After 5 weekends without a game Albion played Richmond from AUL Div 1 in a friendly at Eli Lilly yesterday. Albion had a depleted backline with Colm O’Donovan, Declan Murray & James O’Driscoll all missing for kick off, though O’Driscoll arrived 5 minutes after the whistle blew. Weather conditions couldn’t have been worse as the wind & rain battered the field in Dunderrow. Albion enjoyed the share of possession and used the ball well feeding Noel Twomey & Rob O’Donovan on the wings. A 4-4-2 formation saw Albion go on the attack and paid off, though fortunately, as Jody MacNamara swung the ball in from a corner which ended up in the top corner without another touch. 1-0 through MacNamara. Martin El-sahen was unlcuky not to score from a header after some great work by stand in right full JP Hayes. Darren Daly had a shot on target from a left footed attempt & Rob O’Donovan was causing all sorts of trouble for the Richmond left full with some blistering runs & a few nut-megs. Richmond were soon level at 1-1 when a ball beat Ger O’Connell over the top to land at their strikers feet who did well to take it past Conan Dillon & finish. Half time 1-1.

The second half was much the same though Richmond looked to shade the half with a number of chances though not many on target. James O’Driscoll replaced Noel Twomey & Martin Ryan replaced Darren Daly. Albion found themselves 2-1 up when a throw in came to John Hipwell who thought he was fouled but the ball managed to find the net through an o.g. Richmond were back in it 5 minutes later with sloppy play from Albion who let them through to equalise. 10 minutes later Richmond went 3-2 up when they broke down the right channel and finished with a low driven stirke. Albion put the pressure on for the last 5 minutes and in injury time Martin Ryan ran through on goal, flicked the ball past the keeper who took Ryan completely out of it. The ref awarded a penalty which Ryan converted to make it 3-3 final score.

A good run out for a very much changed looking Albion side, but a good overall performance with a desire to fight to the end.

Team: M Walsh(capt), JP Hayes, J MacNamara(J O’Driscoll ’45), C Dillon, G O’Connell, R O’Donovan, N Twomey(J MacNamara ’55), J Hipwell, B Dillon, M El-sahen(D Daly ’80), D Daly (M Ryan ’45).