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Another perfect example of a game of two halves!

Wheery can count themselves unlucky not to come out of this one as winners, a lot of little things didn't go their way. Michaels were very strong from the off and kept their goal lead and pulled away and went into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead at half time after a strong enough breeze on their backs.

For the majority of the second half, Wheery were all over them, but still managing to miss vital scoring oppertunities. I recall a 21 yard free hit tamely wide. Alan Egan was on song for them, skinning the Michaels full back line and converting some good clean scores.

Then, the referee Jordan, made some very poor decisions that turned the game on its head. I didn't see exactly what happened, but Michaels won a soft free on the 21 yard line with 2 minutes to go of stoppage time. Converted, next kick out, Michaels won, over the bar, full time, game over, Michaels won my a point!! Everyone was expecting a draw to be blown, but the referee played four and half minutes of stoppage time when only 3 was called.

But was a poor game anyway, never really got going and very one sided in either half. Was sunny to see nearly more inter-county hurlers that footballers playing e.g. Alan Egan, Sean Ryan, David Kenny, Michael Verney.

Not a great final.

For fear anyone would accuse me of only "singing when your winning" I just like to point out that I was at the yankee football this weekend and didn't get this game. The word from back home is poor refereeing and if that is the case its pretty horrible. We could have really done with this in the club and to think it was poor refereeing that lost it is a bit hard to take.

Main point is they were there or there abouts so there is still plenty of good to come out of the year.

But I wonder how many of that time will be around next year?

I'm not sure who's still there and who isn't, but I know it hasn't gone down well at home at all. Much like MFF I was at Wembley so I won't comment on the injury time at all (If the Ref signalled three minutes but then thee was a delay after he announced that then fair enough) but certainly no-one I've spoken to thinks that was the case - possibly a few Rhode Parish people could enlighten us?

Ferbane and Birr both would have got a huge lift out of this - I hope that they'll keep it going next year, but off the top of my head the team will be missing a good few, with not a lot of encouragement to be had from looking at the minor teams.

As stated a game of 2 halves, Rhode dominated the first and Ferbane the second. A poor match played in ok conditions, the pitch was heavy. As for the ref, he was brutal, we won't hear of him again, but he was not the cause of Ferbane losing this match as he rode Rhode also, just a poor ref. Niall Darby was man of the match by a distance.
I don't know how many of the Ferbane are under age for next year, but Rhode have 11 of the starting line up which could mean 7 in a row.

Just a quick observation....

Rhode have won six U21 county titles and three senior titles in recent years yet they struggle to field two competitive adult teams. Apparently the junior team in Rhode have only won one champ game in three years.Gracefield were due to play them in a junior league final a number of weeks ago but Rhode failed to field a team! How can this be? At one stage in the recent past Rhode were winning Junior B titles, competing in Junior A semi/finals and senior semi/finals. Perhaps someone with a bit of inside knowledge can shed some light on the situation. Surely a club that has won six u21 titles in a row should be in a position to field two relatively strong adult teams?