Season Begins in Earnest

Cherryvale, Sunday 7 September 2003, 1:30PM

Dub FC (2)4 St. Michael's FC (1)2

The Dub season began in style with a good Shield victory against St. Michaels ? a team that gave Dub real problems last year and finished above them in the league. The performance was unfortunately a little over-shadowed by the injuries sustained.

Dub scored first with a well worked goal after a quarter of an hour. Chris H fought his way through the defence from the right wing and crossed for Gareth Dickson to open his account for the year. He thundered the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box* with his unfavoured (but somehow more prolific) right foot. Gareth seems to be continuing in his goal-scoring form in competitive games which had C Kernan worried about the destiny of the Golden Boot award last season.

Phil D extended the lead 5 mins later when Cormac set him up for Dubs second. Phil is another Dub player who will surely push Cormac and Chris H for the Golden Boot at the end of the season. 10 mins before the half St. Michaels got the break they needed and Dub conceded yet another soft goal.

Goalkeeper Liam Gillen fell awkwardly just before half time and was taken off during the break to be replaced by all-round utility player Sean Doherty. The big man had been impressive in defence during the pre-season and wanted to make his mark between the sticks.

Dub regained the balance of power with around half an hour to play. Shane Murphy (again having a great game in his favourite position) took a quick throw to Dickson who temporarily turned into a muppet and gave the ball to the Saints striker. The shot was poor and easily gathered by Doherty who hit a ?Hail Mary? straight down the park. Cormac Kernan was there to lob the keeper with a well placed shot into the top right corner from well outside the box, earning him the self-appointed Man of the Match award. Cormac Van Nistelrooy has now scored in every game this year.

A few minutes later Dickson paid for his muppetry and was replaced by Mark Donnelly who made an instant impression on the game. He was caught later than Gay Byrne on the Late Late Late Show and broke his ankle. He also broke Ryan McGaugheys record for quickest substitution of a substitute when Art Kernan replaced him after only a minute. The whole team wish Mark a speedy recovery.

With a couple of minutes left, Art finished a move when Chris H set him up for the final goal in a good victory. The promising start to the season continues.

Shane McCusker is alleged to have ?half-inched? Sean Mullans wallet from the changing room after the match. Authorities are looking into CCTV footage of the incident, and of an incident last season when a changing room key went ?missing? and several mobile phones, wallets, watches and ?20,000 worth of pirate DVDs were taken. Shane McCusker (37 year old resident of Nutt?s Corner) has so far been unavailable for comment.

* OK, so it was the 6-yard box and it hardly ?thundered?

Squad

Liam Gillen (sub 45 mins), Shane Murphy, Mark Harvey, Sean Doherty, Gareth Dickson (sub 65 mins), John Quinn, Shane McCusker, Ryan McGaughey, Chris Hodgkinson, Cormac Kernan, Phil Doherty

Subs

Peter McToal (45 mins), Art Kernan (73 mins), Mark Donnelly (74 mins)

Match Statistics

Goals	Cormac Kernan Art Kernan Gareth Dickson Phil Doherty
Assists	Cormac Kernan Sean Doherty Chris Hodgkinson (2)
Yellow cards	-
Red cards	-
Man of the match	Cormac Kernan