MHC Dish From the Pitch 2013 MHC Dish From the Pitch 10 | Page 4

Irish Pub Ninjas Vanquish Bandits

by Ivan Baker

photo credit: Kerry Leonard
This is the kind of tenacity and heart that keeps Irish Pub at the top.
And yes, this dive by Justin “Pinball” McCauley kept the ball in bounds!

The Irish Pub Ninjas met another
strong team from the top of the heap this
week, the Brocach Bandits, and like prior
contests versus leading teams, they
overcame their opponents with ninja-like
efficiency. This last test before the postseason was a hard fought game and
another display of Irish Pub’s solid
defense and attritional offense which
keeps them as the sole keepers of the top
shelf on the MHC leaderboard.
Irish Pub was relentless out of the
gate in the first half, putting the Bandits
on their heels. Brocach dug in against the
zealous Ninjas, but the offense was too
o ppressi ve and pu t g o al s i n rapi d
succession by four separate offenders:
Liam Raasch, Tony Gaar, Tim Dombrowski,
and Teddy Ruetz.
The Bandit offense sought to take
advantage of Irish Pub’s improvised
lineout, but the Ninja back lines pulled
together to marginalize Brocach’s usual
ability to point from all angles. Also, the

usual halfback Brian Dake stepped up and
had superb performance at goal.
Both teams buckled down
defensively in the second half. The Bandits
worked to get control of center field, a
place they have comfortably secured for
most of their season, but Irish Pub had an
answer for everything. Despite Brocach’s
strong performance of full forwards Pat
Burke and Russ Fink, the Ninja defenders
held fast against the attacks.
Though the Bandits brought
everything they had, the Irish Pub prov