Monday 29th August ko 17.00

South Wales Alliance- Division One

CADOXTON BARRY 5 (Morgan 5 79 Weekley 8 Oaten 15 Dawson 32)

COGAN CORONATION 3 (Walsh 33og Fitzgerald 45 Jones 75)

Att 301

Entry £3

Programme £1

As is usually the case with these mega-hops it felt like the end of an era as the coaches pulled into the ground at Parc Bryn-y-Don. But once again tired legs headed for the pitch and clubhouse, but in this case there was the chequered history of the club to consider.

The club was formed from the merger of two sides Cadoxton Cons, and Barry FC in 2009. The former had graduated out of the Barry & District Leagyue and had established themselves in the South Wales Senior League. Barry FC had been created in 2003 as a fans’ club in protest at Stuart Lovering’s ultimately doomed tenure at Barry Town. In a classic case of taking the best bits of each club, the merger saw a club with few players but a ground (Cons) join with one with no ground but plenty of players!

It was good to see a club with roots like that harness the local support. The downside was that at times the clubhouse was swamped as people loaded up with food and drink ready for journeys home. The microwave worked overtime, but the packed lunches were an inspired move.

Other than the pretty bridge over to the pitch, Cadoxton Barry will be remembered be as closing the Welsh Hop’s return to South Wales with a wonderful game to watch. At 4-0 Cadoxton looked to have the 3 points sewn up but Coronation kept plugging away and as they notched another goal the nerves began to jangle. Could they do it? Well no actually they couldn’t, Rhodri Morgan scored again to settle nerves.

It would be remiss of me not to thank everyone who attended, played or volunteered at these games. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to revisit places, your memory tends to retain only the good bits. But this was a weekend to savour, and I hope all involved enjoyed it as much I did.