MCC U19 Soccer
By Mr N . Ryan
The spirit of Johann Cryuff was alive and well at The Moyglare Campus Thunderdome on Wednesday afternoon , as the MCC u19s put on a display of total football to see off a spirited Portlaoise College side 5-2 . After weeks , months , years ( a few cups of coffee ) studying the great coaches of the past , McNulty and Ryan sent out a team in a festive-themed Christmas Tree 3-2-3-1-1 formation . At times , it was more of a Christmas pudding , but nobody on the 24 man panel could be faulted for sticking to the gegenpressing , tiki-taka , John Smith ' Av it philosophy . MCC settled quickly into the game and ' Dazzler ' Finnegan in the middle of the park set the tempo with some sharp passing and crunching tackles won . PJ ' No Worries ' McFadden typified the early positive attitude with a speculative effort from 40 yards drawing much applause from the large crowd assembled . After a nervous period , where Cormac ' The Cat ' Lynam was tested between the sticks , MCC made the breakthrough through the mercurial Ethan McLoughlin , drifting in from the left branch of the fabled tree to tuck away an effort from 12 yards out .
With confidence coursing through the team ' s veins , Captain Fantastic Jim Jones jinked his way into the penalty area to slide home a cracking effort . Jones typified all that was good about the early MCC endeavour , with sharp touches and eye catching dribbling . A true Captain ' s turn .
Portlaoise did not give up the ghost easily though , and having knocked on the door several times , made the pressure count , pulling a goal back from the edge of the box to stem the MCC tide . With a seed of doubt sewn , the defensive efforts needed to be redoubled and Cian ' Sheet ' Barclay marshalled his back 3 and marauding wingers with aplomb . The tireless running and pressing of Liam Curley in particular helped the team see out some hairy moments . Liam ' s hesitancy to pull the trigger on a potential volley from the edge of the box led to him receiving the dreaded ' Curley finger ' however as Tadhg McCauley was introduced on the wing . No mutiny on the MCC ship ! ( Liam actually suffered a knock after a stellar showing . We ' ll forgive him for passing up the volley . This once .)
Adam ' Get the Job ' Dunne seized the initiative once more just before half time , with a tasty lob on the half volley , to restore the 2 goal cushion , much to the delight of the Moyglare Massive . The second half was another tight affair , punctuated by moments of magic . One such led to MCC taking complete control ( or so it would seem ) when Roan ' The Goal ' Hunter-Lynam conjured up a 35 yard wonder strike . Packed with such dip and swazz , the keeper was left more befuddled than Mr Ryan ' s 2nd year class trying to work out the punchline for Roan ' s daily jokes . Portlaoise once again dug in and their dancing Spanish winger Raul jinked through our rearguard before unleashing a vicious left footed strike from 20 yards out that nestled in the bottom right corner . Having witnessed some tasty celebrations on our side In , and in keeping with the spirit of the game , he treated the fans to a tidy bit of a two step to mark his fine effort , which was greeted with all round approval and applause .
Refusing to sit on the 2 goal lead , Ethan McLoughlin , now deployed in the Christmas Star position up top , took the fight once more to Portlaoise and his fast feet were rewarded with another peach of a goal , giving him a brace for the day . Such genius from Etho could only be summed up in the form of an equation E = Mc ².
The score remained 5-2 at the final whistle despite the best efforts of the other Ethan up top . Had he been in the right ' Mood '( ley ) he could have bagged 3 himself . The full strength of the panel was on show over the course of the second half with several impressive cameos from the line . The lads look forward to the next outing vs Dunlavin at home , where we hope to see several more coordinated celebrations to sate the goal thirsty ultras behind the wire .
Team : Cormac Lynam , Daniel Kelty , Cian Barclay , PJ McFadden , Daragh Finnegan , Adam Dunne , Jim Jones , Ethan McLoughlin , Liam Curley , Ethan Moodley , Callum O ' Reilly , Tadhg McCauley , Roan Hunter- Lynam , Cian Gallagher , Finn O ' Regan , Kevin McNeill , Scott O ' Brien , Harvey McNevin , David Lavin , Rakan Atmeh , Mikey Dunphy , Morgan Fealy , Lucah Gregorace-Piper , Conor Dikcius , Mario Nistor .
Coaching Staff : James McNeill , Killian Farrell , Billy Coonan , Shane Eiffe Sean O ' Sullivan