U10 Premier: Rock Celtic 3- 1 Ardee
It was the biggest game of the U10 season so far with the first and second placed teams in the league battling it out. At the final whistle Rock Celtic leapfrogged Ardee into the top spot with a great team performance. Unlike the away fixture the Rock lads were on their toes straight from the kick off. Their first attempt at goal came in the opening minutes with Dara Quinn the first to react to a corner swung in by Fiachra O’Hanlon with his header going just wide.
On 12 minutes, Rock defender Jamie Callan passed to Mark Gallagher on the right side of midfield. Mark beat 3 opposition players before nudging the ball to an unmarked Fiachra at the edge of the penalty box. His speculative right footed shot forced the keeper to push the ball into the path of Sennan “the poacher” Carroll who happily tapped the ball into the net. 1-0 to the home side. On 16 minutes Ardee got their equaliser when their powerful centre forward fired an unstoppable shot into the Rock net. All square. The game was nip and tuck for the remainder of the first half with Mark Gallagher closest to scoring for Rock when his right footed shot went over the bar after a great lay off from Sennan Carroll. The halftime whistle allowed the coaches to make a few changes with the introduction of Steve Kamtchou and Cillian Duffy in midfield and defence respectively, and Josh Hanna pushed into a more forward midfield role. Right from the start there was much more purpose and control by the Rock side and the omens looked good.
Early in the second half Steve K went very close with a great strike after some nice skill by Josh in the lead up. Moments later Josh himself had one of his trade mark long range strikes deflected by the Ardee defence. The best move of the game came midway through the second half (check out the video highlights). Goalkeeper Jack Donohoe started the move off with a quick throw to Adam Hoban on the left side of defence. After some nice touches Adam played a great through ball to Fiachra in the centre of midfield. A first time ball to centre forward Layo Adebanjo was immediately laid off into the path of incoming midfielder Steve K on the right hand side of Ardee’s penalty box with his first time strike going narrowly wide. It was one of a number of great moves by the home side. The second goal came when Mark Leavy won a free kick just outside the Ardee penalty box. Josh delivered a nicely weighted ball right in on top of the Ardee keeper causing a panic in the crowded box. An attempted clearance hit of Layo and sneaked behind the goal line, with the referee in a great position to award the goal. It was no more than the home side deserved. Some strong tackling by both teams showed they were aware the stakes were high. A well taken free kick by Ardee late in the second half was the only moment of danger but Jack dealt with it quite comfortably. Apart from that the Rock lads had Ardee defence penned in for most of the second half. Within only minutes of the game remaining, a perfect corner whipped in by Mark L was met by Steve K and his bullet like header crashed into the back of the net. Final score 3-1 to the Rock and top spot (for now at least) in what is a very competitive U10 Premier league.
Team: Jack Donohoe, Eoin Byrne, Jamie Callan, Adam Hoban, Cillian Duffy, Gavin Lynch, Dara Quinn, Josh Hanna, Fiachra O’Hanlon, Steve Kamtchou, Mark Gallagher, Sennan Carroll, Layo Adebanjo, Mark Leavy.
U10 Division 1: Rockville 0 – 2 Woodview
Rockville fell to Woodview last Sunday morning in a very wet and slippery encounter. This was a game that could have gone either way and where the conditions very much dictated the play.
Rock withstood the early Woodview attacks and closed them down well with some excellent defending in particular from Dara O’Gradaigh and Alex Gough.
Tackles from both teams where strong but fair. Frank McGrory and Dara O’Hare worked tirelessly in midfield closing down Woodview. Jack Mulville is really beginning to find his feet in goals for Rock and pulled off two fabulous saves during the game. The Rock forwards had a few chances to score but the first half finished 0-0.
The second half began with Rock conceding an own goal after a goal mouth scramble. Rock responded well and pushed for the equaliser. Alex, Dara and Sebastian all put in an excellent effort and Frank McGrory was unlucky not to get on the score sheet with a rasping shot that went just over the bar. Unfortunatey the Rock lads didn’t get any breaks and the game ended up 0-2 to Woodview.
Alex Gough was man of the match.
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