Muckross Vets back on form!!!!
Well Ladies, I’m delighted to report that all the news from the Vets camp is positive – bar one slight hiccup – the absence of a bar at Railway’s grounds of a Friday night! This has resulted in itinerant hockey players wandering the highways and byways of Ballsbridge and Sandymount on a number of Fridays looking for a packet of crisps – a situation that can not be allowed to continue. An item for the AGM next week?
Dynamo Dee has returned from injury and is once again shrouded in pads kickers and face mask. She has taken a vow not to throw herself on the ground every time a ball comes within an ass’s roar of the goal mouth but has not been very successful in keeping the vow.
Our official manager has managed to hold on to her extremely sought after position despite the team’s shaky start to the season. Lack of facilities at Railway have however, meant that she is not able to put in a personal appearance on the sideline but has had to resort to telephone instructions to the team from her home bar in St. Alban’s Park! This approach has been very successful and we will be suggesting that all teams try this next season!
An so to the matches;
Friday 6th March, Muckross V Three Rock
An excellent match in fine weather. Muckross fielded a full team but Three Rock could only manage 10 players. However, they rose to the occasion and managed to give Dee a few anxious moments. Mary MacSherry lined out at centre back for Muckross and then had the nerve to leave the rest of the backs holding the fort as she sashayed into the Three Rock circle and scored the first goal of the match! Some people just do not know their place! Vanessa, who at least was playing on the forward line, made the score 2-0 in the second half and that was the final score.
Friday 27th March, Muckross V Botanics
Again the weather gods smiled and the opposition managed to find their way across from the north side. Botanic are always a formidable foe and double shin pads were issued to all our team. Muckross managed to get in the first score with a lovely goal from Helen. Colette whacked in a second goal before Botanic managed to reply with a goal which just sneaked passed Dee’s outstretched kicker and the score was two –one to Muckross at half time.
Botanic piled on the pressure in the second half and Dee and the backs did well to keep the ball out of our net. However, the poor Botanic umpire was the one under most pressure, putting up with dogs abuse from both teams as she struggled to keep order in our half as the minutes ticket towards the final whistle.
The final score was 2-1 to Muckross after a hard fought game.
The next match is this Friday the 17th April in Railway– see you all there!
The Geriatrics Co-ordinator
Muckross v Old Alex
Muckross v Old Alex on Friday 23rd January 2009
With a massive squad of 22 players 11 turned up last Friday to take on last year’s league winners Old Alex who only had 10 players. This match turned out to be very hard fought with some interesting stick tackling from both teams. Bernie took matters into her hands from the very start of the match and outshone everyone else in defence with her accurate clearing of the ball which invariably found another Muckross (or even ex Dalkey) player. Our intrepid team, which actually had 3 forwards for the first time this season, got a great break in the first half with the ball being sent up the right hand side of the pitch, for the first time in the game, by Ursula who made a superb pass to Vanessa who jumped over an Alex player who had lost her footing in their circle and smashed the ball past their mature goalie to put us 1-0 up.
Half time arrived soon after and our 2 supporters, Dynamite Dee and ex GB international Elaine gave us a team talk suggesting that perhaps using the right had side of the pitch would be a good idea. The match restarted and Alex drove hard at our defence putting the ball perilously close to the post on several occasions. Several short corners were awarded to them and each time the defence managed to clear them. The last shot on goal came as the final whistle blew and for once our goalie (me) was in the right place at the right time for the ball to ricochet of her kicker.
A brilliant win was recorded and Bernie was awarded player of the match.
Our next match is not until 6th March so you can all have a rest but don’t overdo the eating and drinking.
Judy
Official Manager of the mighty Muckross Vets Team
Muckross V Avoca
9th January – Muckross V Avoca
Dee-saster! The team was very upset to learn that ONE of our star player (I must be careful not to offend anyone) had broken her wrist in the line of duty! Yes folks it appears that during one of her many spectacular dives to try and put the ball in the back of the net during our match against Pembroke in 2008, Dynamo Dee broke her wrist. She valiantly played in the match against Railway (in fact, she may have even played for Railway) despite this injury. However, the lifting of the turkey and the odd wine glass over the Christmas proved too much and Dee has had to moth-ball the stick and boots for a month or two!
This unfortunate mishap obviously put the team into a tail spin and it was an uphill battle from the start whistle – blown by Ref Towers.
Avoca seemed to be suffering from an identity crisis from the start – with shouts of encouragement of “Come on Dalkey” from their very voluble goal keeper which persisted throughout the match. Their various umpires also seemed to be having trouble identifying who they were playing, “eh! The green team’s ball”
Muckross were on the defensive from the start with Judy and the Backs doing well to keep the ball out of the net during the 1st half. Mary Mc Sherry played a blinder clearing the ball off the line more than once while Jean did her fair share of the work. The mid field did Trojan work to try and get the ball to the forward line but to no avail. At half time it was scoreless.
However, something had to give and Avoca eventually found a crack in our defense and managed to get two balls in the back of the net (not at the same time though). Our forward line had very little opportunity to shine during the match which was probably just as well. I reckon the combined age of the forward line was nearly 110 and that just between Emer and yours truly! (It took me a week to recover!)
Now you might wonder what on earth yours truly was doing in the forward line, given that I usually prefer staying at the back and annoy Judy. Well the sad fact is that there was no one else available. It would appear that we have a surplus of defense players but very few forwards!
So if there are any budding forwards in the club that are over 35 and would like to be picked for the 1st team every match - Join the VETs!
The match finished 2-0 in favour of Avoca (or was it Dalkey?) and Mary McSherry was named “Woman of the match”
Next match is on the 23rd of January and unfortunately I’m not available for selection so the forward line is just going to have to do without me!
Good luck with the match and I will be expecting a great match report from someone!!!!
Suzanne
The Geriatrics Co-ordinator
An early Christmas match against Railway
Match vs. Railway
Midish November – an early Christmas match against Railway
As always, the craic was good whatever about the hockey. Railway had to borrow a few players from Muckross and as usual these players played their best game of the season so far – Against their own team!
I’m not too sure of the score (nobody was counting) but we either won or it was a draw. Railway provided an excellent supper and Muckross helped Santa to distribute some very nice presents.
Beginning of December – Muckross V Genesis
Another early Christmas present – Genesis were unable to field a team and Muckross got a walk over – a good result!
Could do better - Could do an awful lot better
Vets Match Reports 26th Sept & 7th Nov.
Well Ladies,
Following our record breaking season of 2007-2008 when the Vets remained unbeaten for the entire season - culminating in our second win at the end of season 7-aside in April - I was quite exhausted thinking up suuperrrlatives to describe our performances!
Therefore, I was not toooo disapointed when, on the 26th of September, we uncharacteristically lost to Suttonians by two goals to nill. You will note that I say “lost to ” rather than “defeated by”. Not wanting to detrack from the “pink ladies” skills on the night, but I have to say that we did not put up a performance that I can “Wax lyrical” over!
The tone for the evening was set when Suttonian’s Referee was seen checking the nets for holes - a practice never performed in public by Ref. Towers and certainly not emulated by Ref. Condron (nee Fitzpatrick) on the night! Dear God - what would he have done if he had found one ?- maybe he carries an emergency repair kit with him!
It has to be said that our official manager and goalie for the night did well to keep the opposition from scoring till near the end of the 1st half. However, one goal was conceded from play which was an absolute cracker.
The second half proved lively at our goal mouth as well with Goalie Judy being ably “assisted” by our backs/sweeper including mid air saves (ok, how was I suppose to see that it hadn’t been touched within the circle) and occasional moments of utter confusion. However, only one further goal was conceded and that too was a beauty as far as I recall.
Our forwards and mid field made a number of good raids on the opposition’s circle but unfortunately could never get the ball in the back of the net (obviously a few more holes need to be made in the nets!) One of the seminal moments of the match was when one of the “Dalkey Dozen” executed a beautiful mid air back stick much to the consternation of the opposition. Despite numerous gesticulations from his own team the Suttonian’s Referee declared that HE hadn’t seen it and that play should continue - what a star!
The 2-0 score line at the end of the match was a fair reflection of the superior play by Suttonians on the night.
What can I say about our match against Pembroke on the 7th of November - in fact the less said the better! What a disaster! I can’t even say that we were reverting to our form of 4 years ago - i.e “the un-coordinated Geriatrics” as the average age of the team has decreased considerably since then. But we definitely appeared un-coordinated (not least Dynamo Dee who managed to go to the wrong venue despite a number of directional emails from Judy!) on the night.
Pembroke made full use of their corner opportunities to whack in 4 goals while again our forwards were unable to breach their defences. Dee made at least two spectacular dives across the opposition’s goal mouth in an attempt to get either herself or the ball into the net but to no avail. Pembroke were the better team on the night.
SOOOO ladies - what are we going to do about this? If we don’t improve I’m going to start threatening people with practice again!! In fact Judy is trying to arrange a match with the 5ths for Tuesday week. We should all make a big effort to play. One positive that should be mentioned is that we continue to have a full team with subs available which is in itself a great achievement - given that a number of clubs have had to drop out of the league due to lack of players - so keep on turning up on a Friday night.
Our match on Friday is against our old rivals Railway and this year, Muckross is stocking Santa’s sleigh. A good night is anticipated and hopefully our hockey skills can rise to the occasion for the game!
Regards,
Suzanne Dempsey
Geriatrics Coordinator