Mens D5 opened with a tough game against Ballinteer Bulls. A top 4 team who were pushing for promotion to D4 last year. We had two players making their first appearance for Tolka in Luis and Jonas. We knew a promotion year was going to be tough but we started well holding our own and taking a lead but Bulls slowly pulled away towards the end of the first quarter. Bulls extended their lead in the second and took control in the third quarter. Bulls seemed to be on a lucky streak with every ‘Hail Mary’ shot going in. The game was gone at this point and we were playing for pride. As a team, we want to be a team and are enforcing a positive mantra. Everyone kept their head up and continued to encourage each other, we switched defence for the last quarter and mentally reset the score. We were going to win the last quarter. It immediately provided results with their lead being cut in the first few minutes. We continued to push ourselves and continued to rotate the team to keep legs fresh. A sweet wrap around pass from Luis to Jonas, the two new boys was a highlight of the 4th quarter and the play of the game. We finished the game strong with 3 pointers from Lee, Conor and Luke, winning the final quarter by 10 points. Final score was a loss by 76-51, with Luke leading the scoring with 20 on the board, followed by Daragh and Luis on 8. A father son combination on a team is unusual and great we have two father son combinations this year. Roll on next week for a home game on Wednesday in Beneavin at 8.45 against Ongar Chasers.