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.