Competition: Leinster Senior League Sunday Senior 1B (sixth tier)
Date: 18 September 2022
Result: Rush Athletic 2 – 0 Tullamore Town
Tickets: Free in, just walk up.
Attendance: circa 110
Game/ Experience Rating: ⭐⭐
The Game: Rush Athletic are already looking secure in Sunday Senior 1B after just a handful of games, a great achievement for my local side’s second season ever in the sixth tier of Irish football. Tullamore Town, however, are not, having been battered 5-0 by league leaders Oliver Bond Celtic on the opening day, and came to St Catherine’s intent on defending for their lives.
That made for an odd game. This was hyper defensive, with Tullamore’s most attacking players during the first half quite often no further forward than the half way line. That made them difficult ot break down, but it also made this a bit of a terrible spectacle for much of the game. It took until just after the 70th minute for Rush to finally take the lead, something that happened essentially because the Tullamore defense was too tired to deal with a run down the right wing.
From there a game of football finally broke out, with Tullamore finally forced out of their shell, and perhaps inevitably, Rush grabbing a second goal for their third league win of the season. A good win, considering the way the opposition set up, but a pretty poor spectacle.
The ground: St Catherine’s is actually quite a sprawling area that continues over a little brook onto two further pitches in amongst the housing estate. The main ground, though, is a standard pitch with a railing around it and a clubhouse set back a little from it that’s currently being redeveloped. Not much to it, but Rush is beautiful, stroll down the track opposite for a glance at the beach.
Extras: If you catch the pink coffee shack on the right day, they have Rush Athletic branded takeaway cups. I currently have one as a pen holder on my desk.
Assorted asides: I’ll be dropping in here semi-regularly through the season as it’s football almost literally on my doorstep, and when you have young children, that’s ideal. It’s also, however, at a better level generally than you might expect. Rush are well worth watching most days, if not this day.
My totals for the year so far:
Games: 9. Home wins: 5. Draws: 1 Away wins: 3
Goals: 24. Home goals: 13. Away goals: 11. Goals per game: 2.67
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