The week had been rife with anticipation
of the Seals Cup 2024 opening ceremony, with the first fixture offering
promises of drama as well as peak entertainment. The Plato Academy from the
department of Philosophy were pitted against the lowly Vet Medicos from the faculty
of Veterinary Medicine for the opening game on Friday, July 26, 2024, and one couldn’t but feel some
level of sympathy for the obvious underdogs.
Call it drive, or motivation, but
the Vets seemed determined to not go down without a fight, and, in hindsight,
what a fight that was. The famed football scripters must have been hard at
work, as we saw Veterinary Medicine pull off one of the finest footballing moments
ever after about an hour of huffing and puffing against a dominant Philosophy
side.
It was at the very grounds where
the Philosophy team were handed their Seals Cup trophy—not quite nine months
yet—that they were presented with the cruelest of fates. And all it took the
Vet Medicos was an hour of resilience and a moment of brilliance.
Orodin, the Vet goalie, was a
wall and a half in goal, standing tall and broad all game to deny the strikers
from Plato Academy a chance at goal. He brought the stability the Vet team
needed to keep driving till the end, the motivation they needed to stay on
track, and even before the goal, Orodin was getting his flowers from the stands.
Fans, both from Veterinary Medicine and Philosophy, were chanting the goalie’s
name, no doubt in acknowledgment of his heroics that kept his side in the fight.
And the fight ended with quite
the sucker-punch to the Philosophy faithful. The pessimists will claim to have
seen that coming, but nothing would have prepared any Plato Academy fan for the
disaster that was Vet’s lone goal.
It all took a few seconds, really;
a move from the mercurial Orodin to Deji in midfield, who played in SAT on the
right flank, whose backheel pass unlocked substitute Israel in the right inside
channel, whose pass—and a little hesitation from Philosophy goalie, Leke—placed
the chance on a plate for Vet’s ever-present striker Hessy to finish. The forward
capped the one-touch move with an audacious chip on his first touch, sending
the crowd of Vet supporters into raptures and onto the pitch to celebrate.
There was little to do from then
on for the Vet Medicos; they had held strong all game and a few minutes of
locking down the defence was somewhat up their alley. The referee soon made
their victory a piece in history, and the lowly Vet Medicos somehow got more
than they bargained for before the game.
Post-match reactions saw the Veterinary
Medicine coach, Emmanuel Owolabi, indicate that it was a great result for his
side, and against the defending champions, no doubt, while stating that it ‘might
be a stepping stone’ to get his team to the finals.
Man of the Match Orodin was a
proud figure at the end of the game, stating that ‘performances like this’
would put the faculty of Veterinary Medicine on the ‘map of football in the
University.’
It’s not a final—only a first
step in that direction. There are fewer better feelings than defeating the
current holders of the two interdepartmental cups in the University of Ibadan; the
faculty of Veterinary Medicine might have unlocked a new level of footballing milestones
this evening.
Long may it continue!
Watch this space for more on the Vet Medicos' progress through the Seals Cup 2024 here.
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