History was made on Saturday April 2^nd when the club fielded 2 U13 teams for the first time in its history. Team 1 took on Ballinteer St. Johns in division 2 and team 2 travelled to Walkinstown Park to play Good Counsel.

Games between Olaf’s and St. John’s are always tight affairs and it was no different in this game. Olaf’s were slow out of the starting blocks and they paid dearly for this and were 8 points in arrears at half time. The second half was a completely different ball-game where Olaf’s dominated the game. They hit the crossbar twice and had what seemed to be a legitimate goal disallowed by the referee. These are the breaks you get but eventually things will fall right for the team.

The panel on Saturday was Jack Dalton, Darragh Coleman, Conor Kirwan, Tom McGurk, Alex Start, Eoin Foley (0-1), Rory Gallagher, Sean McDaid (0-2), Jamie Deasy, Glenn Soraghan (0-1), Tom Keane (0-2), Fiachra O’Sullivan (1-0), Conor Brady, Joseph Rafferty (0-3), Matthew O’Ceallaigh, Matthew Deering and Cian De Burca (2-0).

Next up for this team is St. Jude’s on April 16^th in Tymon Park.

Team 2 played their first game in division 8 with a difficult assignment against Good Counsel. In their last game Counsel scored a whopping 7-13 and didn’t concede a score so the team were aware that they had a tough game in store. Like team 1, this team took a while to settle and were trailing by 3-4 to 1-2 at half time with the Olaf’s scores coming from Fiachra McLoughlin (1-1) and Adam O’Callaghan (0-1). They upped their performance in the second half and contested every ball. Some wayward shooting and a missed penalty in the second half cost the team dearly as they lost by 3 points. Lots of positives can be taken from the performance and this team can put this loss behind them and look forward to the remainder of the league with confidence. Goalkeeper Ben Thornton was as reliable as usual and couldn’t do anything about the goals that went past him. Andrew Hayes had a fantastic game in the full back line and used his strength, speed and skill to cut out numerous Counsel attacks. He was ably assisted by Gavin McDaid, Ryan Murphy, James Keogh, Cian Coughlan (who we welcome back following his exploits on the rugby pitch with Terenure College), James Keogh and Gavin Soraghan. The mid-field pairing of Tristin Kennedy and Cian Power Kelly found the going tough, but it’s nothing that bit of extra training won’t put right! Fiachra McLoughlin scored another 1-2 in the second half to bring his total to 2-3 for the day. Adam O’Callaghan had a fantastic game and scored an excellent goal in the second half to bring his tally for the game to 1-1. Jordan O’Connor, Sean Sutton, Luke Connors, Declan Murphy and Eric Stapleton all tried hard throughout the game.

The panel on duty was: Ben Thornton, Cian McDaid, Andrew Hayes, Gavin Soraghan, Ryan Murphy, Cian Coughlan, James Keogh, Tristin Kennedy (0-1), Cian Power Kelly (0-2), Jordan O’Connor, Sean Sutton, Luke Connors, Declan Murphy, Adam O’Callaghan (1-1), Eric Stapleton, Fiachra McLoughlin (2-3)

Next up for this team is Ballyboden St. Enda’s on April 16^th in Pairc Ui Bhriain.