Fingal put in a very brave 1st half effort and no one could tell who the Senior Saturday team was. Fingal started the game very defensive but did it very well with some great performances from the back in the 1st half. Killester set the pace of the game in the first ten minutes and you could tell that Fingal just wanted to see what standard they would be playing against.

Fingal matched Killester with football in the 1st half with players like Purcey and Ross consistently trying to play football. A key factor in the game was Fingals hard work when pressing the ball which in return made Killester panic a little and they soon knew that this was not going to be a walk in the park.

Tim Sullivan put in a lot of hard work in the 1st half but really needed more support from the midfield. Fingal nearly broke the deadlock through a cross from Roy Lacey on the right hand side of the pitch, which was finished off superbly by Tim. The keeper came out to catch the ball but dropped it on Tim’s head. His quick reaction allowed him to get a shot away before the keeper had a chance to save it. The goal was disallowed by the referee for encroaching, which seemed very unfair and denied Fingal from taking the lead. Had the goal been given this would have been a different game. Midfield did very well and matched Killester in patches of the game but their number 8 was at another level regarding fitness and ability and really was the only difference between the midfield.

In the second half Fingal grew tired due to there hard work pressing the ball.

At points in the game some lads look so tired that they didn’t know what to do with the ball when they got it. Fingal conceded 2 sloppy goals from set pieces in the second half. They kept working hard but only had a few half chances after that and were stretched as a result of pressing forward. Rafter and Gibney came on with for Tim and Peter who were both very tired after all there hard work. Paul Gibney came close with a number of efforts from outside the box. Conor pierce came close as well. Some question his shot when there were players around him in better positions but Conor wanted the glory. “Maybe if he had passed it through it might have been a different game” said one fan on the side line.

Ross Traynor, who played some fantastic football on the ground and slowed the game up when it was needed to be was replaced by Trevor Reid with 20 minutes remaining. After that Fingal never quiet looked like they were going to get back into the game. The only time they looked dangerous was when Derek Purcell mad a run through the middle of Killesters Midfield and tried passing the ball through but his team mates didn’t seem to anticipate his clever pass.

Fingal looked like they lacked a good bit up front regarding support and ideas. Although all the lads worked hard they didn’t test there back line enough. Geezer had a very good game and has improved immensely over the year, his heard work did not go unnoticed along with Roy Lacey and Conor Pierce. The 3 lads at the back did very well and managed to play a nice blend of football at the right times and kept the midfield involved. Altogether Fingal put a good performance in but this is no surprise as they seem to play to the standard that they are playing against whether it is Killester or Hot Press.  

Hopefully with this new formation they can set their own standard and go on to win this league.

Man of the match was Ross with Jones & Purcey close behind not forgetting the solid performances from Dec and Del.

Well done lads and lets hope we learned a little from that game.