Friday 18 October 2013

League begins, intensity and flexibility beckon

Monday night saw the Belfast and District League get underway with defending champions Fisherwick just getting the better of one of the three Ballynafeigh entrants. On Tuesday another Ballynafeigh team lost at home to Belfast South, the latter boosted by the acquisition of Bruce MacLean and with webmaster Sam Flanagan finally making his debut, Hat tip to the latter for alerting us to the presence of two new club websites - newbies Lindores and the imperious Fisherwick.

On Wednesday Lindores put out a strong line-up and thumped Fruithill 5-0 while on Thursday the revived Civil Service suffered a heavy 1-4 home defeat to Lagan. The third Ballynafeigh team was also in action on Thursday night against Bangor, but no word yet on the result from the furthest reaches of the League (err, that's Groomsport). One piece of good news from the grapevine is that despite my earlier concerns, it appears the seasiders will be putting out a very decent side this season. Further reaction to opening week coming here soon.

So the 2013-2014 season is now in full swing and tournaments are coming thick and fast. The intensity bit is this Sunday's (20th October) Civil Service Rapidplay and the flexibility is Belfast South's so-called "Autumn Tournament" which stretches a marathon 20 weeks from Monday 21st October until (and here's an intriguing choice for the finale) St Patrick's Day 2014.