Dutch Luck For Exiles

Thursday Division 3

     The Exiles took a giant step towards their 2nd Footy title as they beaten their main rivals Panicyakios 2-1. Dutchman Jarrin Koopman sealed their win with a late winner when he calmly slotted home from close  range. Exiles did well in this extremely tight game to come out on top having come from behind. Missing from their line up was the very influential Jeremy Delea, but Koopman who has been their most consistent player over the last few years, filled his boots very successfully getting the man of the match from their midfield. Mark Kirwin and Mark Ryan also did very well for the Exiles and were most threatening to the Panicyakios defence. Rory O’Sullivan used all his experience as he marshalled the Exiles defence superbly. Paul Stanton did likewise for Panicyakios, but they could have done with him in midfield as they lacked penetration while in possession. Current top scorer in this division, Peter Reidy added to his tally to open the scoring with a well taken first half goal to lead 1-0 at the break. Mark Ryan levelled for Exiles mid way through the 2nd half.With both these sides expected to win their remaining 5 games, Panic will now look to their East Cork neighbours, and 3rd placed Shanty United to do them a favour in the 2nd last game of the season on April 10th when they take on the Exiles. Shanty Utd cannot be discounted from the title race either, and are now 6 points off the lead after their 7-4 win over The Barrells. Sean Casey scored a hatrick for Shanty who always looked comfortable and led 3-1 at the break. Pat Coleman did best for The Barrells and also scored a hatrick.The Flying Column had an 8-5 win over Black Gold, but left it late to secure the win as they ran in 3 late goals with the game tied 5-5 with 10 minutes on the clock. The Middle Eastern lads played very effectively on the counter attack throughout the game and scored 5 times on the break, with the Column dominating possession. Alan Mullery was best for the Column with the skilful duo Ahmed alSahow and Majed Aleid best for Black Gold. All these 3 players scored a brace a piece.The evergreen Jack Russell was Whitfords best player as the overcame Men Utd to stay in 4th place. Russell impressively scored a hatrick to help his side seal the win. The game was tied 1-1 at the break but Whitfords passed the ball better in the 2nd period and deserved their win.

Thursday Division 2

All results went the way of the Sons of Pitches as they went top of the league for the first time this season. They beat league leaders Mount Oval 2-1 in a pulsating clash. Michael Deasy did well for the Pitches when he was deployed effectively at centre forward where he held the ball up very well. Deasy opened the scoring and Ken O’Connor doubled their advantage to lead 2-0 at halftime. The hard working Phil Healy replied for he Oval who had the better of the 2nd half but the Pitches held on for the valuable points.The JT Specials had  an amazing comeback against title contenders River Plate. The Carrigaline boys looked comfortable and led 4-1 midway through the 2nd half, but the hugely impressive Dan Hegarty scored 4 times to lead an amazing comeback. The Pitches have now beaten two of the top three teams, and if they could find more consistency they could be contenders with the likes of Hegarty and Dan Carpenter in their side.The Cowboys also had a 5-4 win over Hardly Athletic, with Shane Murphy scoring a late winner. Both sides played some excellent football in a very open game. Danny Meade scored the goal of the game with the Cowboys opener. Barry O’Hanlon and Ger Dolan were best for Hardly and were on the scoresheet, who were unlucky not to take anything from the game. Cork Celtic and FC Copen badly played out another open but close game with Celtic edging it. Peter Carroll was excellent for Copen Badly and scored both the games best goals with two superb volleys. Shane Cahill was also excellent for Celtic and scored 4 times.   This division is very close only 6 points separating the top 5 teams and some good footballing teams in the bottom half, and very capably of upsetting the teams above them.