Heros of April 2016

Club News

0

Heros of April 2016
(St. James U14 Feile Squad)
by John Melody.
Hurrrah, young Jimmies, the task is done
You really made your mark,
The Cup you won is all shined up
and delivered to Lurgan Park.
It was not an easy road
That stretched before these men
Setting out on that April morning
To claim their first Feile win.
First, Cass arrived an injured man,
The heads, they hit the floor,
Leave it to me, said Stephan
“I’ll have him right by four“.
Jimmy pulled out the team sheet
and started a frantic scribble,
The management scratched their heads
And wondered how to staff the middle.
First up were the lads from Oran
Of whom we knew of old,
Would come with strength and energy
to put our boys to the sword.
Robble partnered Finno now
in the middle of the park,
They drove the Jimmies forward
and got us off the mark.
Next up came the Barna crew
With big support on display,
We’d never beaten this group of lads
Could this be our lucky day?
Big Jack dug in very early on
and quickly set out our stall,
There would be no second place today,
The Jimmies owned the ball.
Now for the final contest of the group
The easiest they said,
Sure aren’t they all hurlers there
This will be a handy one, instead,
The Jimmies, they were rattled
when twenty minutes in,
they were hanging by their fingernails
and nowhere near a win.
The Town had brought a team
That knew what they were at,
But the Jimmies had the character
to get back up off the mat.
Finno was the captain, and
it wasn’t just in name.
He rifled one from twenty yards
To get us back into the game.
All square it was when Loughrea,
Mounted an incursion,
But thank God for little Gary,
He made that vital interception.
Liam gathered Gary’s clearance
and went on the attack,
And, as he headed for the goal,
Was fouled by their full-back.
The ref blew for a penalty
and stretched his arms out wide
Finno tapped it over
To ensure we qualified.
The pitch it was invaded,
by a bunch of screaming Jimmies,
We didn’t care that it was mad,
Cos, we were going to the semis.
We travelled home for a few hours rest,
Eating pasta carbonara,
Getting ready to do battle with,
the mighty Salthill-Knocknacarra.
Across the Corrib, the squad advanced,
To face our City rivals,
The parish hopes weighing on our backs,
To make the Feile Finals.
The game had barely started
When James Egan got us goin’,
He pounced upon a wayward pass,
And opened up the scorin’.
What followed was our purple patch,
We mounted attack after attack,
The Jimmies, they dominated,
They had Salthill on the rack.
Half-time came, we stood around
Wondering if we would falter,
But, our resolve was further stiffened when
Salthill said we stole their water.
The second half was different,
We soaked up a lot of pressure,
But we had a lead that guaranteed,
Our adventure was not over.
The next day was the Final
Pearse Stadium at Three O’Clock
We headed out there early,
Followed by the parish flock.
The Jimmies faced ClareGalway
Never an easy task,
Beating them in a Feile Final
Would be a massive ask.
A lady entertained us
With songs about days of yore
We wondered after ten minutes had passed
Was there going to be much more.
For the lads were getting restless,
Starting to twitch and scratch.
It was time to finish singing
And start the bloody match.
Finally, the ref called all to order
and got it underway,
The 2016 Feile Final between
St. James and Claregalway.
We dominated early on,
But only got one score
Claregalway were more clinical and
At half-time already had one more.
The Jimmies then picked the tempo up
Daniel McNulty to the fore,
Finals are for winning,
It was time to shut the door.
Jack, Kyle and Daniel Hugman
The rocks of our defense,
Handled all that came at them,
Their contribution was immense.
The angel face of Gary,
Concealed what we all knew,
If someone tried to pass him,
They would be cut in two.
Cian-O, Mattie and Daniel Kennedy,
Lads of stature slight.
But let the record show that on this day
They were Lions in the fight.
Cass had returned to Centre Field.
It was his favourite position.
With Finno going nicely,
They bossed the oppostion.
Liam and Des were working hard,
Attacking down the flanks,
Claregalway had no answer
When these two broke through their ranks.
Up front, Robbie was unstoppable,
Alongside, Ryan and James Egan.
The gave the backs a torrid time
while orchestrating the beatin’.
The killer blow came from a pass
sent across the square so deftly,
there was no stopping of that ball
when it met the boot of Lefty.
The contest, all but over now,
We were playing down the clock
Enjoying the last moments of
A Galway football shock.
There was to be no repeat
of two thousand and eleven,
this time we were victorious
We had died and gone to heaven.
Twas, one hundred years ago this day
The Irish rose against oppression
To create a country for the Gael
And honour his tradition.
Today, these lads have done us proud
and we must support their ambition,
To be the best at Gaelic Games
and win the All-Ireland Competition.