| U12 Footballers - September 11 2010 |
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| Written by Ger Kirwan |
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On Saturday September 11th 2010 the U12 football team 1 resumed their Division 2 league campaign when they took on Round Towers Clondalkin in round 5 of the league. Before the summer break this team were unbeaten having played and won against St. James Gaels, St. Anne’s, Kilmacud Crokes and Cuala. Due to these marvellous performances it meant that the destination of the Division 2 title was in their own hands … win their last 2 games and the title would be theirs. The team have been back training since the middle of August in preparation for these 2 significant games under the vigilant eyes of Stephen Stapleton and Cathal Soraghan.
As stated earlier, Round Towers were the opposition and they really put it up to our lads. Towers were backboned by 3 members of the South Dublin U12 team who won the Kevin Ahern Memorial U12 football tournament at Easter along with our own Eoin Foley, Tom Keane and Matthew O’Ceallaigh.
The first half was a very close encounter with both teams matching each other score for score. Tom Keane got Olaf’s on the scoreboard with a well taken point. This was quickly followed by points from Jack Dalton and Glenn Soraghan to leave Olaf’s 3 points ahead after 10 minutes. On the next attack, Towers put a lovely mover together and scored a marvellous goal to put them back on level terms. Glenn Soraghan tapped over 2 more points from frees and Fiachra O’Sullivan scored a superb point when he got past 3 Towers defenders to put Olaf’s 3 points up again. Towers scored 1 – 1 with their next 2 attacks to put them 1 point up. This was the first time in all of their league games so far that Olaf’s have been behind. Olaf’s would have gone further behind had it not been for a remarkable block from Rory Gallagher to prevent a certain Tower’s goal. Rory’s block gave the lads the wake-up call they needed and a point from a Glenn Soraghan free was quickly followed by another point from Tom Keane to leave Olaf’s 1 point up coming towards half time. Towers tapped over a point from a free in the last play of the first half to leave the sides level on a score of Naomh Olaf’s 0-8 Round Towers 2-2.
The half time break gave Stephen and Cathal a chance to re-jig the team a little and it also gave them an opportunity to impart some key tactics to the team. The talk certainly got the team focused for the arduous task that lay ahead in the second half. The second half started as the first half had ended with end to end football. A breaking ball in the Towers goalmouth saw Matthew O’Ceallaigh pounce on it to finish it to the net. This goal was followed a few minutes later by another goal which was scored by Tom Keane. Towers didn’t lose heart after these 2 Olaf’s goals. They put some lovely moves together but they were snuffed out by goalkeeper Jordan O’Connor and by the backs of Tom McGurk, Conor Kirwan, Eoin Foley, Alex Start and Rory Gallagher. Towers managed to breach the defence and score an excellent point. However, on the next attach Cian DeBurca got the ball and had one thing on his mind … a goal ... which he duly delivered. This gave more breathing space to Olaf’s but Towers continued to attack and attack and were rewarded with 3 unanswered points. A few minutes later the referee blew the full time whilstle and Olaf’s maintained their unbeaten run. Great credit must go to Towers for their never-say-die attitude throughout the whole game.
Great credit must also to midfielders Sean McDaid and Jamie Deasy who constantly fought for every ball that came their way. The forwards of Glenn Soraghan, Tom Keane, Fiachra O’Sullivan, Jack Dalton and Cian DeBurca all turned in marvellous performances on the day. Matthew O’Ceallaigh and Dara Coleman were introduced during the game and played no small part in this victory. While everybody played outstandingly well, Rory Gallagher was the deserving winning of the "Man of the Match" award for his tireless defending throught the game.
Their next, and final game, is scheduled for Saturday October 9th when they play second in the table Templeogue Synge Street in Pairc Ui Bhriain. Olaf’s are on 10 points and Templeogue are on 9 points so the winner of this game will win the division 2 title. We would urge as many supporters as possible to come out and support the team on this very important day for this talented and committed group of players.
The panel on Saturday was: Jordan O'Connor, Tom McGurk, Conor Kirwan, Rory Gallagher, Eoin Foley, Alex Start, Sean McDaid, Jamie Deasy, Tom Keane (1-2) Glenn Soraghan (0-4), Fiachra O'Sullivan (0-1), Jack Dalton (0-1), Cian DeBurca (1-0) and Dara Coleman.
Best of luck to the Dublin Ladies Senior football team when they take on Tyrone in the All-Ireland final on Sunday next. This team trains in Olaf’s on the same night as the U12 footballers, so we feel we have a close link with them.
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