** CUP GAME Announced ** Fri 08-Aug-08 20:00 V Microsoft (4)

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Tusky wrote: »

Is anyone gonna be driving back into town after the game ?

Geoff will be.

Kenny now confirmed too...


Carl - YES (confirmed)
Martin - No (injured)
Ed - YES
Dan - YES
Michael - Yes
Geoff - Yes
Simon - Yes
Cathal - No
Shay - Yes, possibly late, but coming
Colm - No
Gav - No
Sav - Is trying
Kenny - Yes
Lepo - No (holidays)
Jules – Yes
Art - YES
Eddie(Nunu) - No
Iain (j_o_c) - No


Others -

Ben - YES
Al - Yes
James - No
Barry - YES
Art's Mate 2 (name?) - YES

homerjay2005

mick is the second lads name. another fullback, but can do an adequate job on the wing if we need.

not looking too bad now so, quite possibly the strongest team we have had available for a friday night game.

Tusky

Des wrote: »

Geoff will be.
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Does he usually have a full car ?

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Tusky wrote: »

Does he usually have a full car ?

I'll be in the car, so will Al, so there'll be room I suppose.

Tusky

Des wrote: »

I'll be in the car, so will Al, so there'll be room I suppose.

Grand.

LeixlipRed

Good luck lads. Can't make it unfortunately.

LeixlipRed

We lost 9-0.

homerjay2005

LeixlipRed wrote: »

We lost 9-0.

its was 8-0 actually. they got 3 goals in the first 3 minutes which killed off the game. we never got going, they had 4 or 5 excellent players and even their weaker players were very good. their 3rd goal was one of the best i have seen in a long long time. at 4-0, we got stuck in, but far too late, we pushed them for about 20 minutes, but they rattle in 4 more late on.

no complaints, they were an awesome team in all fairness, we gave away 3 bad goals, but they were still far better. we only really had one chance in the whole game.

lesson learned, their physical strength was far far better than us. their presence in the air was just awesome also.most of their team, except their keeper and one cb were 6ft or over i think.

LeixlipRed

Sounds like they got in bangers tbh. Judging by their league position anyway.

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LeixlipRed wrote: »

Sounds like they got in bangers tbh. Judging by their league position anyway.

The ref said this.

The game at 7PM was a walkover for a team called Iona.

Microsoft turned up with four lads.

Some of the Iona lads had hung around, and played for Microsoft.

Iona are the champions of Div 1.

We were outclassed, but Microsoft didn't tell us the story, the ref did.

There is NO rule against this.

LeixlipRed

That's ****ing harsh. I was thinking 8 nil was just too much for a team one standard above.

The Smircher

Des wrote: »

Microsoft turned up with four lads.

Not true lads, that was pretty much the regular Microsoft team.
I caught most of the second half and there was maybe one of the guys there that I hadn't seen before. They've been plagued with injuries this season hence the mediocre league season but on their day they're easily a match for most teams in the league and tonight was the first time in ages they've been able to field their strongest side.

FrankGrimes

That's not what the ref said - he said that 7 of them were Iona players and when I made enquiries about who actually worked for MS it was clear very few of them did and the guy I spoke to who did did not try to correct me when I said it wasn't right that they get basically most of the Div 1 champions to play against us, a social standard team.

That said, they were a really excellent team, technically excellent, very physical and fought for every ball - a lot to be learned from them for sure.

I can say this because I've done it before and have no interest in ill gotten gains - unless there was 7 from their normal team (don't matter if they work for MS or not), I'd be offering a fair and square rematch, but that may be just me and if they reckon it's fair and are comfortable with it, that's their call.

The Smircher

I can only say what I saw and that was pretty much the regular lads, they just happen to be a very good side who have been playing in this league for years and know each other really well. There certainly weren't 7 or 8 ringers there, take my word for it. Nothing fishy about it, you were up against a decent side who were on their game tonight.

FrankGrimes

Fair enough, though they're a lot more than a 'decent' side in fairness, they're an excellent side and should be playing proper competitive football on grass as they have the ability and clearly take it very seriously, I'd say they'd to well in a mid-level LSL league.

Actually....somethings not adding up for me here: I asked a centre-half was he an Iona player or an MS player and he said Iona. He had a very similar northern accent to the rest of the back four and all four of them played together and spoke to each other like they've played together for a long time so either all 4 were MS or all 4 were Iona. I could well be wrong and stand to be corrected though.

The Smircher

Some of the lads do play with other teams in the serious leagues at the weekends, but as a whole playing midweek suits the team. You know what it's like with lads from the country going home for the weekend etc.

Sounds like you were speaking to Deccy, he's the only one on the team with a Northern accent. Of course the lads knew each other, some of them are brothers! Some of them have been playing with each other all the way through college etc.

Lads, looking at your stats you've only been around as a team for about a year. The MS team have been around a lot longer and that sort of experience does stand to you. Give it another year and if you can keep a consistent squad together you'll see a huge difference. You've a few decent lads there alright.

LeixlipRed

The team is over 2 years old. Anyway, it's time to write this season off. Forget about it.

FrankGrimes

TheSmircher, out of curiosity what's your involvement, if any, with either the MS or Iona teams? You just seem to know a good bit about them and were interested enough to post on here so it would be good to know where you're coming from. Not questioning what you're saying though.

Dunno what accent the back four had but it seemed to me they all sounded roughly the same and it was an accent I couldn't place, though in the middle of a game it's easy to make mistakes like that. So if what you're saying is correct, it looks like the ref may have misinformed us, though again they didn't take the opportunity to set the record straight so I'd still be interested to know how many Iona players and how many MS players there were in the first half, just out of curiosity cos if that team last night was mostly MS, they'd want to have been dramatically affected by injuries not to have walked away with league 4 by a mile.

Martin (LeixlipRed), yes the team is 2 years old (this week I think), but the more pertinent point made by TheSmircher is "Give it another year and if you can keep a consistent squad together you'll see a huge difference." He's dead right.

For all of those 2 years we have really really struggled to have a consistent selection available - I doubt we have ever put out the same 11 3 games in a row, or even 10 of those 11. This season was our worst in terms of availability - we were devastated by injuries, work, lads being away for the summer, and then a few lads just stopped showing up (Owen - wtf?).

It's the nature of an internet forum based team I guess - you're never going to get the same consistent availability and committment you'll get with a work team or a team setup amongst a bunch of mates. If you're in the office together on the day of a game, lads are a lot less likely to cry off unless they have rock solid reasons cos they'll naturally get questioned by the lads. You won't see the Champions League absenteeism like we've seen in a few cases (less so this season). Likewise if it's a bunch of good mates people will go that extra mile not to let their mates down. Doesn't mean we can call out any of our players not having decent reasons for not turning up - just means those lads on work/friends teams will find a way to be there unless they absolutely can't do it.

All things considered, we've done reasonably well and can bounce back from this season. If lads like Dave and Larry are back for next season and if we add a couple more decent committed players, we do have the ability to win a social standard league next season (keeper will be a problem if I can't talk Carl into coming back), but committment and consistency need to be our main themes for focus.

LeixlipRed

What's the story with Larry tbh? He told me he was going away for 6 weeks. He must have missed well over half the season! Dave reckons he's good for the new season though depends on his hours in college. Sure he can speak for himself when he's back from the US. The lads I mentioned I was gonna bring down are himming and hawwing. One chap is definitely interested but is injured and isn't sure of the extent of it. He's pretty fit and a quality player on the ball. However, he never played 11 a side with me or at a decent level so not sure what he'd be like away from a 5 a side setting. I haven't time at the moment to really chase them with thesis deadline drawing near so will try get on it in a few weeks.

Also, what's our keeper situation? Karl has been great this season but now could be our opportunity to find a keeper as good a shot stopper as him but a bit more physically imposing.

Nunu

Ouch:o

Nothing more soul destroying than being on the end of a thumping like that at the end of a trying season. Identical thing happened to me 3 seasons back when we lost our last game of a poor season 9-1! I let it eat away at me for weeks after and questioned wheter it was worth it at all. In fact I never got back playing at the same standard since then. Best to draw a line under it and move on.

thelepo

Sorry to hear that lads. The cup was not meant to be. Enjoying a beer in Paris.

Well, as always, we'll recoup for next season.

Simon, you're sacked, I know it was all you.

Anyway, I'll see ye next week.

Lepo