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eircom National League First Division

Date	23/02/2002
Score (Blues First)	3 - 0
Venue	Buckley Park, Kilkenny
Kick Off	7.30pm
Attendance	1,257
Weather	Mild and dry
Referee	P Tuite
Goal Scorers	Dempsey, Myler
Cards	Yellow: Dempsey
Pitch	Soft but fairly good

This was crunch time for the Blues as we traveled to Buckley Park. The Cats had won in midweek against Sligo to leapfrog The mighty Blues on goal difference. A defeat for either team would end any hopes of 2nd place. The Blues had not won in Buckley Park for some time so a major effort was needed to gain revenge for that FAI Cup defeat in December. After listening to McGeough on WLR fm on Saturday morning we were expecting some changes to the starting eleven.

The inclusion of David Breen at Centre half was a major plus for Blues fans, as we got ready for another local derby against The Town. The switch of Waters and Frost was interesting as Waters had played well at left full against Limerick a week earlier. The fans were in fine voice, as they sang from the new song sheet in the new stand behind the home goal. It was again nice to see such a large Blues following in the "swimming pool" they call Buckley Park. Our hopes of a victory were lifted when a good passing move saw Myler head the ball down for Gary Dempsey to calmly slip the ball into the net at the keepers near side. Shouts of joy and "The Blues are going up" rang around the ground as the fans celebrated Dempsey's 11th goal of the season. Playing some good football on a soft pitch the Blues were two up when a mix up in the town's defence saw Myler receive the ball he rounded Gareth Byrne (enjoyed slagging from Blues fans throughout game) and tapped ball into the net. This was the Blues we were used to seeing spirit, commitment, a will to win and scoring goals. Then we opened up the town's defence again when hunt crossed a ball to the back post and Myler's brilliant header flew into the far corner of the net. Three up and still in the first half the fans were in dream land.

In the second half we expected the Blues to keep pushing up, but this did not happen. We left kilkenny come back into the game and even though we created a few chances, especially Podge Drew's 2 efforts we lacked a real leader on the pitch to slow things down and just keep the ball for a while. This is where Colin O'Brien would have had the experience needed and we would have gone on to win by more. The team spirit was at it's highest for a long long time and we have to give the manager credit for this, after the bad press in midweek.

An interesting spectator at Saturday nights game was St. Pat's Pat Dolan. He enjoyed the few songs thrown at him by the traveling supporters, "you only got 9 points", and the others which I can't mention. Pat Said after the game "The Blues are back", and we hope to see him next year in Richmond Park. This game is another big stepping stone for the Blues in their quest for promotion, we now need to win in Whitehall on Monday week and then win our last 3 games against Athlone, Sligo and Cobh Ramblers. By my math's we would then play Longford Town in a promotion play off match. Nice to see the Blues players come over to thank the fans for their support after the game. Dublin City here we come, another 3 points for the Mighty Blues in the capital.