| U13 Footballers - March 19 2011 |
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| Written by Ger Kirwan |
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There’s a proverb that says “Lightening never strikes twice”. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case as the U13 footballers found out when they took on Erin’s Isle in the first round of the division 2 league on Saturday March 19th in Pairc Ui Bhriain. Olaf’s played Erin’s Isle in a division 2 grading league game in February and in that game they let a commanding lead slip and ended up losing by 3 points. This time they had an even greater lead at half time but also let it slip and ended up losing by 2 points. The gale force wind that they were playing against in the second half was certainly a factor in the comeback that Isles made. However, complacency was also a key factor in their second half performance.
The first half saw the team play the sort of football that they’re capable of playing. Conor Brady was on fire and scored a remarkable 2-3. Tom Keane contributed 1-2, Fiachra O’Sullivan scored a goal and Glenn Soraghan scored a point. Joseph Raferty and Matthew O’Ceallaigh played key roles in setting up the lads to score. The renewed midfield pairing of Sean McDaid and Jamie Deasy worked well in the first half by providing sufficient balls to the forwards. The back line played extremely well in the first half. However, they were dealt a severe blow when full-back and captain Conor Kirwan had to retire with a back injury. Undeterred by this the backs of Darragh Coleman, Tom McGurk, Alex Start, Eoin Foley, Rory Gallagher and substitute Matthew Deering, as well as goalkeeper Jack Dalton, played excellent football and only conceded 1-2.
Isles started the second half by scoring 2-1 with their first 3 attacks. Tom Keane responded with a goal as did Joseph Raferty. Isles scored another 3-3 without reply from Olaf’s to leave the teams level on 6-6 apiece. Sean McDaid pounced on a loose ball and finished the ball to the net to put Olaf’s a goal up. Isles replied with another 1-2 to leave them 2 points up. The teams exchanged 2 points each in the last few minutes of the game with the Olaf’s scores coming from Tom Keane (to bring his tally for the day to 2-3) and Eoin Foley.
When the team sit down at the end of the league campaign to discuss their performances, this one will certainly go in the “one that got away” category. This was an ideal opportunity for the team to make a winning start to the league but alas this wasn’t the case.
The panel on Saturday was Jack Dalton, Darragh Coleman, Conor Kirwan, Tom McGurk, Alex Start, Eoin Foley (0-1), Rory Gallagher, Sean McDaid (1-0), Jamie Deasy, Glenn Soraghan (0-1), Tom Keane (2-3), Fiachra O’Sullivan (1-0), Conor Brady (2-3), Joseph Raferty (1-0), Matthew O’Ceallaigh, Cian DeBurca and Matthew Deering.
Next up for this team is Ballinteer St. Johns on April 2nd.
We are in the fortunate position that we have sufficient numbers to enter 2 teams in the U13 league. This is the first time in a long number of years that this has been the case. The 2nd team were due to play Raheny in their first game in division 8 but the game was cancelled due to a bereavement in the Raheny club. Their first game will now be on Saturday April 2nd when they play Good Counsel.
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