With the squad stretched to its absolute limit, manager Paul Franklin took it upon himself to fill the custodian role. The back four comprised, Phil O’Dwyer, Dave Hestor, Paddy McGee and Colin Gallagher. The midfield quartet was made up of Adrian Murphy, Emmet Mannion, Adrian Ward and Sean Gallagher with new club captain Liam Kelly partnered up front by Liam Burke. Honorary manager for the match, Felim Glynn, set an unusual tone for proceedings by ambling, pint in hand, into the opposition dugout!!

The early exchanges were cautiously even with half chances at both ends of the pitch. The RISSC bubble soon burst however and poor defending from consecutive corners gave Oakwood a two goal advantage. The Irish strikers supported by their midfield colleagues saw efforts from Kelly, Mannion, Murphy and Ward miss narrowly. The Irish defence, however, creaked alarmingly as the half progressed and was punished on three further occasions. The mood of depression was lightened only by a spectacular save from goalkeeper Franklin with the Oakwood striker already turning away in anticipated celebration.

Serious half-time words aligned to the acquisition of a couple of substitutes from the ranks of the opposition brought greater organisation and structure to the Irish in the second half. An early goal from one of the substitutes followed by a Liam Kelly strike improved the confidence and morale of the team.

A penalty miss by the Irish was followed by a brief defensive lapse which permitted Oakwood to score their sixth goal. The boys in green refused to concede and goals from Kelly, a substitute and a 25 yard cracker from Dave Hestor cut the arrears to one goal. The effort took it’s toll with the concession of a late goal to Oakwood which resulted in a final score of 7-5 to the hosts.

The spirited second half performance brought a certain buoyancy to the mood of the players and this was further embellished on their return to the changing rooms by the welcome sight of some Guiness jugs provided by the host Club.

Manager, Paul Franklin and his players would like to extend their appreciation to Stuart Lovegrove for arranging the match and RISSC (London) look forward to welcoming Oakwood to Sudbury Hill in the near future.