Balaga Ring a Ring o' Rosies

Last Wednesday a crowd of 2 at Garryduff saw FC Balaga Tongo get back to winning ways against old rivals Rosies. After last 2 successive defeats the mood in the Balaga camp was low, and something had to be done. Tactical boffins Kevin Broderick and Tom O'Callaghan got there heads together on the Interwebs and discussed how to get back to winning ways. The next day a formation drawn up by the captain was leaked to the press and Balaga looked like they were returning to their favored attacking formation which got them to a pussycats whisker of the summer league title.

The formation and discipline was great for a change and Balaga were creating the best passages of play in the opening 15 minutes. Then came the first goal, a ball played in from the right wing was touched on sexily by Duggan into David W 's path as he side footed the ball past the keeper from just inside the box. One Nil to the cucumbers! The next goal was O' Driscoll, enjoying himself in the more attacking role that he was employed, he powered a shot from outside the box into the bottom corner to make it 2, Boom! Then a 3rd as Balaga pressed on, Parker picked up the ball two thirds of the way up the pitch and he took a circular route around the defenders before firing home from distance to make it 3, Peowww. Goal scoring like this hadn't been seen since Dawson's last cameo appearance in a black shirt or the days of past Balaga star Rory Browne, who was watching by this stage with one time player Nicholson. The first half came to a close at the scoreline was kept to 3-0 as Greener and Duggan worked hard at the back as Webz patrolled infront of them. Broderick was tested a few times and the all action keeper made an unbelievable save in the closing stages of the half, getting his finger tips to the ball after a big dive to his right.





The second half kicked off, and more of the same was the order, with O' Callaghan coming on for Parker the only change in personnel. It wasn't long before chances started to come again and in most cases go, but it was David W again who was flying upfront, eager to impress. The fourth then came to him as O' Driscoll put the ball down the line and Webz left it go to David W , who turned his man and slipped the ball past the onrushing keeper. Some lapses in concentration began to creep into play though and Rosies pulled one back through bad defending on the teams part. But the cucumbers defense worked hard to keep Rosies out and kept them to long range efforts for most of the game. The Rosies keeper then took a pretty funny slap off the ball on the side of his head as the ball came ripping through a crowded area from a Duggan shot and bounced off his temple rendering him a bit goosed for the rest of the game as the Ref was more worried about him than what was going on in the rest of the game. Balaga couldn't make the most of it though and it was O' Callaghan who was guilty on a few occasions as he was put clear through by David W and Parker. As the game wound down Rosies kept chasing their way back into the game and as the ref was putting the whistle to his lips they broke clear of defense and before the chasing pack could reach him, their midfielder blasted a long range low effort into the bottom corner as a stranded Broderick made is only mistake of the game coming a foot outside and being unable to put his out reaching hand to the ball.

4-2 it finished and the result put a smile back on players faces as they look to finish the season on a high and win their last 2 games. If they put in a performance like this one though they wont have to hope.

Other results didn't really do Balaga much favors though but with the title now well out of their mind a top half finish could still be possible.