Celbridge v Eire Og CC : U-11 Autumn League
Result: Celbridge 3-7 Eire Og CC 4-8
Date: 20th Oct 2013
This morning we played a very competitive match against Eire Og Coirre Coill losing by a small margin. We had a full squad of players available except for Johnny who unfortunatey was ill - all the team wish him a speedy recovery. We played 12 a side which meant that we had a number of boys on the sideline but everyone got at least one half of action.
EOCC started strongly scoring 1-1 early on but our lads responded well and got into the game with a goal from Ryan Kenna and a couple of points from Niall. Aidan started in goals today with Shane in midfield and Niall in the forwards.
Playing against a strong wind (and the rain) in the first half we went in down 2-2 to 3-4 at the break. Tadhg was his usual solid self in defence and aided by Tom cleared a lot of ball. Colman had a quiet first half (by his own admission) but improved a huge amount in the second and made some great clearances. Liam, Harry and Ciarán all worked hard in defence throughout the match and made things very difficult for the opposition forwards.
Conor, Shane and Aaron played well in midfield and kept to their task throughout the game. Ross had a quiet game in the forwards by his own high standards but kept fighting for every ball and made some vital plays including a nice point; as ever he never gave up on any ball. We had some lovely passages of play - one in particular when Colman cleared the sliotar from the backs, Niall collected it and passed to Fiachra who kept possession giving a nice hand-pass to Aaron who slotted over a beautiful point. This was closely followed by another point fropm Niall from a very tight angle - on his left side!
Ryan and Jack Malone played well - Ryan started in defence getting onto a lot of ball and then going into goals in the second half for the last few minutes. Jack and Oisin made their presence felt in the forwards and made it very difficult for the EOCC defenders to clear any ball.
Sean came off the bench and got stuck in straight away - he got some nice touches in and broke up the play well. Aidan was our goalie today and had a fantastic game. For a lad with no major experience in the position his puck outs were excellent and his general play and shot stopping was great. Shane started in midfield for the first time today and did himself proud. He and Conor won a lot of 'dirty' ball and were very physical which is exactly what is needed.
We traded scores with the opposition in the second half and finished strongly. Unfortunately we lost by a small margin but it was a good performance overall. There is of course still a lot to work on in training but what was pleasing today was our work rate and the fact that everyoine stood up to the challenge and even when we were behind nobody gave up and with a bit luck - we mssed a few scorable chances - we could have won.
Man of the match was Aidan Hancock who showed a matruity in goals as if he was playing there for years - well done Aidan.
There are 2 back matches remaining in our Autumn league against Clane and Maynooth. We are targeting to play one of these matches next Saturday afternoon. Training as usual is on Wed evening.
Daragh & Ciaran
