Currently our 1st & 2nd teams top their respective leagues (Inter 1B & Major 1C) but not all is as it seems, in intermediate 1B whilst John Young’s charges top the pile it is only on goal difference with rivals Postal United level on points but crucially with a game in hand.

In the Gilligan cup we faced fellow 1B side Valeview Shankill away from home on a cold wind-lashed Sunday morning. Having fallen just weeks previous to a league defeat in the same venue this was always going to be a tough encounter.

CY started very well and were the dominant side in the first half but somehow found themselves 2 nil down at the break from two wonderful strikes from the home team’s lively centre forward.

With 45 minutes to rescue the game CY continued to play good football and were eventually rewarded when centre half Thomas Nolan scored a header from a corner kick. Minutes later we found ourselves level when top scorer Anto O’Conner turned superbly on the edge of the box to shoot under the keeper’s desperate dive.

At two each it was anybody’s game and in the third minute of added on time left winger Glen O’Conner beat his marker and hit a sweet daisey cutter in off the far post. The home team barely had time to re-start the match when the referee blew for full-time.

The following week against Garda at home in the Moore cup we fell to a disappointing 2 nil defeat. The Guards have improved drastically since being clinically disposed of earlier in the season at Irishtown stadium by twelve goals to two!

On the league front three wins and two draws have taken us to the summit of 1B and we are now unbeaten since the start of November. The 2nd team have played six league games since our last report winning five and losing one, most notably a home victory over league rivals Castleknock Celtic. The scorers in that important win over the Knock were Mark Boland and Thomas O’Brien.

The 2nd team also begin their defence of the Joe Tynan cup away to Brendanville on Saturday the 24th of January. The 3rd team have unfortunately fallen away in Sunday Division two having suffered recent losses to rivals Cabinteely & Mourne Celtic but still remain in 2nd spot and will hope to rally as they did last season to resume their league and cup challenge.

All in all, all three senior sides still have a league and cup competition to play for between now and the end of May– as they say no silverware is handed out in January.

Player profiles:
Over the next few editions we will pay homage to some of our current senior players.

Thomas Nolan: Thomas has been with us since the 2002/03 season. Starting off in central midfield Thomas is now playing his best football at centre half for the club’s 1st team, captain of the Polikoff winning side in 2005 also scoring the first goal he also skippered the 1st team to its double winning season in 2006/07, picking up a 2nd Polikoff and the Major Sunday title taking the club into Intermediate football for the 1st time.

In that same season the club was honoured by the Leinster Senior League when awarded the team of the year gong, Thomas has won the club’s player of the year title on three occasions the last being 2007/08 jointly with Graham Hannigan, a former Sherriff YC & St Kevins schoolboy player. Thomas is again in the thick of it as the 1st team chase more honours this season.

Graham Hannigan: The midfield general has been part and parcel of CY’s 1st team since the 2004/05 season joining from successful schoolboy side Pearse Rangers. Graham has won two Polikoff cups and the Major Sunday league title scoring the crucial second goal in the 2005 Polikoff final. Unfortunately, that success has not extended itself to his favourite Premiership team as he suffers year while Man United dominate. Ben, as he’s known as, was the club’s top scorer in the 2004/05 season with 12 goals with 10 of those coming from penalties. He has also won the club’s player of the year in the 2007/08 season to follow in his father’s footsteps also a form club player of the year.

Wayne Byrne: Wayne has been a loyal player since the late 1990s, a winner of the Billy Murphy cup during his first season Wayne also stuck it out through tougher times from 2000 to 2002. A deadly centre forward, he added to his medal haul by winning the Polikoff cup in 2004/05 playing an important part in the second goal that balmy May evening.

Wayne dropped down to our 2nd team the following season after the arrival of lots of new younger players but the winning didn’t stop as he was part of the 2nd team which won two league titles in consecutive seasons and also last season winning the 3rd team league title. Wayne has had to retire from playing with a bad back complaint but is still very much involved as assistant to Anthony Owens in running our 2nd team.