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Groundhopping: Skerries Town (v Tolka Rovers, Park Lane)

Competition: Leinster Senior League Division Senior Sunday 1 (fourth tier)

Date: 3 February 2023

Result: Skerries Town 2 – 0 Tolka Rovers

Tickets: €5 (adult, including tea or coffee)

Attendance: 80 (rough head count)

Game/ Experience Rating:  ☆☆☆

The Game: A game of two halfs: a wildly entertaining first half, and a fairly dull second one, a little pressure aside. Skerries, who were mid table going into this game, took the lead with pretty much their first attack, with a sweeping move ending in a shot being deflected into the back of Tolka’s net.

Skerries were on top generally early on, without producing a huge amount, but the half came alive in a nasty way after a couple of yellow cards gave way to a niggly game and a horrible challenge right in front of me on the sideline. An absolute legbreaker of a tackle from a Tolka midfielder on Skerries’ wide man saw the Skerries man jump straight up and punch his tackler in the head. In fairness, he was lucky to be in one piece, however overblown the reaction was. There was a bit of a brawl and both were, quite rightly, sent off. Fiesty.

From then on, there was something a bit stand off ish about the game, almost like both sides didn’t want any more agro. After half time, Tolka dominated, but didn’t produce very much despite it, with both sides looking tired. Skerries soaked it up, usually without much of an outlet, until with the final attack of the game they managed to string a forward move together and snatched a 2-0 win with a sliding finish from a sub. A bit fortunate, all things considered, but then again the league leaders were surprisingly tepid up front.

Groundhopping: Portmarnock AFC (v Tolka Rovers, Paddy’s Hill)

Date: 8 August 2021

Competition: Leinster Senior League Sunday 1 Division (Irish fourth tier)

Result: Portmarnock AFC 0 – 3 Tolka Rovers

Tickets: free

Attendance: 50

The game: We arrived just in time for kick off at this one, and almost immediately saw Tolka go ahead, with a rapid-fire free kick that cannoned off the crossbar and arguably over the line – it didn’t matter, ultimately, as the rebound was headed in anyway. Portmarnock strugged to cope with Tolka throughout and only really came to life at 3-0, in phases in the second half.

Both teams were lower mid table in the Senior 1 division going into the game, and on this showing Tolka look by far the more accomplished – they were clinical in taking the three goals that had the game won early on, and could have added more after that. A Portmarnock player got a serious injury in the second half – a leg break of some sort, by the looks of it – and there was briefly talk of calling the game off altogether. It petered out a bit after that, perhaps inevitably.