Saul Notes - July 30th 2006
Saul GAC Club Notes
for week of July 30th 2006
• Teams Roundup:
o Seniors: : Warrenpoint 0-14; Saul
0-10
Second placed Warrenpoint were the
hosts for Saul on Tuesday in a rearranged
game from before the Summer break.
The early minutes
in the match seemed to be setting
this game up to script as the hosts
raced 2 points up and were lording
it around midfield. But Saul on occasions
this season have found reserves of
character to battle against the odds
and by the 10th minute they were level
through 2 scores from the accurate
boot of Lee Magee who was to have
a stormer for Saul on the night. Warrenpoint
however were making the most of their
attacking platform around a dominant
midfield and added a further 4 minor
scores for a healthy lead. Unlike
the previous game against Glassdrumman
though, Saul were making the most
of every attacking chance and Magee
tagged a further 3 scores from frees
hard won by incisive breakaway attacks
involving Michael Vint, Jason Dagens,
Darren Ferguson and Aodhan Brady.
Magee himself by this point had switched
into midfield and Saul began to break
even in possession and the team grew
in belief they could get something
from the game. With 5 minutes to the
half, the hosts extended their lead
to 2 again only for Saul to press
forward for firstly a great effort
from Nathan Keenan and then Jason
Dagens getting on the end of an interchange
between Magee and Vint to draw the
sides level. With time almost up,
Saul had a chance to take the lead
but Greg Holland wided from play with
the home side regaining the lead from
possession won on the kickout and
then craftily drew a close in free
in injury time to ensure they went
in 0-9 to 0-7 up.
Were we going to
see a brave Saul first half performance
blown apart by a home side fired up
for the second period. In short -
no. Managers Harney and McGrath obviously
had focussed the squad for the restart
as in the first attack, Dagens was
fouled 35yds out close to the right
sideline and Magee curled over a superb
score with the outside of his right
boot. A minute later he narrowly missed
a similar challenge on the left touchline
and Warrenpoint could relieve the
pressure with a score to maintain
the 2 point gap but when Vint collected
and was fouled 30 yds out in front
of goal, Magee again did the needful
to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
At this stage, Warrenpoint were restricted
to sporadic attacks but there was
a scare for Saul on 12 minutes when
a speculative lob hit the upright
and the Saul defence scrambled the
rebound effort over the bar. This
stung the home side into action again
and in the space of as many minutes
they recorded 2 scores to open a 4
point gap. The game was at a crucial
stage now where Saul needed to make
and take chances on the base now being
offered around the middle by Ferguson,
McKinlay and Magee. Unfortunately
in a dominant attacking spell between
the 15th and 25th minutes, Saul recorded
only one further pointed free from
Magee (a huge effort from outside
the 50yd line) and had wides on goal
and point chances from Burns, Magee
and Burke that would have made the
difference to the end result. Warrenpoint
had ridden the storm and they knew
they had been in hard game but were
able to close out the game with the
insurance point in the final minute
for a 0-14 to 0-10 win.
Despite the result,
this was a very encouraging performance
from Saul. The defence was superb
throughout (keeping their 3rd clean
sheet in a row) with King, Brady,
Laverty and Stratton excelling. Ferguson
and McKinlay became more prominent
after a slow start and in attack,
Dagens, Vint, Keenan and Burke kept
Warrenpoint on edge. The star performance
of the night must go to Lee Magee
who's 8 points from play and frees
only told part of the story as he
was involved in many of the Saul attacks.
With the season conclusion approaching
fast, it was also great to see Donnan
Ritchie making a late appearance as
substitute on his comeback from injury
and operation.
o Seniors: An Riocht 5-15; Saul 0-6
With the home game against the Kingdom
postponed earlier in the year it has
taken until almost August for Saul
to take on the table toppers An Riocht
and with the Warrenpoint display offering
so many positives, Saul seniors and
support travelled with hope to Dunaval
Road and made a solid start with the
hosts 0-4 to 0-3 up after 15 minutes.
The Saul scores had come from a Jason
Dagen snapshot and 2 points from Lee
Magee (1 free). Unfortunately Saul
were then hit with an An Riocht backlash
that effectively wrapped the game
up by half-time. With memories of
their defeat to lecale neighbours
RGU last week, the home side powered
on by county stars Colgan and Clarke
hit 2-3 in the space of 12 minutes
as Saul had no answer to the swift
well supported attacking play. In
injury time, points from Vint and
Magee for shell shocked Saul left
the half-time score at 2-7 to 0-5.
Unfortunately the
second half was more of the same as
An Riocht couldn't be accused of taking
their foot off the pedal at all as
they produced a further 3 goals and
8 points for a resounding win with
Donnan Ritchie collecting Saul's score.
Even when Saul breached the home backline
on 3 occasions, county keeper McVeigh
kept them out with some great stops.
Saul will have learn't
a lot about themselves from this game
but in the end, they could only admire
the teamwork of the home side and
even their ruthlessness in delivering
and hammering home the result - no
doubt motivated from their first time
loss last time out.
The seniors have
a further 2 games this week as they
continue their quest for Div 2 survival
with the visit of Saval on Tuesday
night followed by the trip to Carryduff
on Friday.
o Reserves: Ardglass 1-10; Saul 0-11
In a week where the minors suffered
a similar let-down by their 'no-show'
team mates, the reserve team (15 players
and no substitutes) lost their first
game in five at Ardtole on Sunday
night despite a brave showing by the
team who turned out and played their
part in a thrilling game in thunderstorm
conditions.
A disastrous first
half where Saul lost Ryan Burns to
a hamstring injury saw the blue &
gold trail by 1-7 to 0-3 and the feeling
that the second half was going to
be more of the same. But what a second
half display the 14 men of Saul put
on to claw their way back to be a
point behind with a minute left and
Ardglass completely rattled and clinging
onto their lead. The home side though
were able to regroup and add the clinching
score right at the death for a hard
fought 2 point win. Saul had great
performances from Ronan Brady, Barry
Curran, Mick McMillen and Chris Fitzsimons
in defence, Gareth Casement and Paul
Ferris in the middle and Ritchie,
Higgins and Conor Fitzsimons up front.
In a rampant second period the woodwork
saved Ardglass on 2 occasions and
the side netting also met a few close
in Saul efforts. A definite case of
what might have been in an otherwise
excellent second half display from
Saul. Next up for the reserves is
the visit of St Johns to Saul on Sunday
night. .
o Underage teams:
• Minors: Saul crashed out of
the minor 'B' championship on Weds
night when an understrength side including
several U14s were overcome by a strong
Naomh Eanna side (St Michaels/Tullylish
combination) at St Patricks Park.
The team however did battle right
to the end and were a credit to the
club - thanks to Niall Feenan, Finbharr
Hamill, Jacob McCauley, Conor Tumelty,
Jamie Hynds, Conor Shields, Callum
Laverty, Chris Fitzsimons, Conall
Magill, Conor Curran, Matthew Bell,
Thomas McGuiness and Mark Magill.
• U16's: The understrength U16's
(hit by holidays and unavailability)
lost out at home in the league to
neighbours Ardglass on a 2-6 to 1-13
scoreline which effectively ends their
interest in the league title. Thoughts
now turn to the upcoming 'B' championship
quarter final fixture on Tuesday night
(August 1st) away to Dundrum.
• U14's: Saul travelled to take
on a Ballykinlar/Dundrum combination
in the U14 'B' Championship Quarter
Final on Thursday night. A highly
enjoyable,and sporting game was well
refereed by Ollie Burke. 'Kinlar were
very strong in the midfield diamond,and
secured a deserved victory thanks
to some great scores by Steafan Mason
and Aodhan Killen in the second half.
For Saul, Cathail Arnold was a rock
in goals,and what a full back Daniel
Lyttle is turning out to be. He was
ably assisted by Cillian Gallagher.
John Thompson,worked his socks off,and
played intelligently throughout, while
Conor Curran sparkled for periods
of the game. Up front Sean Moreland
and Andrew Maginn played well, and
the performance of the young guns
Tony Molyneaux and Ciarán Harney
was an example to all. Next up is
the away league game to Darragh on
Thursday night - all players to meet
at Saul at 6.30pm sharp.
• U12's: Saul under 12's resumed
their fixtures on Sunday with an entertaining
derby match at Kilclief. It was a
great contest with Eoin King, Jordan
Curran and Caolán Burns best
for Kilclief. For Saul, defensively,
Joe Hayes and Sam Burns stood out.
Tony Molyneaux and Frank Starkey did
brilliantly in the middle of the field,
while there was very intelligent forward
play by Cillian Gallagher.Callum Mahoney
took an excellent score off his left
foot while Conor Marron got a great
score on the run. There was some great
passing from Ciaran McGrady and Michael
Rice in particular while the blocking
and tackling of Ciarán Harney
made things very difficult for the
Kilclief defence.There will be a football
for the Under 12s every Sunday at
11.30 until October plus training
on Tuesdays at 6.15pm. All Under 12s
are also invited to be at the pitch
this Thursday at 6.30pm,for the under
14 match away to Darragh cross. Help
with transport would be appreciated.
• U10's: This Saturday, August
5th sees the Saul U10 Blitz at St
Patricks Park. This will start at
10 am sharp and finish at 12 noon.
All available club members, under
10 players and parents, please attend
at 9.45am.
• U14 Girls: Training continues
for the girls teams (U12 and U14)
on Thursday night at 6pm in Saul (6pm
to 7.30pm). The second phase of the
league starts on Sunday with the trip
to Rostrevor with all players asked
to be at Saul for 11am - full details
to be confirmed on Thursday night.
As usual, help with transport is appreciated.
