April 29, Round Towers, Lusk

This turned out to be a somewhat bizarre day. Dublin had been meant to play Derry as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the Round Towers club but Derry failed to send a team. The reason for this was that the Derry County Board had gone ahead with club matches against the wishes of manager Paddy Crozier who in retaliation then proceeded to resign. Mind you, his resignation does not appear to have lasted even one night and he agreed to stay on but apparently to late to ensure that Derry provide a team.

Even the small number of Derry supporters in Round Rowers agreed that this was pretty bad form and it certainly significantly reduced the number of supporters who came and would have contributed handsomely to the club's kitty. We only found out about it after arriving in Lusk but decided to go anyway. When we got there we found out that the Dublin panel, augmented by some north county players, were going to have a game.

Time first, however, for some pints in the clubhouse. Indeed it would have been bad form not to have. Seen as it was their centenary and all that. I had originally intended only to have one or two before the match and then stick to sports drinks afterwards as I was to play a match the following morning against St. Jude's. That resolution did not last long and it was something for which I paid dearly the next day.

The match was played with something less than championship intensity but it was competitive enough. I was standing at the railings near the Dublin bench for the second half and got a good chance to observe the sideline team at close hand. Or rather that part of it consisting of Brian Talty, and Kieran Duff and Dave Billings as the Pillar seemed to be wandering around on the far side. They appeared to be in good form but always intent on the play. Also nice to see that their verbal instructions to the players were encouraging.

It was a big day for some of the lads who are possibly unlikely to appear on the big stage this year. John Leonard in goal saved a penalty from Mark Vaughan and only conceded one altogether in comparison to Stephen Cluxton who let in four. The sort of thing that might keep an insecure chap awake in the wee small hours! Paul Flynn of Dully's club Fingallians will have been happy with his two goals. Michael McAuley of Ballyboden, who like Flynn had been on the Dublin under 21 team defeated by Kildare in the Leinster championship, also scored a goal.

The two Brogan brothers, Alan and Bernard amassed a total of 2 - 9 between them. Despite missing the penalty, Vaughan finished with six points including four well taken efforts from play in the first half. So a useful run out and an unusual glimpse for most of us of what a Dublin training match is like. Although possibly less intense if some of the stories from last year are anything to go by. Anyway, it was a good day out and seemed better after a ridiculous amount of pints and even after a bus journey back to town that seemed to take longer than a trip to Wexford.