Match Report: Seaford Rock United 4-3 Hartstown Huntstown FC
LSL Sat Major 1c
A game of football, at any level, is an imperfect meritocracy.
90 minutes of sweat, luck, cunning, determination and statistical noise produces an outcome that is binary, stark and irreversible. There's no guarantee it will be - in the broadest sense - fair.
In rugby, for example, it is hard to imagine any outcome of today's match other than an away win (and not only because of the extreme disparity in physical stature between the teams, in Hartstown's favour). After a relatively even first half, the visitors cruised into a comfortable and deserved two-goal lead in the first thirty minutes of the second.
Seaford hadn't laid a glove on red-and-blacks since the half time break.. And yet... Minor acts of Hartstown indiscipline - slight lapses of concentration - cost them dearly. That, combined with opportunistic finishing and one brilliant counter-attacking flourish, delivered an astonishing win for the home side. Hartstown were robbed.
The first half had been scrappy and open; both teams more effective at winning the ball back than using it with any creative purpose. Seaford's Collie Dolan and Mark Cullen, both explosively skilful and direct, frequently threatened in behind the visitors' back line. But the opening goal owed nothing to finesse: From a free kick near the halfway line, Paddy Costello drilled the ball towards the Hartstown six yard area, and Dolan managed to flick the ball past Eoin Durkan.
Throughout the 90 minutes, the two best players on the pitch wore red and black, and they combined for the equaliser. Striker Mark Walsh slid a perfectly weighted pass to wide man Jarvis Doolin, equally dangerous on either wing, and from an acute angle he managed to slot the ball under Eoin English.
The best opportunity either side created during the balance of the opening 45 was when Dolan dexterously swiveled away from two defenders, squaring the ball for Darragh Connolly, but the left winger skied his effort over the bar from 15 yards. Shortly after, Hartstown's David Walsh let go of a volleyed potshot which English parried over the bar.
The away team took control of the second half. English, unsighted, blocked Darren Murphy's long range drive with his foot, and then came off his line smartly after Walsh set up Doolin again. And it was the same pairing who combined to give Hartstown the lead, the Walsh picking his spot with his left foot from 18 yards.
Walsh got his second to make it 3-1 on 71 minutes, running on to a long ball from Murphy and coolly slotting home.
Seaford's race was surely run. But then, with twelve minutes to play, Jimmy Hussey swung a big, diagonal freekick into the box. Top goalscorer Paul Lydon soared and powered a downward header into the net.
The equaliser was an extraordinary goal, which began on Seaford's own goalline as Connolly blocked a certain Hartstown goal, and set in motion a sensational counter-attack. Hussey exchanged passes with Cullen before laying in substitute Piers Shelton with a beautifully timed throughball. Bursting in from the left, Shelton caught Durkan unawares, flicking the ball over the keeper with the outside of his right boot and finding the top corner,
And within sixty seconds, it was 4-3. Another Hussey assist, again from a free kick . He found substitute Alan Brennan, drafted in from the second team at the last minute to replace the injured Paddy Costello as an emergency centre back, and slid he slid in the winner with his left foot.
The late Garret FitzGerald was wont to ask of his civil servants, "That's all very well in practice, but what about the theory?" This was a match which Seaford had no business winning, and yet prevailed despite all overt indicators. Was this a fortuitous triumph for a team that's overstayed its welcome at the top of Major 1c, or the hallmark of a team that can win ugly even when hampered by injuries and poor form?
Time will tell.
Seaford: E English; S Faherty (c), J Nolan (P Shelton, 74), C Fahy, P Costello (A Brennan, 78); A Finnegan (R O'Huiginn, 60), J Hussey, D Connolly, M Cullen; C Dolan, P Lydon. Goals: C Dolan (17), P Lydon (78), P Shelton (84), A Brennan (85)
Hartstown: E Durkan, , D Murray (K Kehane, 90)), T Martin, M Golledge, L Moran, D Walsh ( S Jewel, 75) , J Doolin, M Byrne, M Walsh, L Moran, L Sutcliffe
Rockfield Park, 7 November 2015
90 minutes of sweat, luck, cunning, determination and statistical noise produces an outcome that is binary, stark and irreversible. There's no guarantee it will be - in the broadest sense - fair.
In rugby, for example, it is hard to imagine any outcome of today's match other than an away win (and not only because of the extreme disparity in physical stature between the teams, in Hartstown's favour). After a relatively even first half, the visitors cruised into a comfortable and deserved two-goal lead in the first thirty minutes of the second.
Seaford hadn't laid a glove on red-and-blacks since the half time break.. And yet... Minor acts of Hartstown indiscipline - slight lapses of concentration - cost them dearly. That, combined with opportunistic finishing and one brilliant counter-attacking flourish, delivered an astonishing win for the home side. Hartstown were robbed.
The first half had been scrappy and open; both teams more effective at winning the ball back than using it with any creative purpose. Seaford's Collie Dolan and Mark Cullen, both explosively skilful and direct, frequently threatened in behind the visitors' back line. But the opening goal owed nothing to finesse: From a free kick near the halfway line, Paddy Costello drilled the ball towards the Hartstown six yard area, and Dolan managed to flick the ball past Eoin Durkan.
Throughout the 90 minutes, the two best players on the pitch wore red and black, and they combined for the equaliser. Striker Mark Walsh slid a perfectly weighted pass to wide man Jarvis Doolin, equally dangerous on either wing, and from an acute angle he managed to slot the ball under Eoin English.
The best opportunity either side created during the balance of the opening 45 was when Dolan dexterously swiveled away from two defenders, squaring the ball for Darragh Connolly, but the left winger skied his effort over the bar from 15 yards. Shortly after, Hartstown's David Walsh let go of a volleyed potshot which English parried over the bar.
The away team took control of the second half. English, unsighted, blocked Darren Murphy's long range drive with his foot, and then came off his line smartly after Walsh set up Doolin again. And it was the same pairing who combined to give Hartstown the lead, the Walsh picking his spot with his left foot from 18 yards.
Walsh got his second to make it 3-1 on 71 minutes, running on to a long ball from Murphy and coolly slotting home.
Seaford's race was surely run. But then, with twelve minutes to play, Jimmy Hussey swung a big, diagonal freekick into the box. Top goalscorer Paul Lydon soared and powered a downward header into the net.
The equaliser was an extraordinary goal, which began on Seaford's own goalline as Connolly blocked a certain Hartstown goal, and set in motion a sensational counter-attack. Hussey exchanged passes with Cullen before laying in substitute Piers Shelton with a beautifully timed throughball. Bursting in from the left, Shelton caught Durkan unawares, flicking the ball over the keeper with the outside of his right boot and finding the top corner,
And within sixty seconds, it was 4-3. Another Hussey assist, again from a free kick . He found substitute Alan Brennan, drafted in from the second team at the last minute to replace the injured Paddy Costello as an emergency centre back, and slid he slid in the winner with his left foot.
The late Garret FitzGerald was wont to ask of his civil servants, "That's all very well in practice, but what about the theory?" This was a match which Seaford had no business winning, and yet prevailed despite all overt indicators. Was this a fortuitous triumph for a team that's overstayed its welcome at the top of Major 1c, or the hallmark of a team that can win ugly even when hampered by injuries and poor form?
Time will tell.
Seaford: E English; S Faherty (c), J Nolan (P Shelton, 74), C Fahy, P Costello (A Brennan, 78); A Finnegan (R O'Huiginn, 60), J Hussey, D Connolly, M Cullen; C Dolan, P Lydon. Goals: C Dolan (17), P Lydon (78), P Shelton (84), A Brennan (85)
Hartstown: E Durkan, , D Murray (K Kehane, 90)), T Martin, M Golledge, L Moran, D Walsh ( S Jewel, 75) , J Doolin, M Byrne, M Walsh, L Moran, L Sutcliffe
Rockfield Park, 7 November 2015