Treaty United

Treaty United  0-0 Cork

A second scoreless draw is all Tommy Barrett was looking for tonight, in front of the biggest attendance for a few years, with at least 100 Cork fans there too, throwing flares and trading insulting chants with the Blue Army.

Treaty were defensive from the very start, and were content to let Cork come to the final third and then defend that in numbers, and they did so pretty comfortably for the first half. Cork were forced wide again and again and although they got balls into the box, they were cleared or collected by Tadhg Ryan easily enough. Treaty's only chance of any kind came when Stephen Cristopher wriggled his way to the endline and his blocked cross fell nicely for Red Hanlon but his snapshot was blocked down by the keeper/defender. Cork's only chance was a looped ball back into the box after a half-clearance, but the Cork player had to wait an eternity for the ball to drop, and his shot was blocked.

Cork had the best chance of the match right at the second half, when they got free down the right wing and a shot after cutback from the endline needed an excellent save from Ryan to deny a goal. The half continued like the first, with Treaty determined to go backwards even from attacking positions, and Cork just unable to unlock the defence. They had a few dangerous balls across the box but that was as good as they created.

Only in the final 20 minutes did Treaty really try and attack, and we probably had the better of the last 20 minutes, with subs McSweeney, Armshaw, and Coustrain hoping to cause trouble. Our best chance was probably a backwards header after a scramble from a corner, and Armshaw and Coustrain were wasteful from decent positions, apart from one beautiful ball from Armshaw that McSweeney couldn't quite get a proper header to. The last 5 minutes was incredibly open with both sides going for a winner, and the ball going from end to end at real pace, but the goal never came.

Treaty in 4th on 38 points, and it's a gap of 10 points to Athlone in 6th, so with 4 games to go, and Bray halfway between us in 5th, a playoff spot is almost certain at this point.

Next game: Away versus Shelbourne, Friday October 1st, 7.45pm.

I was out of the ground straight away but from the videos I saw online, it was just Treaty and Cork fans shouting at each other and throwing shapes, mysteriously held apart by a couple of garda and garda cars in the road.

Shelbourne 1-0 Treaty United

Shels beat Treaty for the first time this season, and win the league with a few games in hand.

It started evenly enough, with both sides cancelling each other out, but as the half wore on Shels put on more and more pressure. Treaty looked fortunate not to concede a penalty when a Shels player was challenged just as he was about to score a rebound after an excellent Tadhg Ryan save, and Shels finished the half very strongly, with a header off the post from a corner, a goal disallowed for a foul on the keeper, and a couple of balls across the goalmouth just begging for a finishing touch.

In the second, Shels had more of the territory and possession but didn’t have the same level of pressure they had at the end of the first half. Treaty defended pretty comfortably and had a great chance of their own midway through the half when a low Ludden ball across the box was smashed towards goal by Matt Keane and ex-Limerick keeper Brendan Clarke made a superb fingertip save.

With just under 20 minutes to go Shels got and scored what looked a fairly soft penalty to me. We threw on Coustrain, Armshaw, and Dean George, and we did most of the attacking for the last 15 minutes or so as Shels looked to see it out, but while we swung a load of balls into the box, we never really created the clear chances we needed.

With 3 games left, only Athlone in 6th can still make the playoff positions. They're 6 points behind Bray and 7 behind us, and they come to Limerick in 2 weeks time.

Next game: Away versus UCD, Friday October 8th, 7.45pm.

Treaty United 1-1 Athlone

Treaty sealed a playoff spot with a nervy performance in front of nearly 2000 people, but got the draw they needed to leave Athlone mathematically out of the running.

We started well enough and pressed for the first 10 or 15 minutes, with Joel Coustrain causing trouble, but didn’t create too much apart from a scramble in their box which they eventually hacked clear. Athlone hadn’t really attacked much at all, but they were ahead out of the blue on 25 minutes. Their winger cut inside from the left past a couple of Treaty tackes and smashed a low shot across Tadhg Ryan into the far corner. Treaty didn’t really offer much for the rest of the half, as we were unable to get any kind of attacking platform in attack.

We came out with energy in the second half, and came close a couple of times, with our best chance a Callum McNamara header that the keeper saved. That energy faded, and Athlone looked just as like to score, and things began to look bleak, as a win for Athlone would kept them in the hunt, and  you couldn’t expect too much from our re-scheduled game away to UCD next week either.

But just after 70 minutes, their keeper spilled a tame enough Willie Armshaw shot, and Red Hanlon got to the rebound, tapped it away from the keeper, and let himself be taken down, and  then smashed the resulting penalty down the middle. Athlone pressed and had some half-chances, and we had some chances on the counter, but we were happy enough to pass it about until the 4 minutes of injury time were over and the final whistle arrived.

 It will be Galway, UCD, Treaty, and Bray in the playoffs. Looking at what happened for the playoffs last season, it was 2nd at home to 5th and 3rd at home to 4th. Galway are almost guaranteed 2nd spot, but we do have a chance to overtake UCD in 3rd, and we could also be overtaken by Bray for 4th.

Next game: Rescheduled game away versus UCD, Friday October 22nd, 7.45pm.

Treaty 0-3 UCD

It looks like our playoff adventure is coming to a quick end after a fairly clinical second half from UCD tonight.

The first 30 minutes were pretty uneventful. UCD were happy to pass it around in front of our final third, and we were happy to let them, and that’s pretty much what happened. We had one kind of half-chance from a low ball into the box, but nothing really from either side. But on 35 minutes, UCD swung in a freekick from the right side, and Tadhg Ryan completely misjudged the ball when attempting to punch clear, and the ball just grazed his gloves on its way to the empty net.

UCD were the better team in the second half, passing it around  with more confidence, and stretching and tiring our defence, while we struggled to create much. We threw on Dean George and Sean McSweeney, and George had our one real chance of the game when Stephen Cristopher cut inside from the left wing and played a low ball into him, but he placed his sidefoot shot agonisingly the wrong side of the post.

We were just starting to get a bit of momentum then, but UCD snuffed it out with a second goal, their winger getting to the endline inside the box and cutting it back for Colm Whelan, who has 21 goals already this season, to turn the tired defender and place a shot past Ryan into the far corner.

And on 90 minutes they made it 3-0 when Whelan collected a long ball, and was able to find space between 3 defenders and twist and skip away from them before beating Ryan into the other post.

We huffed and puffed all night but UCD were fitter and we ended a very tired team both physically and mentally, and they were excellent in how they played the last 20 minutes.

Next game: away versus UCD, Sunday November 7th, 5pm.

It was pretty wet and heavy in places, especially in and around the penalty area Treaty were defending in the second half , but not a major factor. Maybe it tired the Treaty legs that bit more in the second half, but that's a fitness issue anyway.