Barnhall 24 Lansdowne 7, Ballycorus Rd. 05/12/2009

Spilt Milk

It had been a full celestial cycle since our Killer Bees ran out with a narrow victory against Stillorgan. Did the month rest help heal the forwards injuries and compose the flamboyant backline moves?
The simple answer - no. It was almost like a bout of the dreaded swine flu had swept through our squad leaving them displaying lacklustre performance. The usual aggressive performances of people like Adam ‘tight top’ Kavanagh never fully came into stride, whilst our 9 and 10 had a difficult day adapting to their new found relationship.
Bottom line, Barnhall are a good side. They ended our cup run last year and where evens in the league. This year they’re the only unbeaten side, so it goes without saying that we needed to put in a tidy performance to beat them. This was scuppered by two soft tries conceded early on. There seemed to be a lack of aggression in the Killer Bees. Maybe Mr Smith should bring his bearded union leader down to training to jeer up the lads.
It wasn’t too long into the match that Lansdowne demonstrated that they can be organised and fluid. A Munster-like rolling maul sliced through the Barnhall pack like the graceful Gibney working his way through Copper’s clientele. And to cap off Lansdowne’s spell of forward power mixed with Justin ‘on time’ Cormer’s continual sidestepping dizziness, the Killer Bees Brian ‘Spilt milk’ Gahan wormed his way over the try line. Eoin ‘5point drop goal’ Gantly slotted the conversion home to close the gap on Barnhall. But that was the last of the mauling. Decisions, decisions...
Sadly the second half never got going for the Bees. Injuries kept coming as the subs rolled on. This meant it was time for HooolieHoop. He had stood watching the 1st half slowly building up in frustration and anger. His usual sailor boy demeanour was no longer visible. What was left was a raging bull. Moments after Coach Dolan let him loose, an all mighty bust-up occurred. Legs, arms and Paul ‘Ethiopian’ Harvey went flying. Obviously none were hurt, although Paul nearly took someone’s eye out. This melee ended with Barnhall reduced to 14 for ten minutes. But sady Lansdowne didn’t take advantage.
Barnhall turned the screw by further adding points by try and conversion which left the Bees looking at a defeat. So where from here. Parkmore at home is 7 days away and Lansdowne are looking depleted. The injury list has grown bigger. Our squad will be fully tested next week.

written by Ed Bruce

photos by Ed Bruce

Team

1: Peter Geoghegan 2: Brian Gahan 3: Chris Reid (c) 4: Paul Harvey 5: Robert Moore 6: Conor Gahan 7: Adam Kavanagh 8: Dave Logan 9: Millan Alonso 10: Oisin 11: Justin Cormer 12: Ross Bloomfield 13: Eoin Gantly 14: Jeff 15: Justin Comer Subs: Mark Forrest, Mark Twohig, Dan Logan, Niall o H and Fred T.