Cú Chulainn and the Quest for an Irish Cup Win

Plans were made.

Training was done.

All the squad had to do was go to the NAC in Dublin and win a game or two against some of the best teams Ireland had to offer.

First up was a game against St Vincents, this years Irish League winners and in the end, winners of this years Irish Cup. So, a nice easy start……

We gave them a game but their quality was too much to live with. They ran out 11-5 winners, our goals came from Decky McKerr (2), Caoimhin Campfield, Tom Donnelly and Michael Dempsey (1).

There was plenty to be encouraged about here, so after an early night and a hearty breakfast it was time to take on Half Moon. They finished in the league one place above us, so this looked like the best opportunity to get that win.

It was a tight affair, by the start of the 4th quarter the scores were even at 7 each. And then it happened, for the first time in the game we took the lead thanks to an Eamon Kerr peach. And then Nicky Birch extended the lead further. With only a few minutes left we had a 9-7 lead.

It was happening! The win, we’d be set up for our final game of the group stage with a decent chance of getting a spot in the semi-final.

A couple of cheap goals for Half Moon leveled the game. As the game entered the last 30 seconds we called a timeout as our last roll of the dice. Unfortunately we didn’t get a shot away and Half Moon broke and scored with 1 second left on the clock to make the score 9-10.

And that was it. Half Moon took the points and we were left needing to overturn North Dublin by 10 goals to qualify for the next round.

Our goals came from Decky McKerr (4), Eamo Kerr, Caoimhin Campfield, Jacob Duffin, Nicky Birch and Cathal Fitzpatrick (1).

It’s not polite to talk to much about what happened in the final group game against North Dublin.

Looking at the positives…….we scored first would maybe one…….The third quarter, we won 1-0…..And that’s about it. North Dublin 15 - Cú Chulainn 3.

Goals from Caoimhin Campfield, Tom Donnelly and Cathal Fitzpatrick (1).

And that’s it. Until next time.

The Business End of the Season

The Business End of the Season, that’s what they call it in some circles.

And here we are, with a handful of games left and a set of league tables that don’t make for great reading.  Our league teams have more hard luck stories than points on the board.  That can change quickly.

Our first division team has 4 league fixtures remaining, starting tonight, 23rd February in Lisburn at 7.30pm vs Half Moon. Come along and give them some support.

For a full set of fixtures and dates for all teams in the club see here:

End of season fixtures

The 2nd Annual Division 3 No Keeper Clontarf Away Game

There’s no point getting involved in Water Polo if you are after an easy Saturday afternoon out. Who wants that?

For the second season in a row our division 3 team traveled to play Clontarf with no keeper in the squad. Worked out ok last year when we left with the points. This year a collective decision was made to up the ante by going with no keeper and only 7 players.

With one arm behind our back the team stormed into a 2-4 lead in the first quarter. Today would be a good day, Clontarf hadn’t figured out that Waris in nets was new to this. The 2nd quarter started and we went 2-5 up. And the goals, oh the goals, these were well worked, Clontarf couldn’t live with the movement and majestic interplay.

And then the wheels came off. By halftime the score was 6-6. The refereeing had been pretty harsh on both teams, Clontarf had a player wrapped up in the first quarter, the 2nd quarter the balance swung and we conceded penalties and exclusions by the bucketful.

By the start of the 4th quarter Clontarf had a 11-8 lead. It was hard to imagine a come back, but the plan was to give it a go. That didn’t happen and the referee’s willingness to exclude players eventually came back to bite us. This guy here, got excluded for 3 majors (I insist two of them were mistakes, but who’s gonna listen). To cap things off there was another small incident involving back-chat to the referee that resulted in another player getting excluded leaving Cu Chulainn with 5 in the water for the last 3 minutes.

Emmet McCann managed to get a goal while we were 2 men down, fair play to him.

I’m already excited for next season’s 3rd Annual Division 3 No Keep Clontarf Away Game.

Final score 14-9. We gave them a game. Somehow.

Goals from J Duffin 5, McCann 2, Jordan 1, Bradley 1

Division 1 Vs Sandycove

A week on from a hard defeat against North Dublin, the Cú Chulainn first team had a chance to get back on track against Sandycove in Lisburn.

The hard work put in on tactical errors the previous week really paid off in what would end up as a 11-10 win to ourselves. 

 At times it felt Cú Chulainn would open up a gap on Sandycove, but they kept coming back.

Decky McKerr put in a great performance, scoring 7 but it's fair to say the teamwork happening around the pool gave him the platform to score some fantastic goals. Tom Donnelly chipped in with 2 goals from distance (he's good at that!). Ronan McClean (another fine goal from distance) and Caoimhghin Campfield also got on the score sheet.

Special mention to Nessy for taking a head stagger in the 4th quarter and going for a wee swim with the ball. Some people just want to keep the crowd entertained.

*Fergus Carlin would also like to file an official apology for launching a misplaced pass to the referee during the interval at the scoreboard and the frightened table officials.