Castleknock Celtic under 9 soccer team

Our final match of the season was against Dunshaughlin on Monday evening.

It was a lovely sunny evening and all the team played very well. Niamh, Dylan and Zhudi all had plenty of good shots in the first half, but the Dunshaughlin goalie was on top form to keep a clean sheet. At the other end of the pitch Dunshaughin managed to get a lucky ball lobbed over the head of Omar who was our goalie for the night.

In the second half our strong defence team of Frank and Andy was made even stronger by a brilliant performance from Colin which earned him the title of man-of-the-match. However, Dunshaughlin managed to score another goal in the second half to leave the final score at 2-0.

Overall the tam can be proud of a great performance on Monday night and all though the season. We ended up in sixth place in the league which is a great result for our first season together. I am looking forward to next season already.

Labels: match_report

Zhudi played a brilliant match in goal, to be a very deserving man-of-the-match. Unfortunately he saw too much action in the first half and we were lucky to be only 2-0 down at half time.

The second half was barely started when Rivervalley stretched their lead to 3-0. Castleknock fought back bravely and it looked like they might even get back into the game, but Rivervalley scored again in the final minute to leave the final score at 4-0.

We can only hope that Dunshaughlin prove to be easier opposition on Monday next.

Labels: match_report

We have two home matches this weekend.

On Saturday May 26th we host Rivervalley. Kick-off is at 10:45, so we should meet up at Porterstown at 10:30am.

On Monday May 28th we host Dunshaughlin. Kick-off is at 8pm, so we should meet up at Porterstown at 7:45pm.

Labels: fixtures

The club AGM will be held in the Castleknock Hotel at 8:30pm on Monday 28th of May in the Castleknock Hotel. This will discuss plans for the new club house. All parents are encouraged to attend.

We have no match this Saturday 19th of May.

Labels: fixtures, notices

We started out for our Maynooth match with great hope, but things started to go wrong early on. The group of cars travelling to the match got separated and we almost lost a few players. Luckily things got sorted out and we were all at the pitch in time for the kick-off.

We started off the match strongly and has several good chances early in the game. However, the referee awarded a penalty against us in a very harsh hand-ball decision. Maynooth slotted the ball into the corner of the net to go in front.

Castleknock continued to dominate the exchanges and it seemed like it would only be a short time before we got an equaliser. However, our luck turned even worse when twice in a row Maynooth shots were deflected off defenders to slip past Andy to give Maynooth a three goal lead. This run of bad luck seemed to knock our confidence and Castleknock lost concentration. Maynooth took advantage of that to score two more well deserved goals before half time.

Gavin gave a inspiring half time speech so the team came out much stronger after half time. Nado, Niamh and Niamh strung some great passes together and then Omar scored a great goal to leave the score at 5-1. Maynooth were quick on the counter attack and managed to stretch their lead to 6-1. However, Castleknock did not let this lead distract them and they continued to attack strongly. Omar managed to get a further 2 goals to complete his hat-trick.

All the team played well, and I was especially pleased to see that the passing is getting much better. The man-of-the-match award goes to Frank who had a great game in defence.

Labels: match_report

Our next match will be an away match against Maynooth United on Saturday next the 12th of May. The kick-off will be at 11:30 am in Maynooth's Dublin Road pitch. We should meet up at 10:30am beside the all weather pitch.

We have no mid-week match next week.

Labels: fixtures

Malahide were unable to field a team for the match this weekend, so the match is off and we will be awarded a walk-over. Perhaps they were scared by our excellent form?

Labels: fixtures, match_report

We were literally facing an uphill struggle during our match against Dunshaughlin. The home team made good use of the slope in the pitch to take an early lead by slipping the ball past Dylan our goalie for the night who had no chance of saving the ball. The score stayed at 1-0 for the rest of the first half.

We thought that the change of direction in the second half would give us a chance to get back on level terms, but instead it was Dunshaughlin who took the initiative and scored two more goals to lead 3-0 going into the final minutes of the game.

I am glad to see that the team kept on trying to the end of the game despite being behind. We were awarded a penalty in the last minute of the game and Omar stepped up to coolly slip it into the corner of the net (I think José Mourinho will be in touch judging by the relatively poor penalty taking by the Chelsea team). This left the final score at 3-1 to Dunshaughlin.

It was hard to pick out who was most deserving of the man-of-the-match award, but after careful deliberation we decided to give it to Jean who was in surprisingly good form considering her long lay-off.

Labels: match_report

Our next match will be a home match against Malahide United on Saturday next 5/May. Kick-off will be at 11:30am so we should all try to be at Porterstown before 11:15am.

In future training will be at 7:15pm on Wednesdays in Laurel Lodge Green. The extra 15 minutes shoudl make it easier for people to be there on time and thankfully the good longer evenings means we shoudl have plenty of light.

Labels: fixtures, notices