| U12 Footballers - September 25 2010 |
 |
 |
| Written by Ger Kirwan |
|
Division 2 football league champions…. doesn’t that sound great! That’s what the U12 football team 1 earned the right to be called after a pulsating game against Templeogue Synge Street on Saturday September 25th. Following the last round of games, the division 2 table showed Olaf’s on top on having played 5 and won 5 games on 10 points. In second place was Templeogue also having played 5 games but were on 9 points following a draw in one of the earlier rounds. This meant that Olaf’s needed at least a draw to secure the title, but they were looking for a win to end the campaign with 6 wins from 6.
Aided by a strong breeze, Templeogue hit the ground running and raced into an early 1-3 to no score after 10 minutes. The lead could have been a lot more had it not been for some important saves from goalkeeper Jordan O’Connor. The backs of Tom McGurk, Conor Kirwan, Alex Start and Rory Gallagher made some critical blocks throughout the first half to keep Templeogue within reach. The midfielders of Sean McDaid and Jamie Deasy had their hands full with the Templeogue pairing. Tom Keane registered the first score for Olaf’s after 15 minutes and he followed with another point a couple of minutes later. The remaining forwards of Glenn Soraghan, Fiachra O’Sullivan, Conor Brady and Cian DeBurca had their hands full with the tough Templeogue defenders and some wayward passing and shot selection didn’t help either. Without doubt, the first half was the “Eoin Foley Show” from an Olaf’s point of view. The amount of high catches, interceptions and blocks that Eoin made had to be seen to be believed. Eoin capped off a marvellous first half display by winning a ball in midfield, passing off to Tom Keane, running for the return and scoring an excellent goal to leave just 4 points between the team on a score of 2-3 to 1-2 in favour of Templeogue.
As in the last game against Round Towers, team manager Cathal Soraghan used the half time break to great effect. Cathal emphasised the importance of every player playing his part and not just leaving it to 1 or 2 players to do all the running. The lads listened attentively and got focused for the mission that lay ahead.
From the throw-in, Sean McDaid caught the ball, laid it off to Fiachra O’Sullivan who gave a lovely pass to Conor Brady. Conor rounded the Templeogue keeper and finished the ball to the net. Jamie Deasy won the next kick-out and laid the ball off to Glenn Soraghan. Glenn took on and beat two Templeogue backs and finished the ball to the top corner of the next. From being 4 points down at half time, Olaf’s were now 2 points up. Jamie Deasy increased the lead by scoring a point while being closely perused by some Templeogue players. Sean McDaid increased the lead by scoring a marvellous point from close to the side-line. Cian DeBurca finished the ball to the net on the next attack, but he was adjudged to be in the square by the referee so the score didn’t’ stand.
Templeogue were certainly rocked by the superiority of Olaf’s in the second half but never gave up. On their next attack they put a lovely move together to score another goal to bring the margin back to 1 point in favour of Olaf’s. Glenn Soraghan really got motoring from then on and knocked over 4 points to bring his tally for the day to 1-4.
It was never wrecking stuff for the last 5 minutes of the game. Both teams put some excellent moves together and with less than 2 minutes to go, Templeogue scored another goal to leave just 2 points between the teams. It was heart-stopping stuff too for the numerous Olaf’s supporters who were there. All cheered and jumped for joy and joined the celebrations with the excited and exhausted players when the referee blew the final whistle.
After a league campaign that started on May 8th with an easy win over St. James Gaels, the destination of the league title came down to the last minutes of the last game in the league and what’s even more marvellous is that the title was destined for Olaf’s. The team can be proud of this spectacular achievement. Winning 6 games out of 6 is marvellous. Beating team like Kilmacud Crokes, Cuala and Templeogue Synge Street on the way to the title is even more impressive.
Once the celebrations had died down, Cathal Soraghan got the team together to thank them for their second half display. He also thanked them for the effort they had put into training since January. He re-emphasise that sport isn’t all about winning, but rather about enjoying themselves. Having said that, he did acknowledge that it was nice to win the league after all the effort they had put in. Cathal also announced that the Man of the Match award went to Eoin Foley and all present were in total agreement with this decision. Well done Eoin!
The panel on Saturday was: Jordan O’Connor, Tom McGurk, Conor Kirwan, Alex Start, Eoin Foley (1-0), Rory Gallagher, Sean McDaid (0-1), Jamie Deasy (0-1), Glenn Soraghan (1-4), Fiachra O’Sullivan, Tom Keane (0-2), Conor Brady (1-0) and Cian DeBurca.
Click here to have a look at the final division 2 table. Doesn't that make lovely reading
|
