A number of the Dublin SC met up in the Montrose for a few pre-match drinks. You could feel the buzz, the long wait for the season to kick-off was almost over and hopes were renewed for the season to come. The Longford away match at the end of last season seemed so far in the past. The wait was over.
"Big Daddy" being his usual self, arrived later than expected, after him saying he was 15 minutes away from the Montrose, he arrived about 30 minutes after that conversation, but he was in plenty of time for kick-off, so we can't slag him that much.
Tickets were also handed out for the Linfield match on Monday night, adding to the buzz I felt before the match. And of course, I had to get into one of the photos, so asked a nice young lady sitting beside us to take the photo with me in - what the name of the Beautiful South song - "Old Red Eyes Is Back" - well in this picture he's back with a bang.
Well, after the pre-match swally it was time to head over to the Belfield Bowl, UCD's new ground, having moved out of Belfield after last season. And it has to be said, the Bowl itself is an improve, you feel a lot more secure bouncing about that you ever did at Belfield. But it pitch was not in the best of shapes. From my understanding the UCD Rugby team alos play their matches their so it's going to make it a difficult surface to play on, but the Rugby season ends soon I believe.
So, the game kicked-off, and as always, my match report is going to be short and sweet, as my match reporting skills are not the best, and I'll prove how bad there are in a second.
Derry got off to a flyer with Higgins scoring a peach of a free kick after 20 minutes, which I somehow managed to get caught on camera, it can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNIvN-EfOcc, but be warned it's very short, as Higgins was hitting it as the camera rolled.
Then after another 4 minutes, whilst standing in the toilets, Farren scored to make it Derry 2-0, so there's no footage of that action.
UCD managed to pull one back before half-time. So when the half-time whilst went, the talk started. Now, to be honest I was delighted at being 2-1 up, as UCD away has never been a great game, from any of the matches I've been at over the last 4-5 seasons.
Had, to take another photo, as one of the Derry faithful we all now made the trip down, good to see you again Che.
The second half was a tough one, with UCD pulling it back to 2-2 with a fortunate deflection looping the ball over Quigley in goals. And then the worrying started, as I've said, never had good feeling playing away at UCD. Some good chances fell their way, but cometh the hour, cometh the man, and Pizza stepped up on the 88th minute mark to get the winning goal. More dodgy footage shot by yours truly caught the goal, - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXTSN6UCuw, and you'll all be happy to here that we survived the Earthquake that happened after the goal. And don't mind the foul shouting in the background, that's just me.
So, the season kicks-off with a 3-2 win at the Belfield Bowl, can't ask for any better than that (well, maybe 6-0, but I'm not a greedy man). It was a tough match, and I'd have to say, I don't believe UCD will go down at the end of the season when 3 teams drop to make the new 10 team league next year. They are going to be hard to beat at the Bowl. There is a good thread on people's views of relegation on Foot.ie, and UCD are heavily tipped, but after Friday nights performance, I don't see it happening.
Better match reports can be found on http://www.derrycityfc.net/home.php and better views on the game than mine given above can be found at http://www.derrycitychat.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1.
Ran into a few other known Derry heads after the match, including everyone's favourite bear, pictured above, although I couldn't get him to say the famous quote "I'm smarter than the average Derry supporter."
Andy and his friend Peter where getting the 11pm bus from Busarus back up to Derry, fair play to them and all of the rest of the fans for making the trip down to Dublin on a Friday night. It's the first of many this year as we play all the Dublin teams away twice, and we also have St Pat's away in the Setanta Cup.
Well, roll on Monday night, Linfield at Windsor in the Setanta Cup. I do believe we will have to play better than we did on Friday night, but kicking the league campaign off with a win is all that matters.
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