End of Season party

Everyone had great fun at our end of season party, even if some people ended up wetter than they expected. Here are a few pictures from the trophy presentation ceremony.

Narrow defeat in tightly fought cup final

This years cup final we a repeat of last years where we faced WFTA. The venue was St Joseph's in Salynoggin and we the girls were delighted to see their dressing room and pitch allocation displayed on the closed circuit television system in the club house.

WFTA started the match strongly and had several header which would have put them in the lead if it was not for some great saves from Dani.  WFTA finally opened the scoring in the 14th minute, but Ellie equalised 2 minutes later (16th). It stayed that way til half time.

The second half was only 2 minutes young when WFTA took the lead again. Castleknock fought bravely and Ciara brought the sides level again in the 43rd minute. There was a penalty awarded 3 minutes later with only 4 minutes left to play when a WFTA player handled the ball. Our player-of-the-match Emma hit a perfect shot into the
bottom right hand corner, but the WFTA keeper managed to get a hand to
the ball and tap it wide. This seemed to give WFTA the encouragement
they needed and with us pressing forward for the winner WFTA broke away and scored with less than a minute left on the clock.

I know that some of the the girls were disappointed to lose, but they can be very proud of an excellent first season in the DWSL.We can celebrate on Wednesday evening when we will have our end of season party. I know that the voting for the player of the season is almost as close as the scoreing in the final.

End of season party scheduled for next Wednesday 2nd of June

Because of the under 12 girls being in the final this weekend we have decided to postpone the end of season party to Wednesday next (2nd/June). This will be at the normal training time. Hopefully we will have a lovely trophy to add to the celebrations.

We need to get the player of the year votes and the €10 contributions in advance of the party. Hopefully everyone can bring them along to the cup final tomorrow.

Arrangements for the cup final

As reported on the club web site we qualified for the cup final again this year by beating Mount Merrion 2-0. Like last year our opponents will be WFTA. Kick off is at 11am on Saturday (not Sunday as originally announced). The final will be held in Pearse Park in Salynoggin, this is quite a distance away so we will meet up at 9:45 beside the all-weather pitches.

I am quietly confident that we can win the title this year. Hopefully we will have a full turn out of players and supporters.

Playing Mount Merrion in the Semi-Final of the cup

I just found out that we will be playing Mount Merrion in the semi-final of the cup. It will be a home match for us with kick-off at 6:45pm on Wednesday 26th of May. This will be a very tough match since Mount Merrion had a 100% record in the league (they were the only team to beat us).  I hope we can have a great turn out for this match since we will need to have a full strength team for this vital match.

Castleknock edge past Dundalk in tightly fought cup quarter final.

We knew from our experience in the league that Dundalk FC would be tough opponents for our cup quarter final match. Dundalk started very strongly and managed to get into an early lead with  a goal after 10 minutes. Castleknock fought back strongly and our player-of-the-match Aoibheann Lynch levelled the scores after 15 minutes. Unfortunately Dundalk hit back again with another goal shortly before half-time to leave the score at 2-1 going into the half-time.

Both sides had several chances in the second half, but when 22 minutes had passed without any more scores it looked like the match was going to end with a 2-1 victory for Dundalk. Then Leah Byrne brought the game back to life when she tapped home a cross from Aoibheann to level the scores at 2-2. The last few minutes of the match were very exciting with both sides attacking very strongly. Everyone was assuming that the match would go into extra time when Ciara Brady managed to connect with a corner and tap the ball into the Dundalk net.

It must have been a very sad bunch of players on the bus back to Dundalk, but at least they can be proud of the way they played in this very exciting match.

Decisive victory in match against Lucan United.

There was a lot at stake as we lined out against Lucan United since this match was counting as both a league and a cup match at the same time. Lucan turned up without a full team and so we agreed to play 7-a-side. Castleknock started very strongly when Ciara Brady scored a hat-trick within the first 10 minutes. Laura and Emma got the scoresheet shortly afterwards and then Aoibheann added 2 more goals to make the score 7-0 at half time.

Lucan were not disheartened by being behind and came out much stronger for the second half. In the first half Ellie had a very quiet time in goals, but Hayley who replaced her for teh second half was much busier and had to make some very dramatic saves. Nevertheless our forwards were also very busy attacking. Ellie made up for her quiet first half by scoring two goals before coming off with an injured hand. Laura stretched the lead to 10-0 and Lucan scored an own-goal before Lucy Hanlon closed off the scoring at 12-0.

This now completes our league fixtures. I don't know where we came yet because many of the other teams have not yet completed all their games. However, with such great results we are certain to be near the top. Our next cup match will be against Dundalk FC who beat Ratoath last night in their first round match.

Final League match and start of cup campaign

On Wednesday evening we will play host to Lucan United. This match will kick off at the slightly earlier time than usual of 6:15pm which means that we will need to meet up at Porterstown at 6pm to get ready. This will be the last match of our league campaign (where it looks likely that we will be in second place) and the match will also count as the first round of our cup campaign.

Decisive 5-1 victory over WFTA

It was a lovely summer evening when our old rivals WFTA came to Porterstown for a DWSL league match. Initially the match started off very level, with both Castleknock and WFTA having several scoring chances. However, after 24 minutes Ciara dribbled most of the length of the pitch before launching a rocket of a shot. The WFTA keeper saved the initial shot, but she wasn't able to hold onto the ball and Laura was on hand to slot the ball into the back of the net to give Castleknock a narrow lead. Shortly afterwards Laura had another narrow miss, but the score stayed at 1-0 at half time.

Castleknock came out much more strongly for the second half. Our goalie Dani kicked a long ball to Aoibheann who dribbled the ball into the box and unleashed a great shot. The WFTA keeper was not able to hold onto the ball and once again Laura was on hand to stretch out lead to 2-0. About 2 minutes later Laura scored again to earn her a hat trick and the title of player-of-the-match.

WFTA did their best to get back into the game, but Dani was in top form in the Castleknock goal and they only managed to score a single goal to bring the socre back to 3-1. Towards the end of the match, Leah and Ciara got a goal each to stretch the lead to 5-1 to put the result beyond doubt.

DWSL Cup Draw announced

I have just received notification of the draw for the DWSL under 12 shield. In the first round we are drawn against Lucan United at home. Kick-off is at 6:45pm on Wednesday next 12th of May. Click here to see the full draw.

Castleknock under 12 girls are runners-up in the Enniskerry "Belles in the Meadow" Blitz

It was a beautiful sunny day when we travelled to Enniskerry for the Belles in the Meadow blitz competition. Due to the early start the girls were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes as we lined out against Valeview in our first match. However, Emma proved that she was fully awake when she opened the scoring after only 2 minutes. After  6 minutes Aoibheann stretched the lead to 2-0 and then Emma scored again to give us a 3-0 lead at half time. Immediately after the restart Aoibheann socred again to make it 4-0. As the match was ending Laura polished off a great result with a goal that took the score to 5-0.

Our second match was against Firhouse Carmel. Ciara gave us the lead after 7 minutes and then Aoibheann made it 2-0 a minute later. In the second half Aoibheann put her name on the score-sheet again and stretched the lead to 3-0.

Our final match in the group stages was against St Catherines who proved to be the strongest opposition. Emma gave us an early lead, but St Catherines replied straight away to level the score to 1-1. A few minutes later Ciara hit a great shot which rebounded off the keeper and then Ellie put it in the back of the net. Both Ellie and Aoibheann has several near misses but the score was still 2-1 at half time. St Catherines attacked strongly in the second half, but Lucy and Catherine were very strong in defence. Our goalkeeper Dani was also very busy , but luckily for us she was in top form. It was very tight in second half until Aoibheann dribbled the length of the pitch and scoeed a gaol to put the score at 3-1 and seal the top of the table position for us.

In the semi-final we were drawn against the host team Enniskerry. Castleknock dominated the possession in the first half, but the ball didn't seem to want to go into the net and hence the score was still 0-0 at half time. When the second hald started Castleknock seemed to hit their stride. Ellie put us into the lead straight from the kick-off and Ciara followed up with another goal to make the score 2-0. Aoibheann was in flying form and scored a hat-trick to give us a 5 goal lead. Catherine was keen to get in on the act and added a final goal to make the score 6-0.

We had only a few minutes break before we had to come out to face Mount Merrion in the Final. Our tired legs began to show and after 4 minutes Mount Merrion went into the lead. Castleknock attacked strongly for the rest of the match and Emma hit the post several times, but the Mount Merrion defence held firm and the match ended with a 1-0 victory to Mount Merrion.

Overall I think it was a great day out and everyone enjoyed the sunshine and the disco music that was playing all day long. We can be very proud of this result and I think we will definitely be back again when this competition is held next year.

Gaynor Cup Trials

The following notice was placed on the NDSL web site about the start of trials for the Gaynor cup. It seems that training has already commenced, but I am sure Carlie will allow late entry if anyone is interested:

Trials for the girls North Dublin Gaynor Cup will commence on Sunday 18^th April on the All Weather pitch at the Oscar Traynor Centre Coolock. U/14 Girls (1996-1997) will start at 3.30pm.Girls born in 1998 or 1999 are not eligible to participate. U/16 Girls (1994-1995) will commence at 5.30pm. All attending must have a full Soccer kit including boots and shinguards. All clubs who wish to send players forward for the trials are requested to submit players and managers details no later than Wednesday 14^th April to carliefitz@eircom.net

Narrow defeat in top of the table clash

It was a top of the table clash when we travelled to Stillorgan for our match against Mount Merrion FC. Prior to the game we were at the top of the table and Mount Merrion were in second place. The pitch was very small so it was clear that this was going to be a tight match in more ways than one.

After 9 minutes Aoibheann scored a great goal to give Castleknock an early lead. However, Mount Merrion scored two lucky goals on 10 and 13 minutes to give them a 2-1 lead which they managed to hold until half-time

The second half had barely started when a Mount Merrion cross was diverted into the goals to stretch their lead to 3-1. But, Castleknock were not willing to concede defeat. After 9 minutes Emma hit a rocket of a shot into the Mount Merrion goal. The goalie was not able to hold onto the ball and Aoibheann was on hand to slot the ball into the net and to pull the score back to 3-2. For the rest of the match Castleknock attacked strongly, but despite our best efforts the ball would not go into the net and the match ended with a Mount Merrion victory.

Weekend Blitz in Enniskerry

We will be taking part in the "Belles in the Meadow" soccer tournament. This is an all female soccer blitz which is held in the Bog Meadow pitch in Enniskerry and is normally great fun. There are tournaments for several age groups. Castleknock will be entering teams into the under 12 competition on Saturday (24th of April) and the under 14 competition on Sunday (25th of April).

We need to register our team in Enniskerry at 9:15am. Since this is a long trip we will meet up beside the all weather pitches at 8:45am. If you are going to be travelling directly to Enniskerry please let us know so that we don't waste valuable time in the morning waiting for players who are not going to come. Players should wear their full paying gear including shin guards, but should also bring a track suit to change into for the gaps between matches.

The Blitz and the prize giving ceremony will be over by 6pm. It is a long day, so girls should bring a packed lunch and/or bring money to purchase refreshments from the stalls which will be set up at the Blitz.

Mount Merrion Match postponed from Wednesday to Thursday

The match against Mount Merrion which was originally scheduled for Wednesday evening has been postponed to Thursday evening because many of our players were involved in the confirmation ceremony of light on Wednesday. The kick-off will be at the same time (7:30pm) in St. Raphaels secondary school on Stillorgan Heath, just off the Upper Kilmacud Road. We will meet at 6:30pmbeside the all weather pitch.

The under 15 girls will be training at 7pm on Wednesday evening in Porterstown. If any of the under 12 players who are not involved in the confirmation event they are more than welcome to come along and join the training.

Lots of activity

We have an under 12 away match against Mount Merrion on Wednesday (21st of April). Kick-off is at 7:30pm in the St Raphael's school on Stillorgan Heath. This is quite a long drive so we will need to meet up beside the all weather pitches at 6:30pm. Many of our players will be involved in the confirmation "Ceremony of Light" so we will need a full turn out of all other players.

At the weekend we will be taking part in the "Belles of the Meadow" blitz tournament in Enniskerry. Apparently this is a great fun tournament, hopefully the good weather will last until then. The under 12s will be playing on Saturday and the under 14s will play on Sunday.  The tournament will go on all day and we will send you more information later in the week.. In order to help prepare for this we are arranging an additional training session on Tuesday night between 7pm and 8:30pm in Porterstown.

Training on All Weather pitch tonight

Last week we announced that we were going to switch to training on grass this week. However, the recent rain has caused the Laurel Lodge Green to become waterlogged and too muddy for training. As a result we will train on the All-weather pitches tonight (but at the earlier time of 7-8pm).

I know that many of you will still be on Easter holidays, but  hopefully we can get a decent turnout.

Lucan match off

Lucan called to say that they are unable to field a team because some of their players are on a club trip to watch Manchester v Bolton.

It is a pity that we have matches called off two weekends in a row with good weather. :-(

Away match against Lucan United on Sunday next

Our next match is an away match against Lucan United next Sunday (28th of March). The match will take place at their pitch at Airlie Heights, Dodsboro, Lucan. Kick-off is at 1pm and we will meet up at 12:15pm besdie the all weather pitches to give us a chance to get there in good time. Since we are now top of the league table all the other teams will be keen to beat us so we will need to ensure we hang on to the top position.

Our training next Wednesday (31st of March) will be our last one on the All-Weather pitch On the following Wednesday (7th of April) we will switch to training on grass because the longer evenings mean we will no longer need to use the All-weather pitch. Our training will be held at the earlier time 7-8pm to make the most of the available light.

Cabinteely are unable to field a team

The Cabinteely trainer contacted me to say that they are unable to field a team and so they are giving us a walk over.

Match v Cabinteely on Sunday

I hope everyone had a nice day yesterday. For a change the St Patrick's day parade was held in bright sunshine.

This weekend we have a home game against Cabinteeley. Kick-off is at 12:15pm on Sunday (not Saturday as I accidentally sent notifications about). We should meet up in the club house in Porterstown by 11:45am at the latest.

Narrow 2-1 vistory against Peamount

I was a lovely spring day as the girls traveled to Newcastle to take on Peamount United. The first half was very tight. Although Castleknock had many chances it was Peamount who went into the half-time break with a slender 1-0 lead. In the second half Castleknock fought back bravely, but the Peamount goalkeeper played a great game. Eventually Emma Boyle and Catherine Leahy scored goals to give Castleknock a 2-1 victory.

This was a great team performance and so it was hard to pick a player-of-the-match. Eventually it was decided that Ellie Widle was most deserving of this honour for her tireless efforts up front.

Match against Peamount and Spring Sports Prediction competition

Our under 12 match against Peamount has been scheduled for a 1pm kick-off on Saturday (6th of March). This is an away match and will be held in the Greenogue Ind. Est., Newcastle, Co. Dublin - this is a long drive so we will need to meet up at 12 noon beside the all weather pitch. I know that this time might not suit everyone, but there is limited times when the pitch is available.

The parents may be interested to know that the club is holding a Spring Sports Prediction competition. Click here for an entry form which gives more details of what is involved.

WFTA match called off

Our match against WFTA this weekend has been called off because the pitch is unplayable.

Away match against WFTA on Saturday morning

Our next u12 match in DWSL is an away match against our old rivals WFTA in Kildonan Road. Kick-off is scheduled for 11am on Saturday morning. We should all meet up at 10:15am beside the all weather picth.

A decisive 6-1 victory over understrength St Catherines team

St Catherines lined out 2 players short for their match against Castleknock. However, the St Catherines players who did show up gave a great performance and it was clear why they were top of the league from the fixtures before Christmas.

Casteknock played with the wind in the first half and they started strongly. The match was only one minute old when Emma opened the scoring with a well taken score. Both Ellie and Holly came close to scoring before Aoibheann stretched the lead to 2-0 after 10 minutes. Two minutes later player-of-the-match Emma crossed the ball into Ellie who made the score 3-0.

Castleknock continued to attack strongly for the rest of the half, but the St Catherine's pulled off a number of dramatic saves and the score stayed at 3-0 when the half-time whistle blew. However, the 2nd half was only a few minutes underway when Aoibheann dribbled the length of the picth and scored a beautiful goal to stretch the lead to 4-0.

St Catherines tried hard to narrow the lead, but Niamh made a number of good saves and after 16 minutes it was Ellie who scored her second goal to strecth the Castleknock lead to 5-0. As the match was nearly over, St Catherines finally scored a goal. The match was not yet over however and Leah got a goal just before the final whistle to leave the score at 6-1.

Exciting match against Dundalk ends in a draw

We were forced to travel to Dundalk without many of our players due to clashes with GAA fixtures. We knew that this was going to be a tough fixture because Dundalk had a very strong record in the league.The girls were excited to be playing in the Oriel Park stadium and some of them tried out the view from the stands before the match. However, as soon as the match started the girls lost all inhibitions and Castleknock started very strongly.

We were unlucky when Dundalk managed to open the scoring after only 5 minutes. However, Castleknock attacked strongly and Aoibheann leveled the score 5 minutes later with a cracker of a shot. Both teams attacked strongly for the rest of the half and although they both had many scoring chances, half time came with the score still level  at 1-1.

Shortly after the second half got underway, Hayleigh was forced to come off for a few minutes due to injury. Dundalk began to attack strongly and after 5 minutes they managed to go back into the lead 2-1. Dundalk continued to put huge pressure on the Castleknock goal, but our goalie Fiona Fitzgerald played a brilliant game to deny them any more scores and earn the player-of-the-match title.

In the dying minutes of the match, Aoibheann gave an excellent cross and Leah Byrne put the ball in the back of the net to level the score at 2-2. Neither side was willing to relax and both sides tried very hard to get a goal that would seal the result. The Dundalk keeper pulled off a brilliant save to push Aiobheann's shot over the bar in injury time. Shortly afterwards Ciara had a cracker of a shot that scrapped the paint off the outside of the post.

The score remained 2-2 at full time and this was a fair result for a very exciting match. Afterwards, Dundalk FC treated us to a lovely meal in their boardroom which capped off a great day out.

Fund raising quiz night on Monday 15th of February

The club are holding a fund raising quiz night at 9:15pm on Monday 15th of February in Kavanagh's pub in Laurel Lodge. The club badly needs the funds so we would appreciate a good turn out from the parents. If anyone is in a position to donate a spot prize that woudl also be much appreciated.

Dundalk match postponed and moved

The match against Dundalk has been postponed because Porterstown has been declared unplayable this weekend. We agreed to postpone it until next Sunday (14th of Feb). To avoid the chances of being foiled by the weather we decided to move the game to Dundalk (they have a very hight tech pitch which is always playable). Kick-off will be at 1pm, but Dundalk is quite a long drive so we will need to assemble promptly at 11am beside the all weather pitches. It should be fund for the girls to play in Oriel Park stadium which has been recently refurbished at great expense. Full directions to Oriel Park are available at http://www.dundalkfc.com/club.asp

12 noon Kick-off for match against Dundalk FC

The kick-off for our match against Dundalk FC next Sunday (7th/Feb) will be at 12 noon. This is a home match so we will meet up at the club house in Porterstown at 11:30am. This will be our first match in the 12B division and the opposition club are in the premier division of the FAI senior league, so I think we may face stiff opposition.

Brian will be away for this match, so Hugo will look after the team.

Hugo will distribute jerseys on the match day. If you have club shorts and socks, you should wear them - but if not any colour gear will do. We will try to get more shorts and socks for those players who don't have them yet. Be sure to wear shin-guards.

Update on DWSL

I have just found out that we have been assigned to the B division of the DWSL under 12 league. This should provide us with stiffer competition than the 12C division we were in before Christmas.

Our first match will be a home match against Dundalk on Sunday next (7th of February). I will let you know the kick-off date once it is confirmed.

Under 12 Friendly against Mount Merrion on Sunday

We have arranged a friendly match against Mount Merrion for next Sunday (31/January). This is a home match so it will be our first chance to enjoy the full benefits of the new clubhouse. Players should assemble in Porterstown at 10:30am. Brian won't be available so Hugo will take chanrge of the team.

Lost Property and Parent Consent Forms

At training last night a number of things were left behind. Someone left a white hair band (Brian has this) and someone left behind a black and white Nokia jacket (Tony has this). These can be collected at the next training session or else contact us if you need them more urgently.

We now have the league registration forms almost complete. However, we are still missing a few signatures from parents/guardians. Can someone sign the form for the following players at our next training session.

• Fiona Fitzgerald
• Áine Waters
• Ellie Wilde
• Dearbhla Monaghan
• Holly Larkin

We should know how the leagues are re-arranged this weekend and the matches should restart the weekend after that (i.e. Sunday 7th of February)

Extra trainning session

We have just found out that Porterstown pitches have been declared playable tomorrow. Since we have no match arranged it seemed like a shame to waste one of the rare opportunities to get out on a real grass pitch.

Therefore we will hold an additional trainings session tomorrow (Saturday 23/Jan) from 10:30am to 12 noon. We apprciate that this is very short notice so don't worry if you can't make it. If you are coming down, don't forget to wear your boots.

Update on DWSL plans for 2010

I just spoke to the organizers of the DWSL league. It seems that the executive committee meeting which is going to decide the assignment of teams to new divisions has been delayed until Thursday 28th of January. This delay means that matches in the new divisions won't start until Sunday 7th of February. Of course the recent bad weather means that it was unlikely that pitches would have been playable before then anyway.

First Training Session of the new Year this evening

After viewing the condition of the all weather pitch and checking the weather forecast for this evening, we have decided to go ahead with training this evening. Please dress warmly because the weather is not likely to be very pleasant (although not quite as bad as the day of the Blitz).

As I told you at the Blitz, I will be collecting the under 12 jerseys and in future giving them out on the day of the match - swapping jerseys mid-match is causing us problems. If anyone does not have club shorts and socks let me know and I will get them for you.

The club calendars are now available and are a bargain at 5 euro each.

Delayed return to training

It appears that there is quite a bit of snow and ice on the All-Weather pitch at the moment and so I think it would not make sense to return to training this Wednesday (6th/January). Instead we hope to restart training  on Wednesday 13th of January.  I hope you all enjoy the additional week's rest - it will be especially needed by the girls who took part in the abortive Blitz in the Blizzard.

By the way, the club calendars are now available. They look great and are great value at only €5 each.