Division 1 Title Race Hots Up

Division 1

After 10 weeks it looks a 3 horse race to the finish, with Sleazy Lemmons, Booze Crew and Trotters Traders all in close contention and very little between them in terms of standard.

The Booze Crew after a slow start, have put the best run together and are now unbeaten in 5 games. But the Lemmons and Trotters cannot be discounted with some quality players in both sides. It looks like it will go down to the last series of games to decide the destination of the title.

Abcde FC upset the Trotters and beat them 7-4, knocking them off the top of the table for the first time this season. Connie Murphy with 5 goals and David O Rourke were best for Abc who were very well organised by the experienced Joe O Sullivan in defence. Barry O'Mahony and Ian Cotter were amoungst the goals for Trotters with O'Mahony bagging a hatrick.

Sleazy Lemmons were too strong for Racing Club on the night, with the Lemmons having an explosive start to this game with 4 goals in the first 15 minutes. Andy O Mahony normally deployed as a defender played at centre forward, with excellent effect, scoring 4 times. John Daly inspired the Lemmons in midfield and was first to all loose balls and led the way in closing down Racing. Edward Noonan was best for Racing and scored a brace.

Crossbarry Legends were too strong for CSKA Tongo, beating them by a convincing 9-3 scoreline. Hughie O'Donovan showed some clinical finishing for Crossbarry and was easy pick for man of the match.

The Booze Crew also won by the same margin, beating the Thirty Somethings 8-2. This game was tighter than the scoreline suggests, with 5 goals in the last 15 minutes for Booze Crew. Jimmy Griffin was again best for them and scored with a sensational volley in the first half for the pick of the goals in all games this week.

Division 2

A suberb comeback by AC Standard to earn a valuable point against the league leaders Sliabh na mBan was the stand out team performance of the week. Tim O Connor scored three 2^nd half goals for Standard who were 3-0 down at the break and his side worked extremely hard for a deserved point. After a long period of sustained pressure by AC, O'Connors scored his 3rd with a well taken half volley with only 2 minutes left on the clock.

Dynamo Tonduff threw a spanner in the works in this title race and did Sliabh na mBan a big favour, as they beat 2^nd placed Fritzl Palace 5-2. Alan Forde was excellent for Tonduff and was the pick of the players on show, and scoring twice in the process. Dave Murphy and Ger Harte were also in top form for the winners, who are more than capable of beating the top teams if they can hold this team together, but may have left it too late to challenge for the title.

There was only one team in the contest between Douglas Mortgage and Bayer Neverlosin, with Douglas winning comfortably. Albert Hobbs and Eric Cotter with 4 goals each for Mortgage. James Adams scored a memorable consulation goal for Neverlosin who were not as effective without Jordan O'Leary in attack.

FC Coping Badly coped very well with and understrength Duffers side and also won comfortably. Robbie Doyle came out of goal for Coping to see if he could get on the scoresheet and within seconds he did so with a simple tap in.