Castleknock Celtic under 9 soccer team

The kick-off time for our match today (Monday 30/April) against Dunshaughlin has been moved back from 7pm to 7:45pm. This means that we should meet up beside the all weather pitch at 6:45pm rather than 6pm. The pitch is in Dunshaughlin Industrial Estate which his on the right before you enter Dunshaughlin itself when you are coming from Dublin.

I think many of you will be happy with this news because I know the earlier time was going to be a bit of a rush for some of you.

Labels: fixtures

It was a lovely sunny morning as we travelled to the away match against Priorswood. However, things started to go wrong before the match even started when Andy cut his head while playing in the playground beside the pitch.

Our captain Zhudi won the toss and decided to play with the strong wind. Both teams had many attacking chances early on, but it was Priorswood who managed to score the first goal. The home team were still celebrating this goal when Omar managed to get us back on level terms. Both Niamh and Zhudi had several good shots with balls that were passed up from mid-field by Dylan, Robert and David, but the score was still 1-1 at half time.

As the second half got under way, Priorswood managed to get into the lead after two of their players were left unmarked in the penalty box leaving Nado with no chance to keep the ball out. Castleknock threw everything into attack to try and get level, but this left them exposed at the back and Priorswood managed to sneak in two late goals to leave the score at 4-1.

Our man-of-the-match was Frank who had a great match in defense with Cathal. This was a much closer match than the result would seem to indicate. I am confident that we can get back into winning form for our match against Dunshaughlin on Monday. Hopefully Andy will be fully recovered by then.

Labels: match_report

We should meet up at 9am beside the all weather pitch for our match against Priorswood on Saturday morning.

I got the following directions to the Priorswoord Pitch:

• Go north to the end of the M50.
• At the end of the motorway there is a roundabout. You should go straight through the roundabout onto the N32.
• About 150 meters along you will come to a roundabout which you go straight through. Immediately after the roundabout you turn right onto a small lane.
.
• Take the first left off the lane followed by another left turn. Ths will bring you straight to the pitch.

We have an away match against Priorswood on Saturday (28/April) morning with 10:00 kick off. I will announce the meeting time when I check how long it will take to get there.

We also have a match at 7:00 away to Dunshaughlin on Monday (30/April) evening with kick-off at 7pm. Again we will need to check the driving time to decide when to meet.

Labels: fixtures

It was a tightly fought match when Ratoath came to Porterstown for our latest League match. Castleknock had many chances during the first half but seemed unable to put the ball in the net. Our best chance came when Zhudi hit the cross-bar with a brilliant shot.

The wind was with us in the second half and Robert managed to put us in the lead. A short while afterwards Zhudi managed to stretch our lead by scoring on his third attempt after having two shots saved and rebound off the Ratoath Keeper.

All our team played well, but in particular David O'Connor was declared man-of-the-match for his great performance at mid-field.

Castleknock began to feel confident at this stage and threw all their efforts into attack. This was a mistake because Ratoath counter attacked and managed to get the ball to three unmarked players in the box. Our goalie Nado had no chance of stopping this attack and our lead was pulled back to a single goal The final few minutes of the game were very tense as Ratoath tried valiantly for an equaliser.

Luckily we were able to hold off for a narrow 2-1 victory. This result keeps us in 4th position in the league, but level on points with Maynooth in third place and only 2 points behind the leaders Howth.

Here are some clips of the action curtsey of YouTube:

Labels: match_report

It looked like we were going to have a poor turn out for our first mid-week match. When I arrived the only player there was Frank Collins. However, the team gradually began to arrive and by kick-off time we had just enough to field a team of seven.

The players seemed to be tired after the cup match at the weekend and it initially looked like Clonee would take the lead. Luckily Andy was in top form clearing any dangerous balls and Frank was alert in the goal for the few balls which passed him.

Colin arrived late in his dad's shiny new Saab just as Dylan got injured. Colin joined the game straight away and so we were not left short. David and Robert played a great partnership in mid-field pumping several good balls up into Cathal who was playing forward for a change. Nado was helping out all over the pitch as usual.

When the second half was already started, Omar and Zhudi arrived to help out. Castleknock began to get into their stride and both Robert and Zhudi forced the Clonee keeper to make a number of dramatic saves. It was only a matter of time before the pressure paid off when one of Zhudi's shots slipped in off the post.

It was another great team performance, but overall Robert was a deserving winner of the man-of-the-match award for sustained effort over the whole match. Well done everyone, we are going from strength to strength as the season progresses.

Labels: match_report

Our next league match is against Ratoath on Saturday next 21st of April. Kick -off is at 11:30am in Porterstown. We should all meet up at 11:15am.

There will be no mid-week match for us next week.

Labels: fixtures

It was a beautiful sunny day when we travelled out to Portrane for our semi-final match against St Ita's AFC. However the day began to turn bad as soon as the match got started. The home team started very strongly and they managed to score two goals early in the match. Andy our goalkeeper for the day had no chance to get near either shot.

I am glad to see that we did not let this setback dent our confidence. We continued to put pressure on in the attack and both Zhudi and Niamh forced the home keeper to make a few dramatic saves. In the second half our pressure finally paid off when Nado scored a brilliant goal to bring the score back to 2-1.

We continued to press strongly for an equaliser, but St Ita's were always dangerous in the counter attack. Andy pulled off a very dramatic save with his hip before they finally managed to slip one in to stretch their lead to 3-1. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to narrow the gap before the end of the game.

Nado was running non-stop for the whole game helping out in attack, defence and midfield. In addition he never argued with the referee. Therefore he was declared man-of-the-match. While this spells the end of our cup campaign, all the team can be very proud of their performance today and through the whole campaign.

Labels: match_report

Starting from next week, there will be mid-week evening matches as well as the usual weekend matches. This will help relieve the fixture backlog which was caused by so many piched being decalerd unplayable during the winter.

Our first "mid-week match" will be on Monday next (16th of April). It is a home match against Clonee. Kick-off is at 6:30pm, so we should all meet up at Porterstown at 6:15pm.

Labels: fixtures

We have been drawn to play an away match against St. Ita's in Portrane for the semi-final of the Shield. The kick-off will be at 10:45am on Saturday next (14/April) in Saint Ita's Hospital grounds in Portrane.

Since the pitch is quite a distance away, we should meet up at the all-weather pitches at 9:30am.

This week training will be moved from Wednesday (11/April) at 7pm to Thursday (12/April) at the same time. Brian and Gavin will be attending a training session with the visiting coaches from Manchester United on Wednesday evening so hopefully we will pick up some tips that will help in our semi-final at the weekend.

Training will revert to the usual day next week.

Labels: notices

Now that the days are beginning to get longer, the day and time of our training will change. From this week onwards, training will be from 7-8pm on Wednesday in Laurel Lodge Green (starting Wednesday 4th of April).

Labels: notices