2008 Blarney Square League

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Here you will be able to review, plan and track all of the fixtures for the tournament. Check it out.

Friday, July 18th

The marathon 2008 Square League came to a close on Friday night in dramatic fashion. The scheduled was decimated by the recent weather and we would like to thank the 4 semi finalists for their patience. Unfortunately the Plate final was not played and a walkover was awarded to The Gallacticos.

The Cup Final was one of the best finals to have taken place in Blarney Square in recent years. With Connie on the side line, The Castle Hotel got an early lead but were shell shocked when Nevada struck with 4 unanswered goals. Nevada's were cruising and swapped to long kick outs rather  than the possession football which had served them so well. The Castle made some key substitutions and got one goal back. Nevada's stayed with the long kick outs and with just 3 minutes to go found themselves only just on the right side of a 4-3 goal line. Excellent pressure from Clifford drove the Castle players. Clifford's cross / shot was saved by Nevada's net minder and the rebound fell to O'Leary who pulled the ball narrowly wide. On the stroke of full time, Ray redeemed himself with a beautifully struck free kick which swung and dipped just inside the top right corner to bring on a dramatic penalty shoot out. What a come back! As remarked later by Blarney's Vice Chairman, Paul Higgins, the comeback was reminiscent of the Liverpool v Milan Champions League Final. Nevada Smiths converted all of their penalties and went on to win the title.

Blarney United would like to thank all 24 of the teams who took part in this year's event. We would also like to thank the many sponsors including Blarney Castle Estate, Castle Cabs, The Castle Hotel and the Muskerry Arms. Special thanks should also go to Kevin Nagle and the lads who did the setup and put away every evening as well as to the event coordinator Mick Leahy (Hon Sec).

Local Player of the Tournament: Terence O'Connor (John O'Shea Memorial Trophy)

Overall Player of the Tournament: Ross O'Callaghan (Nevada Smith's)

Plate Winners: The Gallacticos (Niall Ryan Memorial Trophy)

Cup Runners Up: The Castle Hotel

Cup Winners: Nevada Smiths

Terence O'Connor received the John O'Shea Memorial Trophy. The trophy, presented by Martin O'Shea, is awarded to the local Blarney Player of the Tournament.	Ross O'Callaghan of Nevada Smith's received the Overall Player of the Tournament awarded from Henry Murphy, President of Blarney United.
John Slattery of the Gallacticos received the Niall Ryan Memorial Trophy on behalf of the Gallacticos	Mark Clifford, captain of the Castle Hotel received the Runner's Up trophy.
Ross O'Callaghan, captain of Nevada Smiths being presented with the 2008, Blarney 7s, Square League  Cup.
Nevada Smith's celebrate their victory

Wednesday, Friday, July 16th

On Wednesday the Gallacticos, perhaps laden down by their Oxygen experience, were beaten soundly by Nevada Smiths. Last year's beaten semi finalists were sensational and determined to improve of their previous year. The other semi final turned into a more petulant affair with one of the Anglers players being sent off. The Castle Hotel were too strong for the weakened Anglers squad and it was Connie's men who sailed through to date with Nevada Smiths on Friday night. 

Wednesday, July 2nd

Nevada Smith's secured their spot in the semi finals with a win over Optimum. In the second match the Sully boys were sullen by losing out to the rising Galacticos. The Anglers landed the Muskerry Arms with an impressive win and the Johnie's kept their best to last by securing their semi final slot with a tight penalty win over Glenthorn Rovers. Go Connie! And that's where everything ground to a halt when the Irish Summer got the better of us. Global warming... how are ye! The semi finals have now been re - re - rescheduled for Wednesday. The kick off for the 1st semi between Nevada Smiths and The Galacticos will be at 6:45. This will be followed by the Anglers V Castle Hotel semi final at 7:30. PG these games will not be scuppered by the weather and we can then look forward the plate and cup finals on Fri, July 18th.

Tuesday, July 1st

In the first match Nevada Smiths (finalist in last year's plate competition) marched on with a win over Ballincollig, the youthful Galacticos put Shield Utd to the sword whilst Sully's 10 were too fast for the Mach 3 Boys.

Monday, June 30th

Monday night saw the next set of games for groups 6, 7 and 8 plus we had the replay of the G6 tie between The Muskerry Arms and Doolan's Cow Bar. In the first game of the 4 - match card Doolan's Bar won out against AC Larry's crew. Strand then lost out to Glenthorn and the Castle Hotel were brilliantly stewarded to a win over Cronin's. In the final match Doolan's had their second match of the night but lost out to The Muskerry Arms.

Friday, June 27th

Three games played in the Square tonight. The Shield got the better of Blackstone with a 3-0 victory setting them up for the decider against The Galacticos on Monday night. The Mach 3 Boys showed their speed against The Square Elite whilst last year's winners, the Anglers beat the Brady Bunch 4-0.The Anglers therefore advance through to the Quarter Finals which will be held (if the weather holds out) on Wednesday next.

Thursday, June 26th

After a shabby day weather - wise it was a beautiful evening for playing a bit of ball and we were treated to a goal - fest of 32 goals in just 3 games! Cronin Construction, semi finalists in last year's plate competition, lost out to the Retro Shufflers 6-3 in the first game of the evening. That result probably favours the Castle Hotel with the Castle on 3 from 1 and Cronin with 0 from 1 meaning that Cronin's must beat The Castle by a big score on Monday night to have a chance of qualifying.

Normal time in the second game of the evening ended with a 4-4 draw between Nuala's 7 and the boys from Ballyvolane. The resulting penalty shootout left Nuala wandering when the Ballyvolane Boys won out 5-4. The qualifiers from that group 1encounter will however be the Boys from Optimum who secured qualification on Monday night.

If you score 5 goals in a match, then its reasonable to expect to secure the points so Paddy O'Leary's Centra Tower may wonder how they could score 5 and still lose out to a very determined Ballincollig team who amazingly found the back of the net on 10 occasions. The qualifier from group 2 will be decided on Tuesday night after the first scheduled encounter between Ballincollig and Nevada Smiths had to be postponed because of the weather. That match will be a replay of last year's Plate final. On that occasion it was Ballincollig who emerged the victors; this year though may well be a different story.

Wednesday, June 25th

Only two matches took place this evening, the Muskerry Arms v Doolan's Cow Bar having been postponed due to a bereavement. In the two matches played Forrest Print bowed out of the race losing 4-2 to the much - fancied Anglers squad. It will be winner takes all therefore for the group three title when the Anglers take on the Brady Bunch on Friday night. The second match to take place was between Glenthorn Rovers (comprising of a core of strong AUL) players and Blarney Youths. Glenthorn movement, passing and clinical scoring was just too strong for Blarney and the ended as comfortable winners.

The Muskerry v Doolan's game has been rescheduled for Monday night at 9:00. We will have four games therefore on Monday 30th (6:30, 7:20, 8:10 and 9pm)

Also the fall out from losing last night's matches is that these three games will be rescheduled for the Tuesday 1st. As a consequence, the quarter finals have been moved to Wed 2nd and the semi finals will now take place on Thursday 3rd. Clear as mud??? . . . . have a look at the spread sheet and you'll work it out.

Tuesday, June 24th

Tuesday evening's fixtures fell victim to the Irish Summer with no games played. Hopefully things will get back on track on Wednesday.

Monday, June 23rd

The second week of the tournament opened with a win for Strand Utd over Blarney Youths, the Castle Hotel saw off The Retro Shufflers 4-0 and Optimum qualified for the quarter finals with a 3-1 win over Ballyvolane Boys.

Friday, June 20th

On the second night of the tournament, Sully's men beat The Square Elite 4-2, a strong Anglers outfit were too good for Forrest Print, beating them 4-1, whilst the Muskerry Arms put 7 past AC Larry to claim the points.

Thursday, June 19th

The Blarney United Square League, celebrating its 40th year got underway in Blarney this evening. This year, 24 teams will be taking part and the format used will by ah – la the Champions League with 3 teams in 8 groups. Each team will play 2 matches at the group stage and the winners of each group will progress to the quarter final, knock out phase.

At the group stage games, winners in normal time will get 3 points and the losers will get 0 points. If the game ends in a draw then a penalty shoot out will take place with the winners collecting 2 points and the losers collecting 1 point. If there is a tie for 1st place at the end of the group then goals scored will be used to separate the teams. If there is still a tie then goal difference will determine the winner.

In the opening round of matches, Optimum won 1-0 against Nuala’s 7, Nevada Smiths beat Centra Tower 3-1 and in the group 3 match, the Galacticos saw off Blackstone with a convincing 9-3 win.

Have a look at the attached sheet for details