water polo dublin north dublin water polo

The 16th of December 2017 will be remembered well in North Dublin in years to come. It saw our D1 and D2 teams compete in their respective finals and come out on top in what can only be described as great day for the club.

 

It was not for the first time in recent years that we have had the two teams in the finals. In fact it is the 4th time in recent years that this has occurred. However it is the 1st time that both teams have come out on top.

 

First up were our D2 team against close rivals, Drogheda. This current Drogheda team are not the Drogheda team of old. It is mainly a crop of promising young players complimented by some of the old guard and they are a match for any D2 team on their day. To add some spice to the fixture, two of the Drogheda players (Thomas Reeves and Fionan McMennamin) are ex-North Dublin players and Fionan's father, Paul would be lining out for North Dublin.

 

The stage was set, the teams were ready and the game got under way. North Dublin shot out of the blocks with goals from Spicer, Paul Mc and 2 from Cookie giving us a solid 4-1 lead. A tighter 2nd quarter saw Drogheda pull it back to 4-3 at Half-Time to setup crazy 2nd half.

 

It was the final quarter and the last minute in particular, which saw the most exciting\entertaining period of the game. leading 5-3 with just over 1 minute to go, Drogheda somehow clawed it back to 5-5. Not satisfied with a draw, North Dublin pushed for a winner and with 14 seconds to go it looked like they had found it. Derek Wilkes buried the chance in typical fashion to make it 7-6. The North Dublin crowd in the stands went nuts. It was over from here surely. Drogheda had other ideas. From the tip-off, Drogheda broke through and with 4 seconds to go, found the miraculous equalizer.

 

The lottery of penalties would decide this one. Derek stepped up for North Dublin's 1st and it was saved. Drogheda stuck their 1st away off the hand of Mick Cope to make it 0-1. Simon Murray lashed our 2nd in off the bar with aplomb. Over to Drogheda. Big games require big moments from big players and this was just that. Up stepped Mick Cope. Drogheda had their second penalty saved. 1-1. Luka was next for North Dublin but had his shot saved. Again Mick showed his class to save another Drogheda penalty. Up stepped Paul Mc to score our 4th. 3-2 and pressure on Drogheda. A miss and its match point to North Dublin. And miss they did. Another Mick Cope save to give North Dublin match point. Up stepped Alan Cooke and he did not disappoint. North Dublin had clinched the Leinster D2 Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances and down on poolside were the D1 team to greet them as they warmed up for their final. One final down, one to go.

 

Up stepped the Seniors. They faced off against Dublin rivals, St. Vincents. This was the 1st meeting of the two teams in 2017/18 and the 1st since North Dublin's triumph over Vincents in the Irish Senior Cup final in April. Both teams came into the game full of confidence, with good league form behind them. This was also a repeat of this final from 2015 when the D1 and D2 teams last played their finals together. D2 triumphed that day but the D1 team did not. Today was their chance at redemption and they did not disappoint.

 

It was a tactical game from the off and both teams were really sussing the other out. One thing was clear from the off however. Our Captain, Stevie Nolan was given the task of manmarking their tallisman, Eoin Nolan. No easy task that but as Stevie proved in the Irish Senior Cup final, he was more than up to the task. WIth help from an effective drop and solid cover directly behind him from goalie, Jamie Cope, Stevie kept Eoin reasonably quiet. North Dublin took a 2-0 lead through goals from Paul Mc and Luka but Vincents pulled one back to make it 2-1 at half-time. 

 

The 2nd half was when our lads really kicked into gear. Racing out of the traps in quarter 3 to grab a 4-1 lead, the lads never really looked back. With a solid drop in place, Stevie manmarking Eoin Nolan out of the game and Jamie showing good form in goal, Vincents struggled to score goals. A 5-3 lead was taken into the final quarter. The lads added 2 goals before Vincents grabbed a reasonably soft goal that Jamie felt he could have kept out. It was 7-4 but the lads wanted to add some gloss and in the final 20 seconds, broke free and scored a wonderful counter attacking goal. It was a real sign of the fitness these guys have and the hard work Sean has been doing with them. So that was that. The game finished 8-4 to North Dublin and five years to the day since their last Leinster Senior Cup triumph, they had won it again. Funny how things work like that. Don't forget that it was 23 years to the day that the Club won the Senior Cup when the lads won it again in April.

 

A brilliant day for the club that was well celebrated in the Astropark bar in Coolock afterwards in what was the club's annual Christmas party. It is the first time in memory that the club has won both the Leinster Senior Cup and the D2 Cup on the same day and it is a memory that will no doubt be cherrished for some time. So there you have it, the 16th of December 2017, one of the great days for this wonderful club. Well done to all involved.