After a prolonged break from competitive football the Belmont under 8A's made their way to St.James ground on Bird avenue delighted to have been offered the opportunity to play their designated fixture at all given their home ground was once again declared unplayable after the rain on Thursday evening.
Looking back of course, that may have been a hasty decision as Belmont found a St.James team still smarting from their defeat at the hands of Belmont a few months ago. Oh Belmont were smug then....
St.James had caught Belmont unprepared in september and had easily won the first encounter of the season. The return match in Herbert park had been an altogether different affair with Belmont narrowly conceding a draw. Belmont got their reward in February when the Mulcahy family finally came to one of these games and Belmont beat their fiercest local opposition 3 2 in what was another epic encounter.
Belmont should have known something was up on friday evening when the St.James manager contacted them to offer the chance to play the match at their ground. The St.James manager James Greally was way ahead of the Belmont managerial duo who should have read the signals more clearly. It was naiive of them to not have realised that when the opposition manager found out before them that Herbert park was unplayable and managed to secure a referee and a pitch that his team were up for and prepared for a real game.
It was however all smiles as the Hugh Mulcahy drew the Belmont team into formation for their pre match photo. Belmont relied on their tried and trusted starting formation against St.James. Conor Booth in Goal to inspire confidence , Luke Sheehan and Mark Cloonan in defence , Marcus Boggan , John Mulcahy and Brian Cuddy in midfield and Cathal Dempsey as the lone striker with Patrick Sherwin and Jack Fahey held back in reserve for the kick off.
In the pre match warm up, Boggan and Mulcahy spoke of teamwork and effort and passing and communciation. They spoke of everyone needing to be aware of where their team mates were on the pitch and to work with each other. The warm up drills were relaxed but concentrated on passing and talking to each other. They also spoke to the players individually and told them that each match was effectively a trial and that all players need to earn the right to their pitch time as everyone is needed to make a contribution when ever they are on the pitch.
It was apparent however right from the kick off that this was not going to be all one way traffic for Belmont with the first encounters of the match all going the way of St.James and Belmont looking rusty and surprisingly ill at ease. Sheehan and Cloonan were stretched repeatedly with Conor Booth in continuous action and Belmont conceding a series of corners which had to be defended vigorously. This brought the midfield back to defence and made it easy for St.James to keep attacking. On and on it went with Belmont making successful saves and stoppages and the occasional clearance upfield.
Cathal Dempsey looked bright in attack as he weaved around the St.James box and kept the St.James goalkeeper busy. Unfortunately for Cathal the game was being played out in the Belmont goal mouth and so he never had the chance to demonstrate his skills. The tactical appreciation of St.James was far ahead of Belmont on the field and it did not take much time before St.James realised that the lone Belmont striker was completely isolated and out of range of the rest of his team so they threw their defence forward to join in the attack leaving the Belmont striker and their own goal keeper as mere spectators at the other end of the pitch.
Belmont had a moment when it looked like the tide might turn when Sheehan tackled , passed to Cloonan who managed to get the ball to cuddy and he in turn managed to get the ball to Boggan who was steaming down the sidelines. Dempsey waited his chance , Boggan crossed the ball in and as Dempsey cued himself up for the shot the referee blew the whistle as John Mulcahy was brought down in the St.James box.
Mulcahy has twice been awarded penalties this season but on both occasions the management team were unaware that the pain associated with the tackle was so great that the poor lad was unable to drive the ball home with the precision that would be expected. Sure enough John Mulcahy had to be hauled ashore to receive some medical attention before re-joining the fray.
Today though was a story about Belmont playing with the same kind of passion and coherence that the Irish rugby team brought with them to Croke Park for the match against Scotland , indeed there was also more than a passing resemblance to that of the Fine Gael party as an effective opposition last saturday.
It was not long though before the Belmont tactics of relying on a five man defence with a solitary stranded attacker was exposed properly. Once again St.James decided to take their chances and leave the Belmont striker unattended and again threw their defence forward. They were rewarded by a well taken goal that beat the brave Conor Booth who made a spectacular dive but the power of the shot was just too much.
Soon after it was the turn of the St.James Striker to be denied his penalty attempt as Conor Booth bravely stood up to his full height and intimidated the St.James striker into kicking the ball straight at him. The smiles of smug satisfaction from the Belmont crowds soon froze though as another communication breakdown in the Belmont ranks saw the St.James strike force was once again rewarded for their tenacity and Belmont found themselves two goals down.
Mutt and Jeff, the Belmont Managers decided to make some changes , relieving the pressure on Dempsey who had made some sprightly runs around the St.James box and brought on Jack Fahy as striker with Patrick sherwin coming on the replace Brian Cuddy who was shattered after working courageously to try and contain the St.James team who were clearly more focussed.
Half time brought some respite and Manager Boggan was heared pleading with his charges as he tried to both hide his frustration and to inspire confidence and assurance to the Belmont team who looked about as sharp as a rusty nail.
The second half began the way of the first with the only change being Conor Booth coming out of goal and Brian Cuddy assuming goal keeping duties. St.James dominated possession again though despite some fine runs and ferocious tackling by Conor who put his unlucky period in goal behind him and was full of running. The Belmont players however grew more and more tired and frustrated and the decibel level from the Belmont management team rose ever higher as tackle after tacke was missed and players in Yellow jerseys began to remonstrate uncharacteristically with each other.
This was not what the crowds had gotten out of bed for... 
Suddenly it seemed if the Belmont managers had indeed been inspired, throwing Boggan forward had in the past proved a successful tactic so it was tried again with Fahy coming back into midfield. They had a lucky break though when Fahey attempted to pass the ball to Boggan but the pass went awry. Somehow Boggan missed his attempt to volley the ball the miss distracted the defence and suddenly the ball was in the back of the net. St.James 2 and Belmont 1, now there was a chance of a game here..redemption loomed and heads which had been bowed suddenly lifted .
Belmont relief was however short lived. A long threaded pass from the St.James midfield was watched by the yellow clad men who all looked at the ball and waited and waited and waited for someone else to retrieve it ... it seemed like an eternity as the ball trundled slowly between a group of Belmont players , all of whom were calling out to someone else to get it...and no one moving towards it themselves. Finally the ball was collected by the fast running St.James midfield who could not believe that the Belmont team had turned on itself and so the delivery of the St.James third goal was painless and left poor Brian Cuddy with no chance so the two goal deficit was re-established quickly.
The Belmont Management team, looking haggard and stressed decided that it was now approprate to make further desperate and ill conceived changes to the formation, this time pairing Cathal Dempsey with John Mulcahy in Defence for the first time and switching Jack with Patrick Sherwin coming on to give Jack a well earned rest.
These changes marked the begining of the final phase of the game where the communication between the players on the pitch dissolved completely with harranguing of the managers from both the defensive and attacking ends of the pitch and mutterings of disquiet and discontent from the assembled supporters.
At this point St.James won the ball after a tussle in mid field and the assembled Belmont supporters were treated to an exhibition by St.James as the Belmont experimental defence of Mulcahy and Dempsey was beaten so easily that this experiment clearly wont be repeated. Dempsey did manage to give the St.James striker a run for his money but could not get in position to block the shot. Only Cuddy with the heroic save of the day pushed the shot over the Bar. The ensuing corner kick was scrambled clear but the St.James again won the ball and ran freely past the Belmont defence to drive home their advantage and score their fourth goal.
Suddenly without warning on this fine spring like morning a red mist appeared to drift down out of the clouds and swirled around affecting both the management team and some of their related players...John Mulcahy was first to be affected by the virus and found it all too much John had decided that he really was in charge and had a better plan for the team and he had his views on the hopeless tactics being employed. This inspired move on his part led to him being invited off the pitch so that he could continue to deliver his views from the comfort of the touchline.
Two minutes to go and Marcus Boggan decided that he too had had enough of being urged on and harranged by the same hapless management team and he too decided that it was time to forcefully express his opinions. Marcus was also invited to join John on touchline where he was able to continue offering his views to all and sundry as the red mist virus threatened to envelope more of the supporters and players.
The final whistle was a relief , the end of a 40 minute nightmare. Brian Cuddy was the star of the show today with his good natured smile and his consistent work rate marking him out as the obvious man of the match.
Belmont will reflect on this for a while. Definitely not their finest hour...there will be other days and other matches but St.James is the Derby game and this week Belmont looked like they were out of their depth at this level. It is only a game ...and all that....better to play than not....
Word is that the Belmont management team have been engaged in long disscussions over the weekend in the aftermath of the game. A source close to the duo who did not want to be identified said that the management team are concerned that the team appear to have reached something of a cross roads. A lovely bunch of kids and supportive parents and have had some good fun thus far but the question is where to next.
To a neutral oberver , this team has a group of players who are effectively self selecting as the first choice defensive unit, the first choice Goal keeper and some others who have demonstrated some skills in that area. Most observers also know which combination of kids is most likely to score and make the tackles. The Management team have been struggling with ideas for the kids who having been tried in various positions but which have yet to find their natural niche where they can make a strong positive contribution to the development of this team.
Looking at it objectively , Belmont probably do need to find another player or two to give more strength in depth to the squad and to help continue the development of the team. The addition of one or two select players would mean that Belmont could rest more players during matches without being exposed to injury or an illness or a players absence. The choice is to adjust expectations to mid table mediocrity and just turn up week in week out or try to be as competitive as possible which would mean being slightly more ruthless with regard to team selection while ensuring that every week all the kids get some pitch time.
This observer thinks the managers have a competitive instinct which suggests that the just showing up every week option is less appealing to them than the competitive one. However one thing for sure , we all know that neither of them know anything about soccer being Jesuit boys and neither of them can even be trusted with the flag by a soccer referee as they both point the flag rugby fashion in the wrong direction. The reality is that this management team, bereft of original ideas , and having been filleted by the tactical nous of St.James probably should be relieved of their roles as soon as possible.
Vote now....and feedback to belmontsoccer@gmail.com. The management team were overheard suggesting that they are available for consultation over a pint with anyone who has a view either way.
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