It was a night of many happy returns at William Griffin Park on Wednesday.

There was the return of Robbie Cenedese, who left Coveside for a brief stint as a free agent, the return of the Wards, who played last summer but chose to play elsewhere in the winter, the triumphant return of Amar Dhaliwal after nearly two years lost to a knee injury. And the return of Robbie Paul to competitive action after his broken leg last fall. There was even the return of the 15 beers Bernie drank after the game, returned to the creek bed in the woods behind the pitch. And lest we forget, there was the last-minute midnight return of Caught From Behind Vol. 18 to Red Hot Video by Brad Chapman to avoid late charges. Most importantly though, there was a return to form by Coveside who chalked up an impressive 4-0 win over the Rams to kickoff the summer season.

The biggest return may be the results that come from the crafty offseason manouevring of Bernie Ward who's put together an impressive lineup. Despite missing several regulars (Sean Bartlett, Harp Dhaliwal, Al Roberts, Craig Larson, Mike Norriss, Russ Hennessey) Coveside fielded their strongest starting lineup since the halcyon days of the Krause-Sherry-Powell-Kennedy era. As we all know Mark Docherty is a master of positions, so he moved back from his usual midfield spot to play sweeper with aplomb. "I'd way rather play sweep than stopper," Docherty said. "I'm way more comfortable coming up behind guys." As Jason Fisher would say, "too right mate."

CUFC started out astonishingly. Not a hint of kick and run was to be had anywhere, the ball was moved swiftly and surely along the ground to the open man, from side to side, down the wings. Karim Ismail even managed to get the ball passed his way several times without having to moan about it.

It wasn't long before the chances started to flow (or the beer on the sidelines for that matter) and Andy Dudley jumped up to create a couple of good chances. It was a welcome sight to see Cenedese back in the lineup. The winding runs and tricky feet were back in motion, and it seems Coveside have greatly missed that Italian flair. His extra heavy dousing of Drakkar Noir was a bit much though. After some threatening play and near misses, Coveside found some salvation about 20 minutes in. Some slashing runs from Cenedese, supported by some clever passing from Robbie Paul, opened up holes in the Rams defence. Strong work down the left flank by Rob Paul saw a brilliant, low cross fall at the feet of the younger Ward brother, who promptly drilled it home casually to make the score 1-0. The chances kept coming, Brad Chapman came on and forced turnovers with solid effort and saw a couple of chances sail unluckily over the bar. Karim had two powerful shots foiled from bad angles, but the pressure was relentless nonetheless. At the back there were several lads playing out of position, but the defending was stellar. Jason Fisher was stuck alongside Docherty at the rear, and not only were the tackles sure, but the movement of the ball up the field was unprecented with strong runs, pace and passing. Ed Duynstee also came up big with several stopping tackles, and jumped up into the play to get his best scoring chances in years. Halftime came and Coveside were wary of only being up 1-0 despite carrying the play.

The second half started strongly with Coveside once again holding possession. Shortly after the break, the game was forced open by a strong showing from another Ward. This time it was Eamonn who gathered a ball from his cousin, took two steps to the right, and hammered a howling low laser into the corner. Eamonn Corner, the Augusta National Golf Club have lost the copyright on that one.

At 2-0 CUFC now looked a lot more comfortable. Two goals attributed to the Ward family, and it was up to Bernie to get a hat trick. Yes, the manager did make an appearnce on the pitch, and if he was to manage a goal it would be the first true family hat trick since Kevin, Cormick and Bernie all puked into the same toilet in the Cork County Hall at cousin Finnegan's wedding back in 1997. The pressure was still on and the passing still sure from Coveside. Eamonn was unlucky not to add his second when he edged up near the box and whacked a screamer that dented the crossbar. The rebound fell to Andy Dudley, but the speed of the riccochet was too much to handle and Andy's shot wafted over the crossbar. Karim also unleashed a bullet but he too had to watch it clang off the bar, goalie beaten, and have it come back out into play. Amar had a couple of stellar chances, ones that would have made his bruvva proud, and his knee held up well. It was genuinely a family affair though as the next goal came from Amar's brother-in-law. Randy Johal pounced on loose ball and knocked it in the top corner from well outside the box. The shot came despite the horrid puke yellowish green socks reminiscient of Borussia Dortmund's 1977 kit. Randy's socks actually made our jerseys look good. After some strong running from Cenedese and Rob Paul, who were both unlucky not to get on the score sheet, Karim finished the scoring. He was on a strong run down the left and seeing the open grass in front of him, moved in toward the goal. The Rams goalie looked to be cheating on a cross and Karim made him pay, hammering another cannonading drive into the open space on the near corner, 4-0.

Now it was all over, Doc cleaned up some stuff at the back, including a brilliant sliding tackle off a tricky through ball that looked to put the Rams centre forward in clean. Bryn also had some good work in the air to keep a clean sheet. Afterwards the game was punctuated by a few cold ones, and several perverted comments and leers as the lads watched the 16 year old girls team play after our match.
 

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