Style over Substance recorded an outstanding 7-2 victory against The Moos last night in their best performance this season. The Moos were top of the table and looked to be the form team coming into this fixture, but for the first time this year Style over Substance had an almost completely healthy roster with only Tim McCarthy out with medium term knee damage.
Welcoming the return of Stuart despite playing with two broken bones in his hand, the mercurial Darragh returning to form and the ever controversial Eamonn Kennedy getting back some game fitness, the edge Style over Substance need to win this league is slowly sharpening.
The game began at a high tempo, both teams now after 5 weeks of competition are starting to gel well and combinations were working for each side. As a result the passing was crisp, technical and the opening period was dominated by cattenaggio employed by both teams as they sought to give nothing away and build a platform for victory.
The moos were working openings down the right flank as they looked to set up chances for their star players, but Jim Butler and Eamonn Kennedy were titans in defence as they repelled attack after attack and Padraic Nicholas screened effectively in front of the defence, controlling possession and dominating the rhythm which Style over Substance played with when in possession. He was cutting out passes and setting up opportunities for Neil, Brian and Darragh who worked hard to pin The Moos back into their own half.
On occasion this reduced The Moos to trying long balls over the top, but the razor sharp Alan Sheehy in goals dealt comfortably with any these in the sweeper keeper role.
In a game this tight chances were few and far between, both teams getting in many blocks and goalkeepers being well protected to allow them deal with any efforts on their own terms.
Eventually The Moos broke the stalemate after 15 minutes, working the ball around the park, a speculative shot from the right wing caught a deflection and squeezed into the bottom right corner. This sparked a renewed effort from Style over Substance and Stuart started raiding down the left wing, setting up Neil o'Mahony with a number of chances, but The Moos were disciplined in defence and choked off any opportunity.
The catenaggio style still dominated the rest of the half, until just moments before half-time Jim Butler was strong in the tackle in his own left back position and the ball came out of the tackle to Brian Butler who turned on the gears, slalomed through the midfield and side stepped the defender while dragging the goalie to the right and then clipping the ball into the bottom left.
The goal gave Style over Substance a lift and on the stroke of half-time, with both teams all-square this was proving an intriguing encounter.
But the intrigue did not last long into the second half, Style over Substance came out, turned the screw and put The Moos to a mercifully swift death!
Padraic Nicholas began to impose himself on the game controlling midfield with his technical ability and physical presence, Darragh started finding room up front to terrorise defenders and create openings while Neil was stringing passes together that sapped the energy from The Moos as they battled hard to keep up pressure and not concede chances.
The opening goal came after just 2 minutes of the second half, Style over Substance were applying a crushing force to The Moos who coughed up possession on the right flank; Neil passed quickly to Jim, who released Eamonn down the left flank and he cut a crisp pass to Darragh at the edge of the box. Darragh controlled it well and drew a defender, buying time for Brian who was running through the middle to get there and a quick flick set him up for a volley, which he caught cleanly and drove into the top left corner. 2-1 and storming!
The next few minutes were dominated by Style over Substance and Darragh won a ball on the right wing and released Brian again who raced through the middle past two defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom right.
This dagger to the heart of The Moos tore the belief from them as the visibly wilted under the strangle hold of Eamonn, Stuart and Jim sniffing out any opportunity while releasing Neil, Padraic and Darragh who kept the ball well and worked chances which caused The Moos to become very ratty and discordant as a team.
This allowed Darragh to pick up a nice pass from Padraic and turn inside two defenders and slot into the bottom left, followed quickly with another goal a few moments later. Stuart won a ball in the pocket, played a relief ball out the line to Darragh who was putting in a tremendous shift up front and then Stuart raced through the middle to get on the end of Darraghs square ball, and a cool head and a sure strike put the ball past the keeper.
5-1 and cruising!
The effort Style over substance put in to get ahead began to show and a moment of lapse concentration resulted in The Moos winning a free on the edge of the box, with no one back helping out, Alan Sheehy was left alone with a free 8 yards in front of him. Style over substance offered him no help and the free taker just blasted it past him from point blank range.
This was just a momentary blip and going into the last 10 minutes the game opened up and Darragh and Stuart both scored goals on the counter attack. Darragh was released by Alan who cut out a long ball, threw it over the defence to Darragh who controlled well in the square, rounded the keeper with ease and slotted home.
The final goal was scored by Stuart, but this hack missed it as he went to retrieve a ball Neil o'Mahony managed to kick out over the goals, the cage, the net and the car park! That particular ball was burst, much like The Moos bubble.
Scorers - Brian [3] Darragh [2] Stuart [2]
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