Spartak Dynamo FC

Sandyford Rovers 2, Spartak 0

A slightly lop sided Spartak selection (after early injuries to Mick Greene and Graham McEnroe) found it difficult to get fluid movement going forward as possession was too easily lost and more importantly not fought for. There was a distinct lack of hard running from most players and many took the easy option of lumping the ball.

Stephen Harris in goal had a fine game and covered for the inadequacies of some of his colleagues. Spartak created few chances, Mick Greene forcing a good save early on from a free and Derek McGoldrick was wildly over with his attempted lob when through.

Of the other new lads, Seamus McCahill did well at the back and later in midfield while Paul Kinsella was strong in the tackle. Aaron Ormerod and Shane Corrigan never really got into the game.

Of the more experienced lads, Dave Browne made a couple of vital tackles and interceptions while McGoldrick never stopped running.

Neill Bolger lacked his usual aggression and tired visibly in the second half, while Niall Hanratty was well off the pace, with his opponent out running him regularly and he was grateful to his keeper after a couple of errors.

Tom O’Driscoll is still lacking touch and sharpness, and even his usually good set piece delivery was poor. Cathal Clancy and Dermot Dooley both fought hard when they came on.

A worthwhile exercise, as players get to know both each other and their own state of preparedness for the coming season. Part of the process of shaking off summer cobwebs. The result will soon be forgotten but players wll need to step up sharpness over the coming weeks.

Form Report:
Stephen Harris 9 Dave Browne 6 Mick Greene 6 Paul Kinsella 7 Seamus McCahill 8 Neill Bolger 5 Graham McEnroe 5 Shane Corrigan 5 Aaron Ormerod 4 Derek McGoldrick 6 Tom O’Driscoll 5 Cathal Clancy 6 Dermot Dooley 5 Mike Hull 4 Niall Hanratty 5 Rob Deering 5

Change, they say, is inevitable. At Spartak it looks like a case of out with the old (sorry Anto!) and in with the new.

From the cup final squad quite a few men are missing.The men who missed the final through injury, Will and Neil, are recuperating from broken collar bone and knee surgery respectively. Gintaras is back in Lithuania. Dan O’Connell has been up training just once due to work commitments.

Of the winning squad on the night, Alex heads to Canada for a year next week, Anto is travelling the world getting fat with his new job and unlikely to play for a number of months. Adam and James are lost to the world of GAA and Brian Massey to rugby. Kevin O’Toole is doing well at Ken Buckley’s boot camp, but has done little football training so far.

There have been fleeting glimpses of Graham Breen, Glen Burke and Steve Grier. The latter emerged from his summer slumber to make and score goals in last night’s friendly.

Peter, Dave , Fintan, Rob, Stu, Ger , GMac, Tom are flying the flag at training at the moment.

Also missing are Niall Hanratty (suspended) Mark Bolger (rock stardom beckons!) Colum O’Sullivan

Good work by Mick Greene means we have an influx of lads who played under 18 for Firhouse Carmel last year.

Paul Kinsella, Seamus McCahill, Aaron Ormerod, Dillon and Ryan Burke, Keith Kelly, Steve Harris, Shane Corrigan and Niall Lennon
have all been up and are very welcome as they settle in and lowere the average age.

In the friendlies so far, the blending process is underway and the training attendances have been the highest for many years, so we look forward with confidence.

St Josephs (Kilmuckridge) 3, Spartak 2

Spartak had a rude awakening by the seaside when touch and sharpness were in short supply against a tidy footballing home side.

On a windy day and a bumpy pitch the home side moved the ball well, while the boys in claret and blue were so poor with their first touch that the second touch was often a tackle!

After a few scares when Julian made a good save following errors by Dave Mohan and Mick Greene, Spartak had a chance when newcomer Jose Vargas shot wide as Neill Bolger’s pass sent him in from the right.
On 32 minutes Spartak took the lead against the run of play; Dave O’Kelly lost possession, chased back to recover and launched a long clearance. Tom O’Driscoll took advantage of hesitancy in the home defence to score neatly.

On 41 minutes Dave Mohan and Alex Kenny were caught by a sharp attack and Alex’s clumsy challenge conceded a penalty – 1-1 at the break.

St Josephs took command of the game, against the wind in the second half, scoring in the 49th and 51st minutes, firstly when they exposed a lack of cover in Spartak’s rearguard, and then from Dave Mohan’s poor free the home side broke past a bemused McInerny and Costello to free the centre forward who rounded O’Toole to score, with Mohan unable to recover his position.

Vargas set up Derek McGoldrick for a chance which the keeper saved well. Earlier the same combination saw McGoldrick, stretching, shoot wide.

When Martin Costello’s free was spilled by the keeper, Neill Bolger’s brave diving header was just wide. Vargas then sent Costello away on the overlap, and his cross drifted in at the far post to reduce arrears, but the home side in their next attack struck the underside of the bar with O’Toole helpless.

Spartak had shown some element of brawn but little evidence of footballng brains and the scoreline flattered them somewhat.

Form Report
Julian (Dave Mohan’s nephew, guesting) 7 – confident handling and a couple of good saves
Peter O’Toole 6 – helpless for both goals he conceded and could only watch as the home side hit the bar.
Dave O’Kelly 4 -concentrated mainly on solo runs, was regularly dispossessed and caught out of position.
Mick Greene 4 Flat footed and slow to react; also set pieces poor.
Dave Mohan – 4 – implicated in concession of two goals. Few aerial duels as home side moved ball around him.
Alex Kenny 6 Conceded penalty for rash challenge , generally a reasonable outing.
Martin Costello 5 – energetic, but midfield role was out of his comfort zone. Passing and creativity proved beyond him.
Shane McInerney 4 – a sluggish outing for a player who relies on tackling and short passing;never got to the pitch of the ball and was by passed in midfield , particularly (along with Martin) for goal number 3 . Showed no forward initiative.
Chris Hogan 4 – out of touch and failed to link defence and attack
Neill Bolger 5 – won plenty of ball but often careless in distributing it.
Jose Vargas 5 showed a couple of good touches but out of condition
Tom O’Driscoll 4 Took his goal neatly but set pieces poor and lacking sharpness
Jason Northey 4 Tried in several outfield positions but fitness and workrate too low
Derek McGoldrick 5 a couple of early runs but then petered out. Had a couple of second half chances but poor in link up play
Mick Plunkett 4 Tackling with studs up and conceded some frees. Ring rusty and out of practice after a long absence from the game.

The first friendly match has been arranged for Sat 17th July in Kilmuckridge. Its just over an hour on the new road. Shane plans on making a weekend of it and can arrange for lads who wish to do likewise.

Appearances and Goal stats to end of 2009/10 have now been updated. Players who have made 25 or more appearances are included, while on the goalscoring chart those with 20 goals or more are listed.

Dave Mohan on 559 appearances, edged into fourth place on the all time table, just one ahead of Derek Keane (who is far too old to play).

Frank McNamee made it through the 200 appearances barrier while Brian Stafford is just 4 short of the milestone.

Mick Greene, at 174, might make the 200 next season with the help of some extended cup runs.

Glen Burke and Martin Costello topped the appearance chart for the season with 27 each.

On the goalscoring charts there are new entries from Graham Breen Graham McEnroe, Steve Grier, Gintaras Cibirka and Steve Browne as they broke the 20 barrier for total Spartak goals.

Jason Doyle holds the record for most games for an outfielder without a goal with 104 appearances while Dave Browne on 78 and Martin Costello with 45 are also prominent in this regard, although the latter pair are defenders. Chris Hogan broke his duck this year and both Mark and Neill Bolger maintained their habit of getting a goal a season.

Gintaras sent this email to to ask for help……

hi Paul. I started my preseason and taking part in juggling competition on National Lithuanian TV. Need some votes. Could you post this  link on
Spartak Dynamo website?
Thank You.
http://www.facebook.com/LRT.LT?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=1405074498675

Lads,

A tenner a head.

Simply name the winners of the World Cup 2010 – 20 points
Name other semi finalists 10 points each.

And the top scorer 10 points.

And tie breaker – how many goals will England score in total (excluding penalty shoot outs).

Comment on this post with your choices.

Sunday/Over 35s 4, Saturday 4
Sunday/Over 35s won 2-1 on penalties

A pretty inept performance by the Saturday boys, playing against 3 Sunday lads, 7 over 35s (plus 1 over 55) and going down to an ignominious defeat, proving just as weak at penalties as they had been during the match. In the second half they ran out of ideas when facing ten (mostly old) men and had surrendered a half time lead to fall into arrears late on until Chopper took matters into his own hands to equalise.
Deggsy had an early chance but overran the ball and Jimmy Browne gathered. Glen Burke’s near post shot found Jason Northey napping to put the old boys one up until Chris Hogan equalised with a neat near post finish.
Colm O’Sullivan scored from the edge of the box when Dave Mohan was slow to close him down. An error of judgment by Jimmy Browne allowed Deggsy’s cross to drift in for goal number 3 for the Saturday boys.
A blistering burst of pace by Frank McNamee burned off both Mick Greene and Mark Bolger before Frank crossed for Paul Tormey to finish.
With Liam Cullen departing at half time to report in early, the odds looked stacked in favour of the Saturday lads. However they displayed unimaginative approach work and lacked a cutting edge generally against the 10, mostly elderly, men.
Glen Burke and Stuart Love began to display a high energy approach and took over the midfield area. Jimmy Browne saved Dan O’Connell’s blushes with a save after Dan had messed up.
Glen Burke made a strong run and when tackled the ball ran free to Frank McNamee who drilled home for the equaliser. With 7 minutes remaining good work by Stuart Love, Glen and Frank laid on a chance for Paul McGowan, who finished via the crossbar. 4-3.
Chooper had the final say, and so to penalties.
Embarrassment abounded as regular takers Mick Greene and Glen Burke made the proverbial dog’s dinner of their efforts, after Dan O’Connell had set the tone by sent the first penalty into orbit. Dave Mohan , Chris Hogan, Colm O’Sullivan and Tom O’Driscoll all joined in with chronic misses. With just Niall Hanratty converting for Saturdays boys, it took only two scores by Paul Tormey and Frank McNamee to finish them off, with regular taker Gerry Doran held in reserve.

Form Report
Saturday
Jason Northey 5 Niall Hanratty 6 Mick Greene 5 Mark Bolger 5 Dave O’Kelly 6 Shane McInerney 5 Chris Hogan 5 Tom O’Driscoll 5 Ross Kelly 6 Colm O’Sullivan 6 Derek McGoldrick 5
Over 35s/Sunday
Jimmy Browne 5 Leon David 6 Gerry Doran 7 Dave Mohan 5 Liam Cullen 6 Dan O’Connell 6 Paul Tormey 7 Stuart Love 7 Glen Burke 8 Frnak McNamee 8 Paul McGowan 4.

It was notable that all the player of the year awards at the end of season night out went to players in their first season or, in Tony Kavanagh’s case, not long returned.

Graham Breen and Dave O’Kelly along with Tony, were the recipients of most votes, and congratulations to the winners. Shane McInerney won the clubman award in record time.

Awards also took place for appearances Frank McNamee (200) and also to Fintan Grace, Dave Mohan and Gerry Doran who all received the newly inaugurated 400 appearances award.

Those who had missed the cup final through injury, suspension etc also were awarded their trophies.

All in all a good night and some fizzy lemonade was polished off.

Saturday : Liverpool College 2, Spartak 3
Scorers: Colm OSullivan, Frank McNamee Brian Stafford
Sunday: Liverpool College 2, Spartak 3
Scorers: Derek McGoldrick, Colm O’Sullivan, Glen Burke

Form Report
Ross Kelly 8 Brian Stafford 8 Mick Greene 8 Derek Keane 8 Cathal Clancy 8 Tony Kavanagh 8 Dave O’Kelly 8 Shane McInerney 8 Colm O’Sullivan 8 Glen Burke 9 Frank McNamee 8 Derek McGoldrick 8 Paul McGowan 3.

Two impressive performances in searing heat by the touring side left the locals empty handed. Both wins were somewhat against the run of play and the Saturday triumph had more than a touch of smash and grab about it as that well known Ray Darcy impersonator Brian Stafford prodded the winner with the last kick of the game. Earlier Colm O’Sullivan, with a first time drive, and Frank McNamee, with a Clint Dempsey style lob, had got the blues back into the match. Colm O’Sullivan also won the Rob Deering award by arriving with just one boot. Brothers Derek Keane and Derek McGoldrick (sorry Ross!) combined well on the left while Glen Burke continued his policy of resting in the first half before exploding into action in the second period. The elder brother, Keane, rolled back the years and even found time from left back to explore territory previously uncharted by Mick Greene when crossing from the bye line. Ross, in goal, did well with some excellent, if unorthodox, saves.

On Sunday the weary troops reassembled against a local side featuring only four of Saturday’s team and it was no surprise when the somewhat fresher home side raced into a two nil half time lead.

Spartak took control of the midfield in the second half with Glen and Shane (who momentarily took time out from his strange obsessions) and a nice move was ended by Dave O’Kelly’s surging run and pass (he remembered which side to pass to on this occasion). He laid the ball back and Derek McGoldrick managed to say on his feet long enough to nick a goal to reduce arrears. Colm O’Sullivan ran through to score at the second attempt and equalise and Glen Burke found the bottom corner with 10 minutes left after good work by Tony Kavanagh, who was briefly taking time off from court jester duties.

It was a source of regret to Cathal Clancy that the matches were played in a good spirit and he found himself in the unusual position of avoiding a yellow card and having to content himself with just playing the ball.

Mick Greene sweated buckets in the cause and played briefly as emergency striker and also in goal as well as holding the defence together by resisting the temptaton to overlap.

Refreshments were served in the Pumphouse which pretty soon ran out of most beers when attempting to slake the thirst of the visiting footballers.