Weekend fixtures

Our under 12 girls have no match this weekend due to the DWSL taking a break for he mid-term.

Our under 15 girls play host to their old rivals St Josephs East Wall in Porterstown on Saturday. Kick-off is scheduled for 11am so all players should assemble in Porterstown by 10:30am.

Note: the kick-off has been moved earlier than the time in the paper (1pm)

I hope that playing a match on Halloween won't prove too scary for either team :-).

Volunteers needed for completion of clubhouse

I think you all saw at the clubhouse opening that there are a few remaining jobs to be done before the clubhouse can be fully useful. It would be a shame to leave the clubhouse half finished. Volunteers are now being sought to help fit out the clubhouse, just 24 hrs from each individual will get us across the line with completion. All trades wanted. Contact Tony Jordan 087-6535354 if you can help.

Volunteers are also wanted for Coffee Dock, just a couple of hours is all that would be asked of a person helping out on any day you make yourself available. Again Tony Jordan is the preson for volunteers to contact.

Neither of our girls team have a match this weekend. The under 12 girls are in transition between the NDSL and DWSL and the under 15 girls had to cancel their planned match against Shelbourne due to having too many players missing.

Under 12 girls moving from NDSL to DWSL

As some of you may know the NDSL under 12 girls league is now down to 3 teams because Maynooth defected to the North Kildare and Carlie was not successful in recruiting any new clubs. I don't think it makes sense for us to stay in a league with so few teams and so I have started the process of registering with the DWSL league instead.

The DWSL league has two divisions of under 12 girls teams and has enough teams that they are seriously splitting into 3 divisions. The travelling times to the away matches might be slightly longer (mostly the teams are South Dublin). However, I think the improved selection of opposition will more than make up for this inconvenience.

Our under 15 girls will remain with the NDSL.

We had a great day at the opening of the clubhouse. To top it off, the under 15 girls won the exhibition match. Here are some pictures.

Ellie scores a hat trick in 5-1 victory over arch-rivals WFTA

We opened our cup campaign with a home match against WFTA. This was a high pressure game since it featured the two top teams in both the cup and league last year.

Castleknock opened strongly and put pressure on the WFTA goal from the start. However, the WFTA defence was strong and their goalkeeper made a few dramatic saves. Our pressure finally paid off when Ellie Wilde put the ball in the net after 9 minutes. Ellie was in great form today and stretched the lead further after 15 minutes. She then completed her hat trick with 19 minutes on the clock and was a deserving winner of the player-of-the-match award this week.


Castleknock continued to pile on the pressure and the ball scrapped over the top of the WFTA crossbar. We continued with our pressure up until the half-time with Emma Boyle forcing the WFTA keeper to s deflect a shot over the bar just before half time.

WFTA rearranged their team at half time and came out much stronger for the second half. However, Luck and Catherine we in top form leading the Castleknock defence and Fiona was playing a great game in goal whenever she was needed.

Rebecca Stephens was determined not to let Ellie have all the glory and so she scored her first league goal for Castleknock to stretch the lead to 4-0. Shortly afterwards Emma blasted in a shot from the edge of the box to stretch the lead to 5-0

WFTA did not give up despite the score and continued to battle for the rest of the match. They were finally rewarded with a goal in the dying minutes of the game to make the socre 5-1.

All our players played very well today and we can be very proud. It is very early in the season yet, but we must be considered to be favourites to win the league this season.

A busy weekend for both teams

The NDSL girls league is kicking off this weekend and since this is combined with the official opening of our club house, both of our teams will have busy weekends.

The under 12 girls have a home game against WFTA on Saturday (10/Oct). Kick-off is at 1pm so we will meet up at 12:30pm in Porterstown. On Sunday our penalty competition will start at 10:50am, all players should be in Porterstown 20 minutes earlier at 10:30am.

The under 15 girls have an away game against Malahide on Saturday (10/Oct). Kick-off is at 12 noon so we will meet up at 11am beside the all weather pitches. We will need plenty of lifts, so make sure to ask your parents. On Sunday the under 15 penalty competition will start at 10am, all players should be in Porterstown 20 minutes earlier at 9:40am.

All players should wear their full Castleknock Celtic kit to the opening event on Sunday. I know that some players don't have a kit yet, if so you should wear something that fits in with the colour scheme. We expect that there will be plenty of photographers from the media there and I am sure you would all want to look your best.

Clubhouse Opening Ceremony on Sunday 11th of October

As you know, after 22 years of much endeavour, Castleknock Celtic FC has realised one of its main targets, a clubhouse to be proud of in Porterstown, complementing its marvellous pitch facilities. This custom built clubhouse has been 4 years in planning and 8 months in construction. It will provide a permanent base for our members, with dressing room facilities for home and away teams, bathroom facilities for players and supporters, and light refreshments for all.

The clubhouse has been used by teams since September. It will be formally opened on Sunday, 11th October, 2pm, by Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Lenihan TD.

Joining us also on the day will be FAI Chief Executive, Mr. John Delaney, and the FAI Technical Director and Italia-90 hero, Packie Bonner.

There will be activities throughout the day on the pitches with the annual Penalty Shoot-out taking place from 10am, and exhibition matches from our 7-a -side and 11-a-side teams in the afternoon.

There will be light refreshments (tea, sandwiches) served after the official opening. However, in these straitened times, we are asking team members/parents to help us with this. We are appealing for something that is non-perishable, no matter how small, e.g. packs of bars, pre-packed biscuits, popcorn, cartons of juice, pre-packed buns/cakes. All goods may be given to team manager on or before Fri 9th October (ideally bringing them to the training session this week) or we can arrange collection. We need VOLUNTEERS to help with hospitality on the day, so if you can assist in any way, please contact any of the Social Committee listed below.

We hope you will join us to celebrate this great day in the history of the club, and if possible help us to make it successful.

A resounding 4-1 victory in friendly in Ratoath

The wind was blowing a gale when our under 12 team arrived in Ratoath for our first match of the season, Our captain Emma won the toss and chose to play with the wind. Two minutes later she took advantage of the wind to open the scoring with a brilliant shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Shortly afterward Dani who was playing her first match ever for Castleknock Celtic stretched the lead to 2-0.

Castleknock made full use of the gale and the opening half was played in the Ratoath half of the pitch. Ellie made it 3-0 with another fine goal with 12 minutes of the first half gone.

The Castleknock was stretched to 4-0 when Catherine's long distance shot was deflected into the goal by Rataoth defender after 17 minutes.

The rain came down heavily in the dying minutes of the half and I think everyone was delighted when the ref blew the whistle for half-time and we could rush in for shelter.

We were expecting Ratoath to dominate the second half due to the wind, but it was Castleknock who opened strongly. Straight from the kick-off Catherine was denied another score by the crossbar. After 7 minutes Emma was narrowly wide with a long kick.

Rataoth did not give up and began to put huge pressure on. Luckily Lucy and Fiona had a great game in defence. Goalie Sarah also had more chances to show off her skills than we wanted. After 20 minutes a Ratoath corner curled into the Castleknock goal to make it 4-1.

Ratoath struggled strongly for the rest of the match to reduce our lead, but it was Leah and Holly had several chances to stretch the lead further in the Castleknock attack.

We had several brilliant performances today, but player of the match award goes to Dani for a great debut.