Treaty United

UCD 1-2 Treaty United (4-2 to UCD on aggregate)

Valiant effort in Dublin, but just too much ground for Treaty to make up.

Treaty had to press, and were swinging balls into the box from the very start, and it paid dividends after just 8 minutes. The ball was headed up in the air after a cross, and Conor Melody volleyed the dropping ball into the bottom left corner, though the UCD keeper should have done better.

It was very open after that, with UCD maybe feeling they should attack rather than just defend, and both sides created some chances. UCD forced one very good save from Ryan, and also forced a Treaty header off the line from a set-piece, while Treaty had a couple of shots and also had the ball in the net from a follow-up after the UCD keeper had saved a Dean George header, but the original header was ruled offside. The pace had to drop after the hectic start, and it eased to a 1-0 lead at the break.

The second half started with scrambles at either end, first Tadhg Ryan doing to deny Colm Whelan twice, then at the other end, a prolonged scramble when it seemed certain a Treaty player would find a finishing touch, but they never did. But just 6 minutes into the half, Stephen Cristopher swung in a beauty of a cross, and Anto O’Donnell powered a header back across the goal into the bottom corner, and things were looking very interesting.

Our momentum took a real hit just a couple of minutes later when Stephen Cristopher arrived too late for a tackle and received a straight red card. UCD were happy to calm it down a bit after that and take the sting out of the game, and eventually scored themselves with 20 minutes to go, cutting in from the right side and a finish that crept under Ryan at his near post.

UCD passed it around as much as they could, slowing things down and using up time, and used their extra man well to spread play around the place and keep Treaty chasing the ball. We threw on 4 subs with 10 minutes to go, and forced yet another scramble in the box with a UCD player clearing off the line, then a glancing header just over from Willie Armshaw after a beautiful ball into the box.

Then UCD missed an absolute sitter after Treaty were caught passing it around the back, and Tadhg Ryan had to make a smart save just afterwards, and another after that, and  in the end, Treaty just couldn’t muster the chances they needed, and it’s UCD who go on to play Bray, who beat Galway 1-0 away after a 0-0 draw in the first leg.

So that’s it for the season. The 3-0 defeat in the home leg of the playoff was a sad way to end our home games, but overall, for a team patched together just weeks before the season started, a super effort from Tommy Barrett, his staff, and the players. There are a few players who are likely to be around next season, and we should be a good test for anybody in the division.

His family stopped him in the end by the sound of things, but he's not easily stopped.

And not sure why anybody involved with Limerick would want to stop somebody from throwing their money at the club.

I wouldn't agree with that. He was very popular as long as he was putting money into the club, unsurprisingly.

What Pat never really understood was that you get nothing for your money in LOI. It's a financial black hole. You can put money into facilities, money into players, and it just disappears. And no matter how much you put in, it just disappears, and you're left with either a better stadium, or just some good memories and maybe even a few trophies.

And at the end of it all, when you've no money left, or you come to your senses and realise it's money down the drain, you have to just walk away from it all. If he had done that, there would have been no ill will towards him at all. He had got us back to the Markets Field, got us back to the Premier, got us to a League Cup final...he would have been very well remembered.

Instead, he stopped putting in any money, and still refused to walk away and let somebody else come along. He stopped paying wages, and left players out of pocket. He stopped paying player insurance, and one of our players got injured and couldn't get the surgery he needed, and it ended his career. That's shameful stuff.

And even now, rather than step aside and let Treaty United 'become' Limerick FC in the same way that Limerick 37 did, which is what everybody wants, he refuses to let that happen. I am not sure what he can possibly hope to gain from it all, but he is doing it anyway.

I have heard rumours that he is holding on as Limerick FC have sell-on clauses in some contracts, and it's possible that Ogbene might be worth a chunk of money sometime, and Limerick would get their cut. But I don't know if that is true or not, and even if it is, surely that could be sorted out so that the money goes to him directly.

As soon as I saw Jack Brady had been signed I knew Ryan was leaving. He's a super keeper and deserves to be at a higher level. Brady did very well for us before anyway, so I wouldn't be too concerned. Lee Devitt back from Cobh is another good signing also.

We've signed a decent chunk of players from last season:

Joe Collins, Willie Armshaw, Conor Melody, Dean George, Charlie Fleming, Mark Walsh, Joel Coustrain, Sean Guerins, Stephen Cristopher, Matt Keane, Callum McNamara, Red Hanlon, Jack Lynch, Marc Ludden (plus Jack Brady and Lee Devitt for 16 players in total, maybe I missed some)

You have to wonder why the others haven't signed back yet. We had a very solid season but it was very much a team effort and with the exception of Ryan, I can't think of too many players who'd be wanted by teams higher than us. McSweeney maybe?

So I wonder what the story is with McSweeney, Anto O'Donnell, Clyde O'Connell, Alan Murphy, Matt McKevitt and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head. The first 3 at least, you'd assume Barrett wants back for next season.

Cobh Ramblers 0-0 Treaty

I was just following updates on this match, and there were very very few of those. Seems like a fairly poor match with few chances, even the Treaty facebook page was calling it dull!

Jack Brady made a very good save and we had a shot cleared off the line, but little happened otherwise.

Next match: Home to Longford, Friday March 11, 7.45pm.