so hopefully that applies here.

The Blues ventured up this direction still winless at the bottom of the league table, but in their previous 4 league games they held both Shamrock Rovers and Sligo to draws, and only lost by the minimum to Cork and Bohs. There was a poor crowd present out the Strokestown Road, and as Tiernan Dolan taught some of us over the years, there were several references to “pathetic fallacy” as the night itself was absolutely miserable weather wise, some would even go as far as calling it grim.

Coming up to game time, we learned that Mark Rossiter was passed fit, but Pat Flynn and David O’Sullivan would miss out, joining Don Cowan on the sideline. Rhys Gorman would slot into centre back next to Rossiter and, fresh off his goal in Tallaght, Kaleem Simon would come in for Davy. Despite a lively start, full on chances were at a premium. As we seem to be writing regularly this season, Kevin O’Connor and Ayman Ben Mohamed were impressing for the De Town and it’s no surprise they helped kick-start the attack that led to the opening goal. Ben Mohamed played in O’Connor down the left, his cross was cleared, which fell to the ever-impressive Pat Sullivan. As Pat’s like to do, he hammered a low shot goalwards from a distance. The shot itself was probably heading off target, but that’s irrelevant now as the ball was controlled by Sammo, who had the time, space and composure to slot past Limerick’s debuting 17 year old keeper (who must be said had a good game).

On the balance of play it felt right, and the desire for a second was high. While we were quite comfortable in the second half, that second goal, somehow, never came. The clock on the scoreboard stuck on 45” for the second half, and with the ball voting no to going in the Limerick net it felt just as long too at times. Ben Mohamed hit the side netting and was also denied by the keeper, while Shawsy headed over after another great ball from Kev O’Connor. We had numerous incidents where the ball broke in the Limerick box and just refused to fall to a Town boot, to the exasperated cries of the home crowd. All comfort aside, the scoreline still had just the one in it, and after a decent Limerick chance was headed over late on, the final whistle was greeted with relief around CCS. Rossiter, Ben Mohamed and O’Connor all stood out for De Town.

A positive end to game one of the trilogy (I’ll dub this match “A New Hope”, in relation to the hopeful end of Jackman Park being an LOI ground. Keeping the theme, title suggestions for game 2 and 3; “Ayman Strikes Back” and “Return of the Cowan”). Tonight we’re back in the FAI Cup second round, welcoming Finn Harps (and Section O favourite, Michael Funston) to CCS. Harps are having a great year down in the FD, unbeaten with a 7 point cushion to second place, and won’t make an easy game for our boys tonight. To push on after the Limerick game and build some momentum before Bray and Galway would be ideal and realistically no wants a Monday night replay in Ballybofey! We went out to (eventual semi-finalists) Shamrock Rovers in the third round of the competition last year and with our consistent “cup specialists” tag, we’d hope to progress further this year. As ever, a game against Athlone wouldn’t go amiss, especially as we won two nil away at our then Premier Division rivals in the second round last season and yano, we mightn’t see them for a while otherwise...

Chant of the Week

In light of his winner last weekend, the chant of the week goes out to our beloved captain Mark Salmon;

“There’s only onnnne Mark Salmon, there’s only onnnne Mark Salmon, with a touch and a pass, he’s pure flippin’* class, walking in a Sammo wonderland”
*Actual words may differ.

New chants haven’t exactly been plentiful so far this season and any fans out there young or old who have some suggestions, please get in contact with us through our FB/Twitter pages below.

Fantasy Football

As the football over the water came to its end last weekend, so too did our Fantasy Football fundraiser. €600 was raised in total, with half going to the club and the rest being split between our top 3:

1. Michael Dineen (€200)
2. Seamus Leavy (€70)
3. Trevor Gordon (€30)

Congratulations to our winner Michael Dineen and our runners up Seamus (who knows a thing or two about these programmes!) and Trevor. As for the rest, thanks to all for participating and all together now “Shure I stopped playin’ months ago!”

Away Days

Next away trip for De Town is against Bray in the surrounds of the pop up stands of the Carlisle Grounds. This is our first visit to Bray since the exhilarating two all draw in the Promotion/Relegation playoff of 2013. We won 2-0 in the first of our two home games against the Wanderers in March and hopefully we can obtain a similar result this time. To book your place on the bus, please text Kieran on 0831670304.

Keep updated

As always to keep up to date with the latest Section O news, like our page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @section_o_ltfc.