St Bedes / Mentone Tigers vs De La Salle

Match Report

Best: Tom Deane-Johns, Tom Docherty, Luke Healy, Ryan O’Meara, Will Mackie, Pat Bohan
Goals: O’Meara 4,Liam Wood 3, Bohan 2,Nathan Scollo, Trent Shannon, Mackie, Adrian Indovino

Qtr1: Even opening with StBMT in control around packs. After bad misses by Hugh Nicholson & Nathan Scollo, SBMT stormed forward and a long rolling ball scored the match’s 1st major at the 5 minute mark. A clever pass to Trent Shannon in the forward pocket by Seb Filipovic, saw DLS record its 1st goal at the 6 minute mark.Adrian Indovino’s fine pass to Scollo, in a great position to goal, deserved better than the kick into the man on the mark! Tom Docherty & Christian were standouts in this quarter. A fine snap out of a pack, gave STBMT their 2nd goal, at the 14 minute mark, and the lead which they held until well into term 3!
STBMT increased its lead at the 21 minute mark after a free for “insufficient intent”. DLS regained some control when Pat Bohan made a good spoil & retrieved the ground ball to goal at the 27 minute mark.
DLS 2.3=15 STBMT 3.3=21

Qtr2.:6 minutes of contested footy started Qtr 2. A snap by Ryan O’Meara from the FP missed all and STBMT’s long kick rolled through to goal at the 6 minute mark, thereby extending its lead to 14 points. A free to Will Mackie and a subsequent 50 meter penalty gave DLS its 3rd goal at the 8 minute mark. Will had been given the arduous task of tagging Josh Cowan(#10) and was doing a superb job.Play went end to end for next 4 minutes, before a 3 bounce run, by STBMT culminated in it restoring its lead to 14 points.O’Meara, adapting well to his FF role goaled at the 15 & 18 minute marks: the 1st from a contested mark & the 2nd via a snap from CHF. Margin back to 2 points. Bohan’s fine mark & pass to Wood who missed from about 50 meters.
DLS 6.4=40 STBMT 5.11=41

Qtr3: Fine play by 2nd gamer Ethan Bowden, got the ball to O’Meara, who missed, as did Mackie, after being freed in the FP. Adrian Indivino goaled from a free at CHF at the 8 minute mark, which gave DLS the lead for the 1st time since the 7 minute mark of Qtr 1. This seemed to spur STBMT and they goaled at the 10,12,20 minute marks with accurate passing to leading forwards & a lucky kick off the ground. DLS were having great difficulty in containing the enthusiastic STBMT who could sense their 1st victory of the 2024 season! DLS backs led by Docherty & Deane-Johns were performing admirably considering the quality of delivery to the STBMT forwards.
At the 22 minute mark, O’Meara somehow goaled via a kick off the ground and the margin was back to 5 points. STBMT seemed to have a counter for every DLS effort to control the game & again goaled at the 23 minute mark! LIam Wood, who had been prominent, goaled from long range at the 25 minute mark. Indovino had the chance to give DLS the lead going into the last quarter but his kick from 40 meters out at CHF went out of the full. Cowan had escaped the pressure of Will Mackie, in a fine burst that showed his strength & talent to lift STBMT in this quarter!
It had been a 7 goal quarter (3 DLS : 4 STBMT) where each team had the chance to establish control, but this did not happen such was the intensity of the contest!
DLS 9.10=64 STBMT 9.13=67

Qtr4: 8 minutes of intense pressure footy ensued with the ball almost entirely in the STBMT forward zone, dangerously close to their goal line! The defensive unit were superb with spoils, smothers & tackles all executed under extreme pressure! STBMT, as mentioned earlier, could sense their 1st victory, & threw themselves into each contest with vigour, resulting in goals at the 7 & 8 minute marks, thereby extending the margin to 15 points. Sean Fisher, Luke Healy & Deane-Johns were contesting tirelessly & the run out of defense by Docherty kept DLS’s slowly fading hopes of a win deemly in prospect. Eventually Wood marked one of these clearing kicks and goaled from long distance at the 10 minute mark! Margin back to 9 points. 5 minutes of play, almost entirely within 15 -20 meters of the STBMT goal, ensued before a long range shot from CHF put STBMT 10 points up. at the 15 minute mark. Algeri inserted himself on the play and his pass to Scollo at CHF resulted in him goaling to reduce the margin to 4 points with still about 12 minutes playing time left.
During this period, the defenses of both teams were superb! Fisher’s spoils were effective. Ground ball gets by Filipovic, Docherty & Nicholson, amongst others were inspirational.

At the 31 minute mark, with the contest at CHF for DLS, a free kick was awarded to O’Meara for a STBMT player’s throw! O’Meara, with all the composure of a seasoned defensive CHB, calmly slotted the goal & gave DLS the lead by 1 point. DLS had only led 3 times in the game! With the centre bounce critical, DLS gained possession, kicking to Indovino on the HFF. Siren sounds, much to the distress of the STBMT players & the delight of the DLS team!

Comment from influential observers: John Corin & John Nethersole.

JC: We never gave up against a very committed / competitive team. Our persistence won the day.
JN: We did NOT follow the pre game instructions. Went too wide & short! A view echoed by Nick Hyland in his after game “talk”. The desperation of the backs in the last half of the last quarter was impressive. St Bedes had strong bodies in packs which they controlled for the first half.