U12 Rockville 4-1 Glenmuir Celtic
It’s taken a few games but Rock Ville finally registered their first win of the season with a 4-1 home victory over Glenmuir Celtic. Rock didn’t have it all their own way however as despite spending the first half being virtually encamped in the Glenmuir half, the Rock midfield triumvirate of Oisin McCooey, Peter Woulfe and Adam Stewart dominating possession, they were not able to make their dominance count and might have been left to rue missing those chances when Glenmuir opened the scoring with a breakaway goal, a rare breach of the Rock defense otherwise expertly marshalled by Liam Cafferty and Bryan Soraghan in the centre with Isaac McGahon and Oisin McDermott the full backs. Thankfully striker Oisin Cleary’s smartly taken leveller seemed to have settled their nerves and they went into the break tied at 1-1.
The second half followed the pattern of the first with plenty of Rock possession but the Glenmuir custodian holding firm, pulling off an excellent save to tip over a rasping strike from Rock’s diminutive left winger Declan Curtin that was otherwise destined for the top right hand corner. Declan put in a tireless shift all along the left side terrorizing the Glenmuir defense every time he had the ball and also racing back to help out the defence. Though Rock played with more composure in the second half, Glenmuir had plenty of chances themselves and the home team were indebted to their keeper James McNamara for a number of crucial saves. Thomas Jackson’s strike gave the lead to the home team who kept pressing to extend their advantage, Thomas having moved in from the wing to central midfield. Peter Woulfe, playing in central defense in the second half nonetheless found himself supplementing the attack on several occasions as did his colleague Liam Cafferty whose Beckenbauer-style run from defense and interplay with Isaac McGahon, now playing on the wing, brought a corner at the Glenmuir end. Isaac scoring from the corner taken by Declan, turning the ball into the net, to give Rock a 3-1 lead.
Adam Stewart scored the fourth Rock goal to give the scoreline a fairer reflection of home superiority but there was still work to be done as Rock were determined not to let the lead slip. Rock substitutes Niall, Luke, Eamon, Jack and James all came on in turn to help out in defense and ensure Glenmuir couldn’t find a way back into the game.
U10 Bay United 2 – 1 Rockville
Rockville U10’s played Bay at Muirhevnamore pitch on a wet Sunday morning. Bay United started really strong scoring two quick goals following poor defensive clearances by Rock.It took Rock ten minutes to get into the game and by the end of the first half they had started to take control. A nice move from Dara O’Gradiagh playing the ball into Brian Cafferty who shot low and hard forced a fine save from the Bay goalie. Evan Durnan was unlucky not to score after being played through by Sean Connor, with the bay goalie pulling off another good save. The second half was much the same as the first with Rock taking control.
Frank McGory and Alex Gough then swapped positions with Frank moving up into midfield and Alex dropping back. Conor Smyth then replaced an injured Dara O’Hare with Sebastian McGeogh coming on for Dara O’Gradaigh. The Rock lads were now well in control with some beautiful passing and finally got their just reward with Evan Durnin finishing off a fine pass and move exchange.Rock were very unfortunate not to score again with Sebastian unlucky not to get on the end of one of Alex’s free kicks. Alex made some fine tackes throughout the game with Brian Cafferty having an excellant game overall. Also good for Rock were James Reilly, Jack Murtagh, Conor Smyth and Callem Rogers. Man of the match was Frank McGrory.
U10 Rock Celtic 1-0 Quay Celtic
With only 5 minutes left to play in this entertaining U10 game and the match still scoreless, striker Sennan Carroll bagged what we all thought was the winning goal for the Rock side. Even though the ball had deflected off a number of Quay defenders the goal was unbelievably disallowed for offside. It was looking like another one of those days. The Rock lads kept pushing forward and were eventually rewarded with Fiachra O’Hanlon hitting the back of the net after a great cross from Steve Kamtchou. With only seconds remaining Quay broke through the Rock defence and were 1 v 1 against Rock’s stand in keeper Jamie Callan. A fantastic sliding tackle from Jamie averted the danger and the 3 points were secure. It was no more than the Rock lads deserved.
Without key midfielder Josh Hanna and regular defender Jamie Callan having to again deputise in goals, the players had to slot into a number of unfamilair positons. Apart from the last 5 minutes however the Rock side were well on top throughout the game with some great performances. The midfield pairing of Dara Quinn and Mark Gallagher played extremely well with some great tackling and individual skills. Mark Leavy dropping back into the left side of midfield had an excellant game and was a constant threat with some great forward runs and ball control. Fichara O’Hanlon had looked the most likely player to score in the first half with a number of fantastic headers from corner kicks. Steve Kamtchou added a bit of extra pace into the side when he came on late in the first half and played very well. Adam Hoban, Eoin Byrne, and Gavin Lynch had fine games in defence with Gavin the pick of the bunch during the first half with some excellant control and passing down the left side. Cillian Duffey slotted into the right side of defence for the second half and had a good game with a couple of strong forward runs. Upfront Sennan and Conor Monaghan swapped around in the strikers role and combined well with the midfielders. A good overall team performance with some excellant football.
U14 Rock Celtic 3-0 Redeemer.
Rock took on Redeemer on Halloween night in Oriel Park playing away. This match was always going to suit the Rock with the surface in superb condition and right from the start the Rock got into their passing game. Creating numerous of chances but unable to put them away due to some great goal keeping by Redeemer goalie.
For majority of this half the ball was in the Redeemer half and Rock keeper did not have a save to make. However with all the chances the Rock still could not manage to put the ball into the net.
The second half started the same as the first with the Rock spraying the ball around the field but not able to score. The management then decided to bring on Daniel Corcoran in midfield and made a couple of positional changes on the field. The Rock started to penetrate through the centre and the chances were becoming a lot more clear cut. Then the breakthrough came 15 minutes into the 2nd half when Ciaran Fee go onto ball cut into the box and sent the ball low and fast into the corner off the net to leave the Redeemer keeper with no chance. A couple minutes after that Liam O’Callaghan show some brilliance receiving the ball on the wing cutting inside and jinx pas two defenders to send the ball into the other side of the corner of the net to put the Rock 2 nil up. After that the Rock were bombarding the Redeemer goals hitting the posts twice and crossbar.
Eventually the Rock got their 3rd goal when left fullback Aidan Curtin hit a rocket off a free kick to force the Redeemer keeper to pull off a great initial save only for Ciaran Fee quickest to react and hammer home the rebound. The match finished 3-0. Great performance from Rock but special mentions to Ben Mooney, Ciaran Fee, Liam O’Callaghan and Jack Reid.
Rock U14s 3-1 Quay Olympic
Rock U14s picked up another win when defeating Quay Olympic 3-1 on Sunday last.
Match was played in fine conditions with the rain staying away.
This was another comfortable win for the Rock creating many chances throughout the whole match and really should have been a bigger score line.
However the Rock did have a blip when conceding a goal in the 2nd minute of the match which seem to be a wakeup call. After this setback Rock created chance after chance and soon got an equaliser from a corner when Jack Reid got onto the end of a cross to head to the net.
The Rock really should have been up another few goals only for some poor finishing and some fine saves by the Quay keeper.
But just 5 minutes before the 1st half Gerard Rice got on the end of a superb pass from Feidhelm Joyce rounded his marker and finished from a tight angle.
H.T. Score 2-1.
Just as Rock left off in the 1st half they maintain their dominance throughout the 2nd half but again could not finish to the back off the net.
The wood work was hit several times even a miss penalty however Dylan Sharkey got onto a great pass from Liam O’Callaghan to fire a rocket to the back of the net.
While the Rock should have won by a bigger margin it is encouraging to see some great passing and many players playing comfortable in their positions.
Very good performances by Daniel Corcoran, Jack Reid, Feidhelm Joyce and Liam O’Callaghan.
Team on the day: 1.Shane Barron, 2. James Cushnahan, 3. Aidan Curtin, 4. Jack Reid, 5. Alex Hanneffey, 6. Ben Mooney, 7. Feidhelm Joyce, 8. Daniel Corcoran, 9. Gerard Rice, 10. Liam O’Callaghan, 11. Conall Murdock. 12. Terry Slevin. 13. Ryan Conophy, 14. Christopher Stapleton, 15. Dylan Sharkey, 16. Ross Kelly.
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