As I sit here at my desk at work on yet another quiet and rain-swept English afternoon – I find myself ruminating on yet another couple of weeks happenings in the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Another functional 1-0 victory – this time in front of the live Setanta TV cameras at home to relegation fodder (if not for Longford misplacing a load of points on their last visit to Merrion Square) in the shape of Waterford United. An deftly executed overhead kick from Darren Manseram (his first League goal so I believe) that would grace any top league in Europe stretched the run to 10 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses in all competitions for the season.
A 0-0 draw in yet another highly charged Dublin Derby against the great unwashed last Friday – having to listen to the delusional nonsense spouted forth from the pits of Pat “Better Team” Scully nearly made me want to hurl the PC monitor out of the window.
The usual circus off the pitch inevitably unfolded as sure as night follows day, and Roddy Collins follows bluster – culminating in the usual nonsense on several Internet forums which shall remain nameless to prevent embarrasment to those involved.
For some wildly unknown reason this season – a load of Sligo Rovers fans have hopped on the bandwagon already being ridden by Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne fans - having a pop and a snipe at us at any given opportunity – even when things don’t actually involve them. Probably put it down to the fact that Sean Connor took the better job when it came up – as he said he always would do. Smacks of minnow behaviour from what is virtually our feeder club.
Monday night (last night) saw the return of Chief Fire Marshall Mr Gareth “Spoofer” Farrelly to the hallowed turf. Probably the worst manager I’ve ever seen at any level (including Sunday morning pub football and Under 9’s Mini-Soccer). Thankfully we sent him packing with a good dose of RRS and a 3-2 extra-time win. The winner coming from the unlikely source of a Dessie Byrne header in the 120th minute of the game.
In fact all three of our goals came from supporting cast members – namely Stephen Rice (who is having a pretty good season by all accounts) and Dean Pooley.
Still – a win is a win – and it sees us into a Cup Semi-Final for the first time in a few seasons – hopefully we can convert this opportunity and bring home the first silverware of the 2007 season.
Three weeks or so until the annual jaunt to Norway – and the chance to take in some foreign football – namely a UEFA Cup game and a Norwegian Premier Division match.
Finally - I sold my old PC after 3 years of faithful service – and have a nice new top of the range Core 2 Duo on the way from Mesh Computers down in London – based on the recommendation of a colleague – but with one small worry.
It’s due to arrive on Friday the 13th…
