Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Fingal fight way past Glens to Mills semi

Leinster Senior Mills Cup
Fingal 2 (Gary Sharman, David Bane) Glenanne 1 (Shane O'Donoghue)
Fingal worked themselves to the bone tonight at ALSAA to earn a Mills Cup semi-final berth where they will play either Monkstown or Bray on a night where Dave Bane hit the heights but also plumbed the depths. Gary Sharman (pictured) bagged the only goal of the first half, breaking past one tackle and smashing past Steven Doran in the 17th minute. Tom Manning rounded the Glens' keeper but swept wide on his reverse following a huge overhead indicative of Fingal's counter-attack tendencies.

In a heated second period, Derek O'Gorman was sin-binned, Stephen Butler saw a penalty stroke saved onto the post by stand-in goalkeeper Eoin Connolly - who performed well all game - while a drag-flick dinged off the post.

But Shane O'Donoghue got the Glens back on terms who swept home from the top of the circle with 16 minutes to go. Bane, however, dragged home the winner in the 66th minute to give Fingal a well earned victory through immense work rate and a well-orchestrated defence. The Fingal talisman, though, will face a ban following a red card brandished after the final whistle following an altercation with Doran.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave Bane is a legend, with all his injury problems over the last few years he still plays with the same heart as he did as a 16 year old! Delighted to see him get the winner against the Glens! I think alot of the success Fingal/Aer Lingus have had over the past few years has been down to his work on and off the field and they are starting to feel it now that he is in the twilight of his career!

Anonymous said...

Haha What a result for fingal well done to them.

Oh and for those who are going to ask were glens missing players. Stop taking big victories away from weaker clubs!

Anonymous said...

random result..........how can you beat a team 8-2 and then lose to them 2 weeks later?????

Anonymous said...

12:09 am, they probably had a week team out

Anonymous said...

From watching the game it was a pretty sad performance from Fingal. 11 men in the circle is a terrible way to play hockey and truth be know Glenanne should have won 8 - 2 again. Although they did have lots of chances they didn't take them so hats off to Fingal, the dam didn't burst this time. Ugly scenes at the end though from the Fingal players.

Anonymous said...

i heard fingal played a 4-3-3 in their own D

Anonymous said...

What actually happened after the game?

Anonymous said...

1. How do you score 2 goals playing with 11 men in your own D?

2. Glen's had a full team out

3. Why would Fingal players cause a scene after winning a match....

Anonymous said...

ehhhh 10:45, what success have Fingal/Aer Lingus had over the past few years exactly??

IHL qualification is all I can think of........

Any clarification would be great thanks.....

AP

Anonymous said...

With regard to Fingal losing 8-2 a few weeks back. Obviously that was a freak result and to their credit it looks like they did their home work and came up with a game plan to beat the Glens. Lets not take credit away even if they did defend for most of the game. With the narrow loss to Garvey on Saturday (which they should of won) and the win against the Glens, it looks like they are getting their game together. Pembroke wont be looking forward to the game in Alsaa in 2 weeks.

Anonymous said...

"From watching the game it was a pretty sad performance from Fingal. 11 men in the circle is a terrible way to play hockey and truth be know Glenanne should have won 8 - 2 again",February 3 2010 1:00 AM

sounds like sour grapes from a glens fan to me. can anyone blame Fingal for being defensive, they were up against one of the best sides in Ireland and didnt want another hammering. fair play to them

Anonymous said...

to February 3, 2010 1:00 AM

Glens had all their players. Fingal played a game plan in order to win a cup match after being beaten 8-2 in the league playing too openly. You guys were preaching the values of playing ugly and winning on Saturday. While we didn't play attractively..our workrate and tackles were honest, hard and fair. We went out with the aim of playing half court but on occasions and particularly in the last few minutes we were forced back even deeper.

I would focus more on how a team who supposedly played with 11 players in the D managed to score two goals against you and should have had at least 2 more..Tom Mannings open goal miss was the best chance of the night for 2-0.

We've been beaten by you guys and tight and controversial circumstances over the years but you will find the Fingal guys have nothing but respect and admiration for what the Glens have achieved as a hockey team.

As far as "Ugly scenes at the end though from the Fingal players"..come on Glens you're should be bigger than this. A winning team getting ugly all of a sudden..thats all I will say on the matter!

For Stephen - please display as previous comments are unfair to us. I have also avoided any direct reference to the incident after the game

Anonymous said...

For Glenanne, I suppose you live by the sword and die by it. Saturday was as defensive as I've seen them play with scarcely a shot on goal all game.

Fingal set up in the same way and reaped the benefits. Not a great sign for Leinster spectators in general though

Stephen Findlater said...

The matter from after the game is now in the hands of the disciplinary committee and so no more comments relating to it will be posted as a result.

Paul R said...

I sometimes wonder if some people on this site have any interest in hockey outside their own clubs. So what if Fingal played a defensive game. They still scored two goals and beat a side who destroyed them a couple of weeks ago. Glennane are a great side but I for one am delighted to see a smaller club advance in one of the cup competitions. The likes of Fingal who have worked hard over the years to improve (without much credit) deserve better from the Hockey community in Leinster than some of the cheap comments I have seen here when they achieve a great result.

Now come on Bray against Monkstown!

Anonymous said...

Don't blame anyone for setting up defensively, Fingal did it last night and Glenanne did it on saturday. The key to winning these types of matches is the dominant teams ability to win short corners and then convert them.
If Fingal had 11 in the circle all night, then why didn't the glens win more corners with all those feet available to them.

Anonymous said...

dry your eyes and get to bed 1am! Maybe you may see things more clearly after good nights kip!

Anonymous said...

RE Fingals Success (8:51)

Fingal came up from Divison 2 a little over ten years ago. As many teams can testify it is very difficult for a 2nd division team to remain in Div 1 in the few years following promotion. They finished second in Leinster one year and reached the All Irelands one year as the only Leinster club. They reached a number of cup finals since promotion and as stated qualified for the first year of the IHL. All in all not too bad for a small northside club, where a lot of the players didn’t play hockey in school.

Anonymous said...

wasnt at t game but i heard they all 11 in their own half....didnt hear ir from a glens member....probablt did the same as corinthian when they beat p.w. at home......threw absolutely everything behind the ball....

Anonymous said...

hmmm interesting...i also heard about getting all their players behind the ball....in fact they werent short of putting their goal behind the fence

Anonymous said...

AP

Your definition of success in very narrow in sportting terms..with a very small base Fingal are fantastic success story for. They are the only team on the Northside to consolidate their Div one status.

I play hockey in Bray and retaining our status in Division 1 was a major success for the club let alone qualifying for an All-Ireland tournament.

Congrats on your win last night Fingal..great success!

Anonymous said...

Fair play to fingal, they defended very well, although glenanne probably should have won, missed a stroke, 2 corners taken off the line and another corner off the post. I think Fingal had about 4 chances in the game just wasn't the glens night. Sometimes hockey isn't pretty same in all sports.

Anonymous said...

Some of the comments here are disgraceful. I wasn't at the game but the way some people are talking here it sounds like its a crime for 1 of the so called smaller clubs to get one up on one of the more successful teams. It was a game in a cup competition and the goal is to get to the next round. Fingal achieved that, Give credit where credit is due. I'm sure that is the attitude of the Glens players.

Railway Player.

Anonymous said...

Liverpool won the Champions league putting everybody behind the ball..the Irish Soccer teams recent success has come from playing a "negative game"! We loved the long ball in Italia 90 too.

By the way a winters Tuesday night match in windy ALSAA never tends to bring many supporters out as was the case last night..hockey is a small game..most of these comments will be from the players I'm afraid

Anonymous said...

Get over it glens,congratulations fingal,fantastic result fr both you as a club and the cup as a whole.the glens should take a look back only three days at a game where it would seem they did the exact same against Pembroke as fingal did to them last night.pembroke woul be the first to say that it was their own misdoing that cost them the game and their place in the next round of the cup and it would seem it was similar for the glens last night.as on sat,credit to the underdogs for sticking to their task and taking the little opportunities they had.enough of the if and but comments.

Anonymous said...

The glens do not begrudge Fingal anything. I was disappointed after losing the game especially after having so much possession, missing a stroke and hitting the post twice.

However Fingal battled and worked for the whole game as they always do. They were brave and took their chances. Brian Gray and Stephen Thompson took two of Butlers drags off the line superbly and they deserved to win.

We played very defensively against Pembroke and won just as Fingal did to us. You do what you you have to do. There is no rule that says you have to play pretty. It would be stupid of Fingal to play pretty against us. I wish them the best of luck in the next round.

Bottom line, work hard and reap the rewards.

Anonymous said...

well said "February 3, 2010 1:32 PM"

i very much doubt any of these negative comments are coming from Glens or Fingal first team players, they know better than to go posting on public blogs

Anonymous said...

well said indeed!

Anonymous said...

Who do Glenanne have playing at the back? Seems like a complete lack of concentration for them to concede 2 goals against a team who played 11 men behind the ball. The bottom line is that over 70 mins they showed neither the discipline to defend against a team playing half-court or the focus to be clinical in attack. Quite simple really. Not as big a cert for the Irish Senior Cup as they think.

Anonymous said...

At the end of the day no one has a God given right to win a hockey match no matter what your reputation. You have to earn your victory and Fingal did that as did the Glens on Saturday by playing a tactical game albeit not pretty. Well done to both teams

Anonymous said...

No doubt Fingal have made cup finals and retained their Div 1 status and taken some scalps in the past.

However, winning trophies deem success, not survival...

Yes Fingal are a good side but why aren't they a better side?

It's great to train every week, meet friends you have known for years and have great wins under your belt, but we are not talking "second comes right after first!"...

You need to win, create history and get your team names on cups...

As for playing a defensive game against the Glens - it's called tactics and the coach put one in place to get them a result..fair play...

AP...

Anonymous said...

AP - For a club that has no feeder school, I think we've done pretty well under the circumstances.

Yes, your right in saying that we should of created history by winning something but that is what we are striving towards. We are not getting carried away by one win but with the majority of the squad between the ages of 26-28, hopefully we can go on and win something before we hang up the sticks.

Anonymous said...

newsbrief - Dave Banes red card has been rescinded!

Stephen Findlater said...

6.07pm, to clarify the situation, the red card has been rescinded due to a technicality as they are not to be awarded after the final whistle.

David Bane will still face a disciplinary hearing as a result of the incident after the game.

Anonymous said...

as a spectator who saw he game, I was amazed to see sucs a huge response to one game on the blog. To see tactics criticised was a disapointment, as someone who watches premiership football, euro cup rugby, and the rest, it is not fair to hear Fingal getting hammered for playing a defensive game. Glen could/should have scored from 1 stroke and 2/3 short corners, and Fingal should have scored the open goal on the reverse, but in the end, it is sport, and not all chances get taken. 2 honest teams went out to battle, with 2 neutral umpires, and in the end Fingal came through after an ugly yet effective performace. I hope when we come out of Div 2 that we can try such an upset and get such a response on the blog!

Anonymous said...

Succes is relative and certainly not limited to winning trophys. Whoever thinks that is in for a tough life.

Anonymous said...

2:26am are you having a laugh..?

So many times I have missed out on winning finals and come second and yeah that feeling I got when watching the other team lift the trophy was euphoric...NOT!!..

Every cup I have won I have cherished and a cup win is worth every rainy training night and Sunday sacrificed...

And you really think after years of playing in Div one, I really wanted everyone to remember our team as the one who constantly lost or came 2nd/ 3rd and didn't win a trophy...??

Tough life yeah.....loser talk..

Anonymous said...

1.27am..no candy is put on the table for being a hockey player..a lot of players with trophies and caps are suffering big time on hockey/life/career balance...it is an amateur game at the end of the day and while winning trophies is fantastic and coming second is pathetic once you can say you were loyal to yourself and your mates and you gave it all you could...then you can ask no more.