Photographs courtesy of H Mulcahy (L Boggan's turn next time)
Linesman: H Mulcahy (L Boggan's turn next time) 
“Revenge is a dish best served cold”. Les liaisons dangereuses? Mathilde? An old Pashtun or even a Sicilian quote? It’s source remains confused and shrouded in mystery. However, the origin of Belmont’s victory away to St James’ Athletic yesterday can be clearly traced to the 5th September 2009, 155 days ago. On that day, against the same team and on the same football pitch, Belmont suffered their first and 
only defeat since their formation, but what a defeat it was! A nine goal to one nightmare to start their campaign and one that few would choose to remember, except perhaps Fiona McNulty who scored a cracking goal in the second half to allow Belmont to limp away with some honour. One month later and a return match in Herbert Park saw a more confident and composed Belmont Draw 2-2 but leave St James’ with the bragging rights away from home. Then on to 6th February 2010 and the question of whether the undoubted progression of the Belmont team would allow them to eclipse their rivals, and do it away from home. Ultimately Belmont served their dish of revenge, but only after a nail-biting forty-minute drama in which the plate was passed back and forward several times. Ah, pure theatre, even including comic relief in the form of hapless Directors Boggan and Mulcahy and their own slapstick brand of football management “A la Laurel and Hardy”.
The match was played on a wet and greasy surface but on a calm and warm February morning. The referee began by checking the studs of all players and all passed muster except for McNulty’s, but only the studs in her ears! Bravely, she allowed her dad to remove them so that she could take part in the match and it was as well that she did, since all were required to play their part to ensure victory. The “Two Ronnies” started with their usual shape with Booth in goal, Sheehan and Cloonan in defence, Cuddy, Mulcahy and Boggan in midfield and Dempsey in attack. Opening exchanges were coy and St James’ probably had the best of the initial play with some excellent passing manoeuvres from midfield to attack. It’s impossible to overestimate the calming effect of Cloonan and Sheehan in defence but, with an aggressive St James’ attack formation, even these two needed help from their midfield colleagues Boggan, Mulcahy and Cuddy who tracked back almost seamlessly to prevent St James’ gaining a decisive opener. 
Booth was playing the game of his life in goal and prevented several fine efforts from reaching the net with acrobatic diving saves and safe hands. However, the game slowly began
to turn and, after initially soaking up some serious pressure, Belmont began to counter well with initial forays up the pitch to Dempsey who was busy keeping the St James’ defence on their toes. Several times he made space and broke away but, on each occasion, the goalkeeper either parried the ball or made excellent diving saves. Indeed, the game became increasingly edgy with neither team willing to give away a vital goal until a fine Belmont move culminated in a deft pass to Cuddy who slotted home from short range on 10 minutes. This was never going to be a high scoring game, so all contributions were gratefully accepted. The game continued to ebb and flow throughout the half with the introduction of Sherwin and Fahy but, despite their fresh legs and undoubted skills, neither team could gain any decisive advantage in any part of the field and the half ended without further scoring. 
It was at this stage that football’s equivalent of Morecambe and Wise really cranked up the comedy by totally disrupting the pattern of the team and switching players from one position to another apparently at random. Indeed, one well respected Belmont parent was seen to nudge 
her neighbour and say “..if they were at Manchester United, they’d probably play Rooney at left back and van der Sar in centre midfield”. Despite the managers, the Belmont players got on with the game and actually scored a second when a through ball in the 24th minute found Boggan centre stage where he whipped a shot past the St James’ goalie to make it 2-0. Even then, the game was far from secure and St James’ further upped the tempo and scored on 32 minutes after some frenzied attacking. At the other end, McNulty was a constant threat and harried the James’ defence, never allowing them to push up and join their partners in attack for fear of a breakaway goal. In the end, Belmont did score that goal courtesy of Fahy who slammed the ball home from 10 metres to apparently make the game safe. In a final twist to the tale, St James scored a second on 39 minutes to leave Belmont hanging on by a thread. As the final curtain descended, a happy and relieved set of Belmont players and fans relaxed in the knowledge that they had seen off their nemesis – at least for the moment! 
In a post match interview, manager Mulcahy said “yes, our team did play well and I'm particularly delighted for my co-manager who has finally experienced a win over St James’ Athletic. It’s interesting that I was away for both previous matches when he was unsuccessful, but was present on the only occasion that we actually managed to win. I wouldn’t want anyone to read too much into this fact, but it is nevertheless curious…” When informed of Manager Mulcahy’s comments, Manager Boggan retorted “Just who does he think he is, Bill Shankley? I only employ him to look after the post match chocolate bars, and he can’t even arrange those properly. Imagine buying a selection of different sweets so that the players argue about who gets the Mars bars!” He thinks it "curious", does he, Ha! Curious George would be a more competent co-manager!”
“Revenge is a dish best served cold”. Les liaisons dangereuses? Mathilde? An old Pashtun or even a Sicilian quote? It’s source remains confused and shrouded in mystery. However, the origin of Belmont’s victory away to St James’ Athletic yesterday can be clearly traced to the 5th September 2009, 155 days ago. On that day, against the same team and on the same football pitch, Belmont suffered their first and 
only defeat since their formation, but what a defeat it was! A nine goal to one nightmare to start their campaign and one that few would choose to remember, except perhaps Fiona McNulty who scored a cracking goal in the second half to allow Belmont to limp away with some honour. One month later and a return match in Herbert Park saw a more confident and composed Belmont Draw 2-2 but leave St James’ with the bragging rights away from home. Then on to 6th February 2010 and the question of whether the undoubted progression of the Belmont team would allow them to eclipse their rivals, and do it away from home. Ultimately Belmont served their dish of revenge, but only after a nail-biting forty-minute drama in which the plate was passed back and forward several times. Ah, pure theatre, even including comic relief in the form of hapless Directors Boggan and Mulcahy and their own slapstick brand of football management “A la Laurel and Hardy”.The match was played on a wet and greasy surface but on a calm and warm February morning. The referee began by checking the studs of all players and all passed muster except for McNulty’s, but only the studs in her ears! Bravely, she allowed her dad to remove them so that she could take part in the match and it was as well that she did, since all were required to play their part to ensure victory. The “Two Ronnies” started with their usual shape with Booth in goal, Sheehan and Cloonan in defence, Cuddy, Mulcahy and Boggan in midfield and Dempsey in attack. Opening exchanges were coy and St James’ probably had the best of the initial play with some excellent passing manoeuvres from midfield to attack. It’s impossible to overestimate the calming effect of Cloonan and Sheehan in defence but, with an aggressive St James’ attack formation, even these two needed help from their midfield colleagues Boggan, Mulcahy and Cuddy who tracked back almost seamlessly to prevent St James’ gaining a decisive opener. Booth was playing the game of his life in goal and prevented several fine efforts from reaching the net with acrobatic diving saves and safe hands. However, the game slowly began
to turn and, after initially soaking up some serious pressure, Belmont began to counter well with initial forays up the pitch to Dempsey who was busy keeping the St James’ defence on their toes. Several times he made space and broke away but, on each occasion, the goalkeeper either parried the ball or made excellent diving saves. Indeed, the game became increasingly edgy with neither team willing to give away a vital goal until a fine Belmont move culminated in a deft pass to Cuddy who slotted home from short range on 10 minutes. This was never going to be a high scoring game, so all contributions were gratefully accepted. The game continued to ebb and flow throughout the half with the introduction of Sherwin and Fahy but, despite their fresh legs and undoubted skills, neither team could gain any decisive advantage in any part of the field and the half ended without further scoring. It was at this stage that football’s equivalent of Morecambe and Wise really cranked up the comedy by totally disrupting the pattern of the team and switching players from one position to another apparently at random. Indeed, one well respected Belmont parent was seen to nudge 
her neighbour and say “..if they were at Manchester United, they’d probably play Rooney at left back and van der Sar in centre midfield”. Despite the managers, the Belmont players got on with the game and actually scored a second when a through ball in the 24th minute found Boggan centre stage where he whipped a shot past the St James’ goalie to make it 2-0. Even then, the game was far from secure and St James’ further upped the tempo and scored on 32 minutes after some frenzied attacking. At the other end, McNulty was a constant threat and harried the James’ defence, never allowing them to push up and join their partners in attack for fear of a breakaway goal. In the end, Belmont did score that goal courtesy of Fahy who slammed the ball home from 10 metres to apparently make the game safe. In a final twist to the tale, St James scored a second on 39 minutes to leave Belmont hanging on by a thread. As the final curtain descended, a happy and relieved set of Belmont players and fans relaxed in the knowledge that they had seen off their nemesis – at least for the moment! In a post match interview, manager Mulcahy said “yes, our team did play well and I'm particularly delighted for my co-manager who has finally experienced a win over St James’ Athletic. It’s interesting that I was away for both previous matches when he was unsuccessful, but was present on the only occasion that we actually managed to win. I wouldn’t want anyone to read too much into this fact, but it is nevertheless curious…” When informed of Manager Mulcahy’s comments, Manager Boggan retorted “Just who does he think he is, Bill Shankley? I only employ him to look after the post match chocolate bars, and he can’t even arrange those properly. Imagine buying a selection of different sweets so that the players argue about who gets the Mars bars!” He thinks it "curious", does he, Ha! Curious George would be a more competent co-manager!”“Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose”, at least as far as the ludicrous management of this wonderful and ever improving under 8 team goes!
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