Today was our last chance of silverware this year and from the moment we arrived I think it’s fair to say we were doomed. For those of you who don’t know I’ll begin… We arrived at 8.40, as we would for a 9.15 kick off, and started to set out our markers for the warm up and wait for our teams to arrive only to find out we were early, not a little early but a full two hours early for our 11.15 kick off!!! Thanks to the parents for their understanding but I think it’s a little unfair to get rid of Damian after only one mistake.

 

Our second predicament was finding out that we would only have 13 players so one of teams would have to play with 6…brilliant! Fortunately there was nothing else and our first team seemed ready for the task facing them, it’s the first time we’ve had to play 6 v 7. Well I was wrong with that as well as Phoenix went 1-0 up within the first 2 minutes. However, the boys didn’t give up and our 6 boys were more than a match for the 7 of Phoenix. It wasn’t long before Joel equalised and after the break we continued to have the better of the match. After some sustained pressure Joe Keegan forced the ball over the line and Ethan helped finish the game with a long range shot finding the back of the net and the game ended 3-1.

 

All we had to do was not get beat and we would be in our first final of the year. Everything was going well when Keigher opened up the scoring after two minutes, but Phoenix weren’t dead and we went into the interval 1-1. Maybe our early start affected the boys or maybe Phoenix just played better. We had several glorious chances to put this game out of reach, but be it their keeper or our poor finishing we just couldn’t find the back of the net and seal the win. In response Phoenix scored one, then two and with 20 seconds remaining on the referee’s watch they broke free and scored the winner knocking us out of the cup. Well played Phoenix and good luck in the final…at least we get the Bank holiday off!!!