Our u16s football teams both played at home yesterday evening Green ( 1st team ) on Bells and White ( 2nd team ) on the All weather in the first round of their respective football championships. We had to plan for the evening games with a number of players injured or not available. So it was a real test of the panel to fulfil the fixtures with 15 a side for both teams.
White Team vs Fingallians
Our white team was supported with players from u14s team due to the shortage of players, A special thank you to the u14 management team for facilitating and for the lads, Callum, Shane and Padraig for stepping up and equiping themselves very well. We were up against a strong Fingallians side that we knew from outset would give the lads a good game. The game started with us trading scores with Fingallians early on, but Fingallians had a really good purple patch and we found it difficult to get out of our half and Fingallians built up a strong lead. The 2nd half was more of the same and Fingallians used the ball very well which meant we were on the back foot and had to put in a lot of effort in chasing the game. Unfortunatly the game ran away from us and Fingallians ran out with a comfortable win.
Postives; the team kept going despite loosing a player to support with Green game. Eoghan ( aka Paddy ) really stepped into his role as team captain this evening and lead by example ( 1st half goal & 2nd half midfield ) and also Cillian Delaney have a strong game winning turnovers and deliverying intelligent passes.
Overall it was a tough night, but a lot of lessons we learned, which will stand to the lads in the rest of the championship. The lads are really developing well and with a few more games and consistent performances we are confident that they will be a tough team to beat for the rest of the championship.
Green Team vs Chraobh Chiarains
We have had many a battle with Chiarains over the years in both football and hurling, and we knew last night would be no different. We started strongly and built up a strong lead and dominated the early part of the game with a good lead of 0-9 to 0-4 We were very confident at half time that we could manage the threats from Chiarains, with our defence leading by example and stopping a number of goal opportunities. This built the teams confidence which materialised in some exceptional scores at the other end.
Unfortunatly we shifted a bad injury to both Daniel Kenny and Conor Colman with no subs it meant we had to call Tadgh Mooney over from the white team, Tadgh carried the same threat he had shown in the white first half and brought that to the green game and had a strong second half performance.
Overall it was a very postive performance, and we won in the end with a solid team performance. The defence were unlucky to not keep a clean sheet but were strong and dominent throughout the game, the forwards worked tirelessly winning some dirty ball and crucially worked harder when we were down a man for most of the second half through both injuries. We wish both Daniel and Conor speedy recovery from knocks.
