The U13 football team 1 took on Lucan Sarsfields in round 6 of the division 2 league on Saturday May 28^th in Pairc Ui Bhriain.  Games between these two teams have always been tight and this game was no exception. Olaf’s played some lovely football throughout the game and it’s clear that as the league progresses that they lads are developing into a more cohesive unit. 

Jack Dalton had another superb game in goals and pulled off some point-blank saves.  Matthew Deering, Conor Kirwan and Tom McGurk played very well and made things tough for Sarsfields as did Fiachra O’Sullivan and Alex Start in the half-back line.  Yet again Eoin Foley turned in a magnificent performance at centre-half back and thwarted many a Lucan attack.  To add to Lucan’s misery and frustration, Eoin contributed 4 magnificent points. Sean McDaid and Tom Keane were on top for most of the game with Tom scoring an unbelievable 7 point from play. 

Glenn Soraghan has rediscovered his scoring form and knocked over 4 points.  Joseph Rafferty is improving with each game and scored 1-3.  Joseph made some outstanding high catches throughout the game and also set up some important scores.  Oscar Bent, Conor Brady, Cian DeBurca and Matthew O’Ceallaigh all tried hard as did Darragh Coleman when he was introduced.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery are sent to Jamie Deasy who broke his wrist a couple of days before the game.  Jamie will be out for 6 week and is a huge loss to the team. Get well soon Jamie!!

Thanks and well done to referee Brian Murphy from Cuala for a job well done. 

The final score was Olaf’s 1-20 Lucan Sarsfields 3-5. The panel was Jack Dalton, Matthew Deering, Conor Kirwan, Tom McGurk, Fiachra O’Sullivan (0-1), Eoin Foley (0-4), Alex Start, Sean McDaid, Tom McGurk (0-7), Glenn Soraghan (0-4), Joseph Raferty (1-3), Oscar Bent (0-1), Conor Brady, Cian DeBurca, Matthew O’Ceallaigh and Darragh Coleman.

This team play Ballymun Kickhams in the next round of the league.

Team 2 travelled to Marlay Park to play Ballinteer St. John’s in round 5 of the division 8 league.  Looking at the table before the game, one would have assume that this would be a certain victory for Olaf’s as John’s languished at the bottom of the table without a win and Olaf’s lay in third position having won 3 of their last 4 games.  However, John’s had a different view of things for this local derby and won out by 2 points in the end. 

In soccer there’s a drill called “Crossbar challenge” where the objective is to repeatedly hit the crossbar with the football. I’m not sure what the world record is for this, but I’m sure Olaf’s came spectacularly close to equalling or beating this record during the game against John’s.  The amount of times that they hit the crossbar during the game had to be seen to be believed.  The 8 wide’s that were kicked during the game didn’t help either and in the end John’s ended up winning on a score of 4-7 to 5-2. 

Next up for this team is a home game against Erins Isle.

The panel was Ben Thornton, Gavin Soraghan, Andrew Hayes, Cian McDaid, Ryan Murphy, Cian Coughlan, James Keogh, Cian Power-Kelly, Tristin Kennedy (1-0), Jordan O’Connor, David Breathnach, Neill O’Mahony, Fiachra McLoughlin (2-0), Eric Stapleton, Adam O’Callaghan (1-1), Daniel Stapleton, Sean Sutton (1-0) and Ruairi Geoghegan (0-1)