The penultimate night of the regular season brought some massive
shocks with arguably every result causing some surprise.
Starting with the biggest game
of the night, Wembeldines knew 3 points would be needed if they were to have
any chance of remaining in contention for the league. Analog had yet to lose a
match this season though, so Dines knew it would be a tough ask. In a hard
fought game, Wembeldines produced the goods and came away with a narrow 2-1
victory. Brian Ahern and Pa O'Donoghue were on the scoresheet for Wembeldines
whilst Evan O'Neill's goal for Analog was not quite enough. The result puts
Wembeldines level on points with Analog, but crucially gives Dine the advantage
as a result of their now better head-to-head.
With Analog suffering their
first defeat of the season, it left both themselves and Wembeldines on 16 points
with one game to play. Delta (with their 100% record in the league this season)
knew that if they could dispatch 5th place Team Lightning in their 8pm
kick-off, they'd have the league sewn up going into the final day. What
happened next could have been predicted by no one as Team Lightning served up a
performance of gargantuan proportions. Lightning got off to the perfect
start as Tommy Guinan put his side one up. Chris Collopy added a second with a
scorcher of a goal. A half volley from the corner of the box found the back of
the net to put Lightning in a dominant position. Collopy turned provider for
Lightning’s third as his corner found the head of Philly Maher to put Lightning
3 to the good. Delta weren’t going down without a fight though and Dave McPhillips
responded with a goal to put the score at 3-1. Lightning notched another though
as an excellent ball from Chimka was converted by Chris Collopy for his second
of the game. Ronan Gallagher added a second for Delta to give a final score of
4-2.
The result solidifies Team
Lightning's place in Europe for the post-season as they are guaranteed a top 5
finish now. The league title will be decided on the final day with the two 8pm
kick offs providing a couple of epic ties. 1st plays 3rd and Delta know their
faith is still in their hands and that a win OR a draw vs Analog will guarantee
them victory (by virtue of their better head-to-head vs Wembeldines (should
both finish on 19 points)). Analog know they'll have to beat Delta, and hope
that 4th place Cutters do them a favour and get a result versus Dines. Whilst
Dines will be hoping Analog do them a favour and beat Delta! So in essence, the
permutations look like this:
- Delta win or draw vs Analog
=> Delta win league
- Analog win vs Delta,
Wembeldines win vs Cutters => Wembeldines win league
- Analog win vs Delta,
Wembeldines lose or draw vs Cutters => Analog win league.
Elsewhere, Delta Rejects got their first points of the season with
a hard fought nil all draw vs Boca Seniors. In their first season in the
league, Delta Rejects have struggled at times but have always shown good battle
and intensity in their games and were well worth their draw vs Boca.
The spoils were also shared in the other game of the night as Bluestreak
drew 1-1 with The Lakers. The ball brushed
the hair of Darragh O’Riordan for Bluestreak’s goal while Colum Hanley
was the scorer of the Lakers’ goal. The result leaves Bluestreak in 8th
and Lakers in 7th going into the final day.