Match Review: Gaelic Lions FC vs Hibernians FC

• GK Shailer Thomas
• DF Will Sexton
• DF Nick Veale
• DF Tom O'Donnell
• MD Charlie Traynor
• MD Rhys Tomos
• MD Dom Marwood
• MD Adam Smith
• MD Andy Dyne
• ST Ronan O Boyle
• ST Eoghan Jackson Ryan

• DF Wilfried Lapierre
• MD Lucas Meyer
• ST Tasman Wrigley
• ST Oscar Lee

Collective Nouns

Football descended at Turf City again as the last frolic of summer saw vibrant hues of pink and electric-shock blue mingle around the tents. Referees, you say? 8, 10, surley not a full dozen engaged in unfettered courting rituals, flashing red and yellow in dazzling, beautiful displays. Simply breathtaking after spotting the troop of scab infested monkeys at the wheely bins. But what do you call such a gathering? As no ornithologist myself, words fail me. A festival? A spittoon? A crematorium? A revelry? And so what's the collective noun for freak goals? A shitshow? A calamity? A misplacement? I think we topped the goal from nowhere that ricocheted and spinned around Shailer from outside the post last year. 7 minutes gone, a full 25 or more yards out, two lads throwing themselves into the tackle and the ball ballooned over Shailer into the net. Who'd be a goalkeeper? And then there were the three other gifts, including the direct-in corner. And the skewed cross that almost went in. We had a slow start before the goal but definitely grew into the game and deserved the equaliser after three or four times being agonisingly close. Ball dribbling haplessly by the post in what seemed like action replays. Lovely well worked goal finally though. Great ball to the back post from Eoghan and Will met and headed a looper back across goal over Billy. Hibs deserved the win ultimately. The second half was really unstructured from both sides but in fairness Hibs had more control and energy and so 3 goals came. Guess we're back. Hahahaha. We will dust off and move on. Thank you for the minute's silence given this was Alan Power's (our founder and former Hibs player too) memorial weekend. And good luck to Rob who will depart our shores soon. He rocked it in neon yellow today.

• Billy Wyatt GK
• Chaouki Saybi DF
• Marcus Went DF
• Jack Graham DF
• Julio Vasquez MD
• Liam Buckley MD
• Enrique Verela MD
• Steve Cipriani MD
• Daniel Martin ST
• Maxime Dacier ST
• Carlos Julca --

• Jaison Kimura DF
• Hayden Gray DF
• Keng Lam DF
• Conor Dickson MD

Great Start!

A hat-trick from Max and a remarkable debut goal for Conor secured a 4-1 win over Gaelic. There were three debuts and and two teenagers made up the squad and all of them did a very good job contributing to the win. Max scored the opener when his trademark press resulted in a block tackle between him and the defender. The ball ended up looping over the GK and into the goal. It was a fortunate way to take the lead and for most of the first half Gaelic looked more threatening and assured. Gaelic scored a deserved equaliser when Hibs marked sloppily from a throw and then continued the sloppiness when defending the cross. The Lions player took advantage and scored the header. Hibs got back in front with Enrique laying the ball off in the area for Max to score and Hibs' substitutions made important contributions in the second-half. Jack shared with everyone before the game how debutant Conor had a knack for scoring direct from corners and he only went and did it! It was a whipped in corner-kick that crept into the top-corner at the near-post with the GK desperately trying to keep it out. Hibs added a fourth that flattered them a little bit with Max completing his hat-trick with the best of the three. When he got the ball 22 yards out or so, the GK was off his line on the penalty spot and the chip looked the best option.... but this is Max.... I did shout 'don't be a dick, Max' when he passed up the chance to lob the keeper, but I had to eat my words as Max proceeded to dribble around an extra defender and then calmly beat the now well positioned 'keeper. A great start to the season and lots of excellent performances on the day. Max takes MoM for his hat-trick but Steve, Liam and Marcus all had stand-out games. Wishing Rob all the very best after his last game, which was a good one. We always appreciated his explanations and game management in the games he officiated. A respected referee who will be missed. Thanks to Gaelic for the game and hosting us at the Alan Powers Tournament, on Sunday. Now for a week off...