Sunday 23 August 2009

**Match Report** Kevin Barry's vs. Young Irelander's (Championship Game 2: Sun August 23rd)

Sunday August 23rd saw the Kevin Barry's take on the Young Irelander's in game 2 of the Philadelphia Championship. A win for the Barry's would secure the 2009 Championship but they expected a real fight for it from the Young Irelander's. 
The game got under way in the blistering afternoon heat. Both teams fielded their strongest squads for what was billed as a make or break game for the Young Irelander's. The early minute's of the game were slow as both sides adjusted to the fierce heat of the day, but eventually the Barry's opened the scoring with a well taken goal from the newly dubbed P.J "goal machine" Lavery. Patrick "Deuce" Doris then added to the score line with a well taken point. Young Irelander's then hit back with two quick points and the game was evenly poised at this point. Midfielder's Colly Doris and Mark Tierney then took the game by the scruff of the neck, and they orchestrated some fine moves. The Barry's were really up for this one and anything the Young Irelander's had to offer was snuffed out by the impressive performances of Benny Landers, Danny Clark, Brendan Trainor, and the center half back general Danny McCloy. An inspired performance from center half forward Bobby Ray saw the Barry's increase their lead when he took a fine solo score, and with the marauding runs from half back by Petey McElhill the Young Irelander's really looked up against it on this this occasion. The Barry's were really enjoying this one and this was evident by a rare goal from half back Eugene Martin.  Petey McElhill then got in on the action by finishing off a fantastic move that he started in his own half. Another fine score by the speedy half back. The Young Irelander's kept fighting and took a couple of scores but by half time the Barry's held a commanding lead. 
The Barry's continued where they left off in the second half and dominated most of the play. At this point all the months of training were really beginning to show. The fluent short passing game, that Barry's coaches Gerard Dillon and Gary Rocks had drilled into their squad, was now a joy to watch and a fine flowing move was finished off with a point from Deuce Doris. Another was soon added by Bobby Ray and at this point the Barry's were relaxing and the smiles were starting to come out!! When Deuce Doris was fouled in the box by a clumsy challenge referee Paul McCarthy had no choice but to point to the spot. Deuce dusted himself off and cooly slotted the penalty into the corner of the net. At the other end of the pitch the Young Irelander's got a life line when Barry's Keeper "Big" Dave Lordan was adjudged to have given away a penalty, but the big man from Cork redeemed himself with a truely remarkable reflex save from the resulting spot kick. 
With the Barry's cruising now a few of the players got a well deserved rest and they were replaced by Patsy "super sub" Quinn, Kevin Clark, Eddie Trainor and "The Great" Johnny Harkin. Patsy Quinn got right into the action taking two superb points, showing that he can still slot them over from any angle. The game was playing out now and Johnny Harkin and Colly Doris were running the show from the half back line. Then that man Harkin stepped up and slotted over a majestic free kick from close to the side line. The game was over at this point but Bobby Ray still wanted to round off his impressive performance so he thumped one from all of 45 yards which sailed over the black spot. This got huge cheer from the Barry's faithful and now the party had started, but not before the classy "wee" Dave McCarthy dropped over one final score of the day. In the end it was a truly impressive performance from the Barry's and they fully deserved to be lifting the 2009 Philadelphia Championship. Much credit has to be given to the Young Irelander's who never gave up during any of the game's this year. They battled hard and played some fantastic football during the year.

All eyes now turn to the big one in Boston; The Senior Championship. The Barry's will be going in full of confidence and with the current squad of players they will prove very hard to beat!! 

Final Score:
Kevin Barry's (3-15)
Young Irelander's (0-5)

Barry's Scorers:
P.J Lavery (1-1), Patrick Doris (1-3), Bobby Ray (0-4), Eugene Martin (1-0), Petey McElhill (0-1), Dave McCarthy (0-2), Johnny Harkin (0-1), Patsy Quinn (0-3)

**Match Report** Kevin Barry's vs. Young Irelander's (Championship Game 1: Thurs August 13th)

Due to bad weather this Championship fixture had to be postponed to a Thursday evening. This was tough on both teams but they managed to field very strong line-up for the first game in the Philly championship series. 
This game started slowly for both teams with a lot of persistent fouling slowing the game down. The Barry's finally got on the board with fine scores from P.J Lavery and "wee" Dave McCarthy. This settled the Barry's and they started to play the flowing football witnessed in previous fixtures. Then out of the blue P.J Lavery went on the rampage. After being fouled constantly by the Young Irelander's back line Lavery decided to take matters into his own hands. Within the space of 5 minutes he had the ball in the back of the Young Irelander's net 3 times. This totally crushed the Irelander's and pretty much put the nails in their coffin for this game. But all credit to the Young Irelander's they battled back and took some fine scores to start to get back into the mix. The Barry's wanted to nip this fight back in the bud quickly and they did so through Dave McCarthy who slotted over 2 fine free kicks from big distances. 
The second half proved to be a stop start affair and tempers were now wearing thin. Young Irelander's had just scored a goal and their tails were up. Again persistent fouling really put a dampener on this game and referee Paul McCarthy was quickly losing patience. He sent off 3 men in the second half ( 2 Barry's, 1 Young Irelander's), all for second bookable offences, proving that that this constant fouling was not going unnoticed. This now meant that the Barry's were playing most of the second half with 11 men. Strategic moves by Barry's manager's Gerard Dillon and Gary Rocks helped the Barry's stretch the game a bit. They were now playing keep ball and this frustrated the Young Irelander's. The game finally trickled out and the Barry's made sure of the victory through points from half forward Petey McElhill and big midfielder Mark Tierney.  The Barry's deserved the win and they now needed one more to clinch the 2009 Philadelphia Championship.

Final Score:
Kevin Barry's (3-7)
Young Irelander's (1-6)

Barry's Scorers:
P.J Lavery (3-1), "Wee" Dave McCarthy (0-4), Petey McElhill (0-1), Mark Tierney (0-1)

**Match Report** Kevin Barry's vs. Four Province's / Donegal (NACB Tournament Final: Sun August 2nd)

Sunday August 2nd saw the highly anticipated rematch between the Kevin Barry's and the 4P's. The Barry's had a convincing victory over the 4P's a couple of weeks earlier and the 4P's were now out for revenge and felt they had a point to prove. Both teams fielded their strongest line-up's of 2009 in what proved to be a very good game of football.
The 4P's came out of the blocks very quickly and they hassled the Barrys's in the opening minutes, but it was the Barry's who settled quickest and got on the scoreboard first through "wee" Dave Mc Carthy and Patrick "Deuce" Doris. This helped the Barry's get into their groove and they pushed on with some stylish short passing football. In a devastating flurry of movement the Barry's found the back of the net twice in quick succession through Deuce Doris and P.J Lavery. This knocked the 4P's for six but they battled back and put together a fine string of points to get back into the game. Both teams traded scores before half-time with Deuce Doris, and P.J Lavery getting the points for the Barry's. The Barry's were playing well but they expected a 4P's fight back in the second half.
A fight back is exactly what they got. The 4P's came out with 4 unanswered points to start the second half. This seemed to wake the Barry's up and they hit back through scores from Dave Mc Carthy and P.J Lavery. The game was very close at this point but the break through came half way through the second half when the Barry's notched two well taken goals from their two full forwards Deuce Doris and P.J Lavery. These two players were on top form and they were running riot against the 4P's back line. The two goals really took the wind out of the 4P's and the Barry's increased their lead further through points form Bobby Ray, Deuce Doris, P.J Lavery and super sub Patsy Quinn. The 4P's tried to mount another fight back but the game was iced for the Barry's when their two half backs Petey McElhill and Eugene Martin raced up the pitch to take 2 great points. At this point the 4P's knew they were well beaten by the Barry's for the 2nd time. For the Barry's this proved to be a tournament clinching win and more importantly proved the doubter's wrong, showing the Barry's could compete with any team in the region.

Final Score:
Kevin Barry's (4-14)
4P's (0-14)

Barry's Scorers:
"Wee" Dave McCarty (0-5), Patrick "Deuce" Doris (2-4), P.J Lavery (2-1), Eugene Martin (0-1), Bobby Ray (0-1) Petey McElhill (0-1), Patsy "super-sub" Quinn (0-1)