______
Marcus
Ian Mike Danny
Laurie Paul L Jacko Richie Sam
Adam Paul T
Subs: John Trimble, John Rosetti, Nick, Batts
St Brendan might be the patron saint of sailors and travellers, but any sense of watchful benevolence dissipated early on in this game. Maybe Saint Barely could be the patron saint of wake-up calls, as if the gentle trials of the previous game had possibly led the the squad to think they could perambulate in a similar manner today, they were sorely mistaken. Though Barely started reasonably well St Brendan's first real meaningful chance - several attacks having been stymied by a hitherto resolute back line - ended up in the Barely net.
There was an element of chance about it. A goal-bound header was heroically pushed onto the post by Marcus, but it ricocheted off his body and into the path of an attacker, who slotted in just inside the opposite post. And before Barely could regroup, they were three down. A cross from the St Brendan left hurtled into the box and Sam's volleyed clearnace went straight into the body of an attacker. Two or three ricochets later and the ball was in the net. Shortly after Ian's accidental handball was penalised in the harshest way when the penalty was given and slotted away.
Having begun, if not brilliantly, then decently, Barely were reeling, and at this point getting to half time without conceding further should be considered an achievement of sorts. They switched to a back four but kept five in midfield, with Adam earmarked to burst forward in support of Paul Tovey up front. However despite his best efforts the main thing Adam burst was a bloodvessel, as the usually philosophical wing-back-cum-striker took one heavy challenge too many and told the perpetrator what he thought about it. The physicality was an unwanted feature of the game - there were a few shoves and barges from St Brendan's that didn't exactly resonate with Corinthian spirit -and moments after flattening Adam he repeated the trick with Jacko.
But minor gripes aside, their football was a class above Barelys', who couldn't even get a semblance of mojo going. Two neat finishes in the second half added to the home team's tally to give them a deserved scoreline gloss - and it could have been worse for Barely, but for some alert keeping by the debutant Marcus.
On a day where nobody really excelled themselves - Richie picking up an injury didn't help their cause - the man of the match vote was spread wide but Adam clinched it - quite possibly for telling the centre-back what everyone else was thinking, as much as his usual tireless efforts. But overall it was the type of day at the office where everyone goes home with sweat stains on their shirt and coffee stains on their trousers. Barely must away to the metaphorical laundromat and return for the next fixture as new men.
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