Sunday, April 27, 2008

A heavy defeat at the hands of the team likely to win the league

We knew we were facing a tough match against Clontarf because they are strong contenders for the league title and had beaten us 4-0 in a recent match.

It was a lovely sunny day and both sides played great football. We attacked strongly from the kick-off and both Zhudi and our captain Niamh came close to giving us an early lead. However, we were too intent on attacking and left our defence a bit weak. it was Clontarf who went into an early lead when one of their counter-attacks found us with too few defenders in position. It was clearly not our lucky day when shortly afterwards a speculative shot from far out slipped in over the head of our goalie David giving him no chance.

Clontarf gained confidence from this early lead and they continued to pile on the pressure for the rest of the half. However, our defence was solidly lead by Dylan our man-of-the-match. and Clontarf were not able to put any more scores on the board in the first half.

The second half got underway with both sides attacking strongly and both sides had plenty of scoring chances. However, it was Clontarf's lucky day and they managed to sneak in two more goals early in the second half to put the score at 4-0 and the result beyond doubt. However, Castleknock were not willing to give up and they managed to get a goal about 10 minutes form the end. We hoped this might be the start of a revival, but it was Clontarf who managed to slip in another goal to leave the final score at 5-1.

After this result, Clontarf are 2nd in the league one point behind Dunshaughlin. However, they have a game in hand and judging by their form in this match, they would have to be favourites to take the title.

We have our final match of the season on Monday night. I hoe we can end on a good result.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Final two fixtures of the season

Our final two matches of the season will be home matches played over the next few days. On Saturday 26th of April we will host Clontarf, with kick-off at 10:45am and on the evening of Monday 28th of April we will Host Maynooth with kick-off at 7:15pm.


Hopefully we can end out season with performances closer to how we started the season rather than our recent poor form. Make sure you are in Porterstown at least 15 minutes before kick-off.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Narrow defeat on a stormy day

It was a very windy day when we played host to Woodlawn. Luckily there was no rain, but a biting wind made it very cold and it was clear that the wind was going to be a key factor in the match.


Our bad luck began when our captain John lost the toss and we had to play into the wind in the first half. The game had hardly started when Woodlawn opened the scoring. Shortly afterwards the wind helped a long shot from the half way line swirl around over our goalkeeper David's head. We were now two nil down with only a few minutes of the clock.


However, Castleknock were not willing to give up so easily. We fought back strongly with out man-of-the-match Frank played a great game as an attacking corner back. He cleaned up many loose balls at the back and attacked up the wing to have several good chances.


A good example of how strong the wind was came when the ball went out on the far side of the pitch for a Woodlawn throw in. The Woodlawn player ran to collect the ball for the throw in, but just as he got there the wind caught the ball and brought it further away. When he chased the ball again the same thing happened a second an third time before he finally caught up with the ball in a line of bushes 100m away.


Shortly after half time, Nado managed to slip in a goal to narrow the lead to s a single goal. At this stage, it looked like we might be able to use the wind advantage to turn around the game, but Woodlawn got a goal against the run of play to put the score at 3-1.


At this stage the we seemed to give up and there was a long period with neither said attacking. In the dying minutes, Nado got another gaol, but this was too late for a comeback and the match ended 3-2 victory for Woodlawn and out losing streak continued.

Tough luck to everyone. I hope we can turn our luck around for the final weekend of the season.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Home match against Woodlwan

Our next match will be a home match against Woodlawn. Kick-off will be at 10am on Saturday next 19th of April, so we should all try to be in Porterstown by 9:30am.

Hopefully we can turn around our recent run of poor results.

4-0 Defeat away to Clontrarf

We new it was not going to be our lucky day when heavy traffic in Fairview caused us to arrive late for the kick-off. When the game got underway, things went from bad to worse. Despite some great goalkeeping from John our man-of-the-match the score ended up as 4-0 for Clontarf.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Away match against Clontarf

Our next match will be an away match against Clontarf. Kick-off is at 1:30pm on Saturday next 12th of April in their St Anne's ground on Coast Road. This will be a long trip for us so we should all meet up beside the all-weather pitch by 12:30 at the latest.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Heavy defeat against Dunshaughlin

I was a sunny day when we travelled to Dunshaughlin to take on the league leaders. However, a strong wind ensured that it was a bitterly cold day.


Zhudi was our goalie and captain for the day. He played a great game, pulling off several dramatic saves during the first half when Dunshaughlin made most of the wind adavantage to take control of the match. Unfortunately, even with Zhudi's best efforts, Dunshaughlin managed to slip four gals into the net so that they went into the half-time break with a commanding lead.


Despite being 4-0 down, Castleknock came out for the second half with great determination. Colin came on as a sub in defence and played a billiant game to earn him the title of man-of-the-match. Frank and Dylan also played much better in the second half so that Zhudi saw a lot less action (although he did not complain about that).


About half way though the seond half Nado managed to made a brave run up the wing followed by an excellent shot into the corner of the net. Omar had several more attempts on goal, but none went in so that the final score was 4-1 to Dunshaughlin and they stretched their lead at the top of the table.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Change of time and location for training

Due to the lengthening evenings we will be moving both the time and location of training. From monday next 7th of Aprilour trainning will start at 6:30pm and be held in Laurel Lodge green instead of the all-weather pitch.