Niall Sertutxa’s hat-trick was one of the highlights of an accomplished performance from our Park boys in a tricky away game to Camp on a very wet and windy first day of Winter. Very impressive first starts of the season for Dan Goggin and Raul Vnczel along with Matt Lukco’s first competitive goal were some of the other reasons why the Park could be happy with their day’s work.
But this game wasn’t a stroll by any means and Camp are sure to take points from opponents when they have a few more games and training sessions behind them.
Camp had just missed a chance, because of a fine Gearoid Fitzgerald save when, in the 9th minute, Raul Vnczel put Niall Sertutxa through and Sertutxa calmly finished past an advancing Camp keeper.
Twelve minutes later an excellent ball from Dylan Casey was superbly controlled by Sertutxa and he again finished well to put the Park two up.
Michael Slattery got in on the act soon after and following a fine pass from Dylan Casey took on two Camp defenders and smashed an unstoppable shot to the net.
Right on the stroke of half time Slattery delivered an excellent free kick into the Camp box and when it wasn’t cleared Matt Lukco stuck his head out to make it 4-0 to the Park. Lukco’s smile never left his face during the half time break but it is just reward for a player who never misses training and is always trying to improve. His partnership with Sean Carmody at the back was rock solid through out the game.
Camp dominated for the first 10 minutes of the second half and but for Gearoid Fitzgerald’s superb save from Raul Vnczel’s 35 yard shot/pass back we might have conceded. Raul claimed Gearoid needed to be kept on his toes! Fitzgerald for good measure then caught the resultant corner, threw an excellent pass to Thomas Burke who cut through the Camp midfield and offloaded to Michael Slattery. Slattery hit a belter of a shot past the home keeper for his second. At 5-0 Park kept working, none more so than Niall Sertutxa who was chasing his hat trick and Dan Goggin who was hell bent on making sure his performance was noted. Michael O’Gara and Kevin Browne were excellent in the middle of the field, with O’Gara in particular breaking up Camp play after play. Kevin was replaced by Jacub Zlotocki with half an hour remaining and Jacub, who was making his debut, also made a big impression. Eager for the ball and with great pace, he almost scored and nearly had an assist. Great to have him on board.
After a few near misses, including almost breaking the crossbar, Sertutxa finally nailed his third from a Michael O’Gara lay off with 11 minutes remaining. Alfie Christy came on to show some of his usual ability on the ball and he is another pushing hard for more game time.
Panel: Gearoid Fitzgerald, Raul Vnczel, Dylan Casey, Sean Carmody, Matt Lukco, Michael O’Gara, Kevin Browne, Dan Goggin, Thomas Burke, Michael Slattery, Niall Sertutxa, Alfie Christy and Jacub Zlotocki. Missing for various reasons were Ruairi O’Kelly, Robin McCarthy, Jake Deering, Adam Ward and James Rusk. We all wish Ruairi a speedy recovery from his injury.
Well done to Kevin Boyle, Genie Farrell and all their Camp players who never gave up on a day it would have been easy to do so.
Thanks to Mike, Michelle and Anne who all drove the lads to the match. As always parental support is vital to our team.
Not sure yet when our National Cup game is on but we are training on Tuesday evening 7.40pm to 9pm. We are looking for full attendance from now on as competition for places is certainly heating up!
Report by Pat Carmody
