Season Finale

The Ghost of Christmas Past

It will not have gone unnoticed that we have now said Goodbye to 2023 and that December was an eventful month. We kicked off early in the month with a very successful Xmas Awards Dinner. This has been the traditional, annual get together when we choose a player who has performed noticeably throughout the year and present him with a worthy award. The "Glass Slipper" (formerly the Protestant Boot), a name coined by first recipient Gary Brammeld, has become an alluring object of desire for many of the regular attendees on "Monday Night". The vote took place on the evening and despite rumours of vote canvassing and outright bribery, there was a clear winner. Ciaran Donaghy, the quiet assassin, did little to canvas votes other than mention that he was from Cushendall, ancestral home of World Cup Winner, Alexis MacAllister. This, combined with a talent for not responding when asked his name (particularly by security forces) was enough to garner enough votes to see off the opposition.

On the evening, Cruncher O'Keefe came through with an array of other awards which were gratefully accepted by those recipients who had not done enough to win the boot. Special mention must go to Ultan Power and Marty McFlynn who jointly claimed the "Dirty Fucking Bastard" award for being two of the dirtiest fucking bastards in the history of dirty fucking bastards. Gary Campbell has his eye on that one for next year. It should be said that this evening was one of the most enjoyable in the history of these events, despite Culchie's attempts to incite violence, and we are grateful to The Pavillion for their hospitality and courtesy in helping us achieve this.

Armstrong Cup Holders

After Christmas, the annual Armstrong Cup battle with Cromac Albion beckoned. December 27th is the usual day for this charity match, staged this year for the 19th time. Henry Armstrong MBE is of the mind that the event has run it's course and has already put in place plans to hold a black tie dinner in November 2024 with a view to playing the final game next Christmas. Some of us maintain that there is life in the old dog yet and if there are people willing to donate to charity, there will be plenty of aging athletes prepared to step onto the football pitch. Time will tell.

This year's match proved to be another battle that would not end in entente cordiale. Sad, given that it is supposed to be the season of good will! The Ulidia team controlled most of the game but lapses in concentration and woeful conditions presented Cromac with the lead against the run of play when a lobbed header beat the advancing keeper, albeit from a pinpoint cross. Fortunately Ulidia bounced back with a hopeful long distance strike from Trung which beat the, soon to be, octogenarian between the Cromac posts. Stalemate at half time.

Early in the second period, the weather worsened but Decky managed to avoid a bathing duck to lob the Cromac keeper from outside the box and Ulidia had their noses in front for the first time. But not for long. Hesitation at the back allowed Cromac back in, not once but twice and the game seemed to be slipping away. Until, in the last miniute of the match, Runaround Huston latched onto a speculative through ball only to be cynically scythed down by Spot Muldoon at the heart of the Cromac defence. No one was happy and tempers flared as Paul Madden stepped up to slot the ball home and draw the game. A fair result? No. Ulidia should have been out of sight but in the spirit of the season were happy to share the spoils. Not so the Cromac team and it was very disappointing that only a couple of their players came back to the Parador for the presentation. At least Jim Cleary was magnanimous and understanding of the difficulty that the referee overcame during the game. There is no need for the level of abuse targeted at him by some of the players and when they refuse to shake hands, well, that is plain schoolboy pathetic! Ulidia retained the cup as holders!

Rainbow ribbons for our LGBT friends

One final outing on New Year's Eve drew the attention of the Belfast Telegraph newspaper. Follow the link below.

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/features/marie-curie-made-my-brothers-last-christmas-special-i-will-never-forget-the-joy-on-his-face/a1456011740.html?fbclid=IwAR3m6imaZtiiCok4GQ_3Og38OIV1jOZfS39OVxmMjFUcr6yzb_eVz8xl3d8_aem_AdhPeD8d-eaE07t_jujxDLvZZFH6egywQ2zH5xdSjUqWedyoM-D3HQEyj7XUoQqBAbs#lqz6x3rcoyke666we6o

This was the first anniversary of the lamented Stevie "Girly Bhoy" Wilson. Lorenzo McMullan organised a predominantly North Belfast horde to challenge us South Belfast Ulidians with a view to raising a few quid for Marie Curie. The game was played in more pleasant conditions than the previous match. Four unmemorable goals in the first half put the South Belfast boys in a commanding position going in with a comfortable 4-0 lead. The second half provided at least as many good chances to increase that lead but wasteful play from our Monaghan import and bad decision making elsewhere let the North Belfast crew score two goals and make the scoreline more respectable.

North and South together

The important statistic is that we raised close to £600 for Marie Curie. Not bad for a bunch of has beens. Thank you to Rosario for giving use of the facilities for free on both days and thus increasing the amount donated to charity.

Our next full match will be against Bloomfield in February. Watch this space!