The 3rds followed their promotion last season with another promotion this year. Once again they were well into contention for the league up to the final series of matches, but were unlucky to see results go against them. However they did manage to to secure a three way play off for promotion involving UCD and Loughlinstown. In the first round of matches both UCD and Malahide managed to narrowly defeat Loughlinstown. The result was a "cup-final" between Malahide and UCD for promotion. The match report is attached.... Congrats to Brian, Gerry and the squad for achieving their 2nd promotion in a row.. Interestingly. there are now several players in that squad that have now achieved 6 promotions in 8 years, a remarkable acivement.
UCD 1 Malahide United 1 (Malahide win 4-2 on penalties)
After a long season that saw us go onbeaten in the league in 2007 we made it into a 3 way playoff for promotion against ucd and loughlanstown. Having despatched loughlanstown on Sat 1 nil on the magnificent surface in Gannon Park we faced ucd at Belfield on Tues. UCD were quickest out of the blocks and came at us with all guns blazing. Playing a clever combination of 1 touch and 2 touch football they didnt allow us close them down as plannedand they took a deserved lead on 5 mins when the UCD forward was shown inside on the edge of the box and beat Greener on the near post.UCD continued to dominate and it took some heroic ariel defending from halpo and gav to stem the relentless pressure. They should have gone 2 up on 30 mins but failed to convert after some clever play down thier left flank.Lucky to see the break only one down we took awell earned rest and regrouped.
Greego brought on fresh legs at half time bring on fintan on the right for cash.We upped our game in the 2nd half playing as a unit and followed instructions niall mckenna pumping quality balls into the corner for fintan to expose thier left back. With Govro and Gaz getting in some superb crunching tackles in midfield and brades continuing his stalwart work at left back UCD began to look rattled and were punished on 60 mins when clever play down the right by niall and fintan saw them put the low cross into their own net with keogher ready to pounce. UCD seemed to settle again and were unlikely not to add a couple to their tally coming close on several occasions. Govro pounded their 18-yard area with his long throws and UCD were lucky to clear some quality efforts from malahide. Smithy came on for keogher on 65 who in spite of drinking all the jungle juice at half time had nothing left in the tank hardly surprising as the pace of the game even had duracell man struggling at times. Greego junior came off the worst of some robust ucd tackles and almost needed oxygen after a a fine run down the right was stopped with him being completely up ended at the corner flag.Both sides came close to claiming the winner but the ref blew on 96 mins to send the game to extra time. Ciaran did some neat physio at the short break and malahide enjoyed some fresh water after griff climbed through a gap in the ucd clubhouse wall to fill the water bottles.The back 4 defended their lines for dear life and govro and gaz put in more crunching tackles earning a brace of yellow cards and lucky to avoid red with a rugby style effort from gaz late on. Fintan continued to torment the left back who was eventually substituted and junior making way for karlo after picking up another war wound.Smithy made some clever moves up front and was unlikely to se his left foot effort blocked with the goal at his mercy.UCD forced the play again and after a super move were unlucky to see the rocket strike deflected over the bar by bleach blond boy in the malahide goal. The ref blew after 121mins .
Penalty story
Malahide 1ST
1st up Super sub Karlito slotted home a sweet penalty giving the ucd keeper no chance 1 nil malahide
UCD 1ST
Greener saves UCD'S 1st effort after a Bruce Grobeler type pre penalty routine 1 nil Malahide
Malahide 2nd
Gav was next up but his well taken peno rose inches above the cross bar after it was deflected from its path by the poor ucd surface around the penalty spot(did my best there for you Gav) 1 Nil Malahide
UCD 2ND
UCD slotted home a cracker leaving blondie no chance 1 all
Malahide 3RD
Brades then slotted home the next although hit with power as instructed and beating the keeper it didnt actually reach the net although it did cross the line 2 -1 Malahide
UCD'S 3RD
Greener leapt around the goal like a gazelle / swinging from the bar like a baboon and followed this little show up by making a fantastic safe straight from the top drawer 2-1 malahide
Malahide's 4th
Govro battered and bruised drilled a bullet into the bottom corner keeper no chance 3-1 malahide
UCD'S 4TH
UCD converted a good peno to bottom left giveng bleach boy no chance
3-2 MALAHIDE
Malahides 5th
Smithy cool hand luke stepped up under enormus pressure fired the winner thundering into the ucd net giving the ucd keeper no chance
4-2 malahide
And a good end to the season
With the victory secured the large malahide support went wild and greego having consumed more fags and valium than was healthy celebrated an unbelievable result. To be fair to UCD their skill levels, work rate and over football was superb and deserves to be played at a higher leveland it was a pity that any team had to lose. Malahide won through team spirit , heart and never say die attitude and after the long season and endless wet and windy nights in broomfileld and the coast won promotion to 1a their second promotion in 2 seasons look out staunton greegos on a roll.
malahide
greener niall gav halpo brades keogher gaz govro cash junior duracell man
subs fintan for cash smithy for keogher karlito for junior galvo and pats not used
This was our first home game of the season and with a number of 1 st team players in the squad we eventually got the win, which was expected of us.
The game began with Malahide peppering the Donore goal. However it wasn’t till midway through the first half that we eventually broke the deadlock with Fintan O’ Conor putting us one up. In the 2 nd half first team striker Terry Corbally put us two up with a speculative effort from 25 yards. Midway through the 2 nd half Eoin Loughnane ended his three game goal drought (which he wasn’t in the slightest bit concerned about by the way) with a belter from just outside the box (6 yard).
At 3-0 up with not long remaining we were set for our first clean sheet of the season. With the self-proclaimed “best keeper in the club” Ivan Sherlock making his 3 rd team debut, it seemed that this would not be a problem. However, Donore managed to pull 2 goals back to leave only a goal between the teams.
With the pressure on and minutes remaining, we broke and with a superb 40 yard cross field through ball from Eoin Loughnane, Fintan O’Conor calmly tucked the ball past the on rushing keeper to ease the nerves.
We don’t tend to do things the easy way.
Postal United 1 v 2 Malahide United – 1 st October 2005
For the second week running we were to fall behind, this time to a penalty. In difficult conditions in the second half we fought back well, with Cian Tobin getting his first goal of the season to level the game at one a piece. With the game poised delicately the gaffer, in his wisdom, decided to settle for a draw and put on a few more defensive minded players. However, the lads had other ideas, and with only a minute to go a cross from the right was flicked on by the target man Loughnane and buried by substitute Will Crowley to steal all three points. Not the best performance of the season, but one of the most satisfying.
On an equally important note, with the sheriff (Gav Rylands) back in town for his first game of the season, we eventually got some money in the kitty with Gav himself having to contribute after being particularly mouthy and being booked. He assures that his mood swings are nothing to do with the fact that he recently got engaged. Our right-full Paul Griffin was later to proclaim (after a few pints I hope!) “4 away games, 16 points, can’t argue with that”, this kind of comment was hardly surprising considering young Griff was taught by our centre mid Dennis McSweeney, the most intelligent teacher in the LSL, so much so that he has now taken up a career in recruitment.
St Judes 1 v 3 Malahide United - 24 th September 2005
We went one down early in this game and were struggling a little in the first half until a bullet of a volley from Neil McKenna found the top corner. On another day it could have easily hit the corner flag but it must go down as an early contender for goal of the season.
Up until the introduction of a slightly tipsy (from 2 Thursday’s previous) Andy Keogh the game appeared to be going to end all square, however with his first touch since his internal suspension, he belted his trademark “daisy cutter” past the Judes keeper to put us two–one up. Some credit must go to the gaffer Brian Gregan for this inspired substitution, however Keoghser spent the night in Gibney’s bending anyone’s ear that would listen about how he should have been starting! The back four along with Logy our keeper were immense in the last few minutes as Judes piled on the pressure, only for Fintan O’ Conor to continue his run of form and pop up with the final nail in the coffin and ensure we finished with another two goal victory.
Valeview Shankhill 1 v 3 Malahide United
This game turned out to be very different from our first game and the game should have been well out of sight by half time as some sloppy finishing all round and some bad luck which was summed up by our left full, Rossa Dolan, hitting both posts with a shot and the crossbar with the rebound. Our blushes were saved with a fantastic hat-rick from the on form Fintan O’Conor.
Alpine Express 2 Malahide 4
The first match of this campaign turned out to be a cracking game. Alpine finished third in the league last season, one point ahead of us who finished fourth. With new manager Brian Gregan, and a mix of new and old players, this game was important for the team and has now set the tone for the season.
The game got off to a great start with new captain Eoin Loughnane scoring twice within the first ten minutes. An unfortunate incident then saw centre forward Paul Murray break his ankle. This unsettled the team for a stage and shortly before the break Alpine pulled a goal back. However, just on half time the game swung again as Fintan O’Conor rose to head home and restore the two-goal advantage.
The second half saw us defending deeply and with only minutes to go Alpine pulled back another goal. At this stage, Brian Gregan had introduced himself for a final swan song. With his first touch he tried to play the ball over the top, completely missed the ball and gracefully as ever, hit the deck. Like watching “Bambi on Ice” pretty much summed it up.
In the final stages, nerves were jangling in the defence and with only seconds remaining a long ball landed at the feet of Loughnane who single handedly took on the Alpine back line and from a tight angle dummied the keeper and slotted the ball home for his hat-rick, which guaranteed opening day three points.
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