Offseason 2014/15
The rest of the 2014 season passed uneventfully. My plans to give the backups some playing time backfired; I rotated them in for one match and they played horribly, and our other games had implications for a dandy fight for the Playoff places. Those went to Cobh Ramblers and Wexford Youths by the narrowest of margins, and an in-form Ramblers side won the right to go up by a 6-2 aggregate score. They'll be joining us in the Premier Division next season.
If you've been following along, the choices for the Best Eleven weren't hard to predict.
Paul O'Keefe snagged a spot by taking advantage of
Rudmer Talsma's repeated trips to the physio room and playing very well to boot.
For those of you (like me) who enjoy the numbers, here are the 2014 stats for our most frequently used players.
Surprise of the Season (pleasant): Mark Molloy
When the season opened, I had Mark pegged as a rotation option. He turned out to be a much, much better player than that. He scored six times--as a center back, in a league where the top scorer had 14. Mark received some post-season honors too; more on that later.
Surprise of the Season (unpleasant): David Reilly
I wonder how many managers make a player team captain, watch him lose his job, and end up loaning him out (per his request) in order to get him any playing time? I'm not sure he'll be back for 2015.
At first I thought they got this one badly wrong, and then I realized young Garreth did all that scoring in three-quarters of a season. The top scorer in the league had 14 goals in 28 games. Well played, O'Brien.
It was good to see
Kieron Russell get some love. He was our team's creative heartbeat. He might not have been the best player in our team, however...
As good as Russell was,
Roy Murphy was even better. Look back up at his defensive statistics. Those interceptions and headers won represent a lot of opposing attacks squelched, and who knows how many possible goals prevented? Roy was the very definition of an "imperious center half."
I've already extended
Darcy Bradford's loan for the first few months of next season. He goes out of contract then, and I'm going to see if we can sign him outright. He was simply outstanding for us, and I think he'll be able to make the leap to Premier Division football without missing a beat. He's also only 20 years old.
Here's the
First Division Team of the Year:
How unusual is that? Our 'keeper and back four, Ramblers' midfielders, and Wexford's forwards.
Wingbacks
Kenneth Díaz and
Alan Woods did everything I asked of them, and more. I admittedly love having a player in the team who can perform a powerful long throw. KD filled that bill perfectly. I think three of his five assists came on balls he fired into the penalty area. He's also our assistant captain.
Woods played every minute of every league game for us, and that fact says it all about his dependability and performance. He plays like a veteran, and he's still only 20 himself.
There will be a few new faces around Eamonn Deacy Park next season. I'll be back with some information about the changes soon.