Away match against Woodlawn

Our match next Saturday 1st of December is an away match against Woodlawn. Kick-off is at 12:30pm in the Oscar Traynor Road grounds. We should all meet up at 11:30 at our usual spot. Hopefully we can keep up our winning form.

A brilliant win against Rivervalley Rangers

The weather was looking ominous as the match time approached. However, we were lucky with the weather and the rain held off for the duration.

The game was only about five minutes old when Zhudi opened the scoring with a brilliant shot into the side of the net from the edge of the penalty box. Rivervalley fought back bravely, but the Castleknock defense held strong. About half way through the first half, Zhudi scored another similar goal to stretch the lead to 2-0 at half time.

In the second half, Rivervalley made a brave attempt to get back into the game but the Castleknock defense stood firm, with out captain and man-of-the-match Frank playing an inspirational role by closing down on all attackers immediately.

It was beginning to look like the score might end up 2-0 until Nado made a great break up the right hand side before slipping the ball to Demi who placed the ball into the back of the net. However, Rivervalley were not willing to give up and they promptly scored a goal to keep the match alive.

The Rivervalley team got slightly carried away with the excitement of the game at this stage and one of their players was booked at this stage for a tackle from behind. The Rivervalley coach took exception to the referees decision and ended up being cautioned himself.

Meanwhile back on the pitch, Demi put the game beyond doubt by scoring two more goals in the dying minutes to making the score 5-1. A brilliant win for Castleknock, well done everyone!!

Cup match at home to Rivervalley Rangers

Next Saturday (24/November) we have another cup match. This time we are home to Rivervalley Rangers. Kick-off is at 10am so we should all try to be there by 9:45am. This will be a tough match so we will need to be on top form.

Castleknock cruise their way to the second round of the NDSL Cup

Warm ups were the order of the day in Ratoath as the visiting Castleknock team waited for their cup campaign to start. With no referee in sight, we were informed that the referees own cup campaign was in progress as he had disappeared for a quick cup of tea before the match.
So out came the gloves and the wolly hats as a cold breeze blew across the pitch for the hottest cup fixture of the day.

Just as the rain started, Castleknock got the game underway as the and broke into attack looking for an early goal. Castleknock got some early chances as Niamh and Robert challenged the Ratoath defence only to see their efforts cleared or saved by the Ratoath goalkeeper.
Ratoath also had many chances in the first half but a well organised defensive line of Andy, Dylan and Frank gave Castleknock goalkeeper and captain John a quiet game.

After 30 minutes, the game was still in the balance with no goals on the scoreboard.
Niamh had to come off at the half time break to fulfill her shepherd duties at the rehearsals of the upcoming christmas nativity play. Zuhdi took over her position in the front.
Castleknock started the second half with goals in mind and broke into action.
Passing was excellent in the wet conditions and before long, Nado was set free to put Castleknock ahead.. The passes kept coming from midfielders Cathal, David and Demi with Nado there to stretch the lead again and again. By the time he had scored his third goal, Nado was blowing kisses to his freezing fans on the sideline..

Castleknock were unstoppable at this point and kept punishing the Ratoath defence with more shots at goal from Robert and Zuhdi.
Zuhdi managed to make the score 4-0, making sure that Casleknock would be in the next round of the cup..

The rain kept pouring and the pitch was fast becoming a mud bath but this didn't stop man of the match Nado from adding to his goal tally with a fourth goal for him, a fifth goal for his team and a place in the next round of the NDSL cup.

Our cup campaign gets underway

We will play our first match in the league cup as an away match against Ratoath next Saturday 17th of November. Kick-off is at 1:15pm so we should meet up beside the all-weather pitch at 12:15pm.

Two late goals turn vistory into defeat

Colin was our captain for the day and he chose to play into a strong wind in the first half. This did not hinder our play very much and about mid-way through the first half, our man-of-the-match Zhudi opened the scoring for Castleknock with a fine shot. Shortly afterwards we nearly stretched our lead when Zhudi had another shot dramatically saved on the line. Both sides had several chances, but the score remained at 1-0 at half time.

Early in the second half Castleknock managed to stretch their lead even further when Robert managed to stop the ball from going wide and make a perfect cross that was headed home by Omar. Although Castleknock though this would be the start of us taking control of the match, Maynooth had other plans and quickly scored a goal to narrow the gap back to 2-1.

Both sides played plenty of exciting football for the rest of the match and John pulled off a number of dramatic saves. However, as the match drew to a close neither side seemed able to extend the scoring. With two minutes to go it looked like the match was going to end 2-1 to Castleknock when the Maynooth number 3 managed to score two goals in quick succession give Maynooth a 3-2 victory.

Lady luck did not smile on us today. Nevertheless we can be very proud of a great performance.

Kick-off time for Maynooth match moved earlier

Maynooth have contacted us to request that we move forward the kick-off time of our match tomorrow. Kick-off will now be 11:30am and so we will need to meet up at 10:30am beside the all-weather pitch.

Sorry for the short notice of the change. If anyone can't make it please get in touch with Brian or Gavin to let us know,

Away match against Maynooth

Our next match is an away match against Maynooth. Kick-off is at 12:45 on Saturday 10th of November. We will meet up at our usual place beside the all weather pitch at 11:45 so we have time to travel out to Maynooth.

This is a different Maynooth team than the one we played already so we will need to be on top form.

We get off to a winning start in our new division

Our first match in the newly re-organised 10C match was a home match against Grange Woodbine. This team was formerly in the 10B division so we knew that we would have a tough match.

The match was hotly contested from the start with both sides attacking strongly. However, mid-way through the first half we managed to take the lead. Our man-of-the-match Niamh attacked up the right wing and although her shot was saved, Nado was on hand to catch the rebound and slot the ball into the right hand corner of the net.

It was a tightly fought game and both teams had plenty of chances for further scores. In fact John had much too many chances to show off his goalkeeping skills, but none of the shots went in and so the game ended up 1-0.

Well done everyone, you proved that we are more than capable of competing in the higher division!

Promotion to 10C division

I have just found out that due to our strong performance since the start of the season we are to be promoted from the 10C1 division to the 10C division. Our first fixture in the new 10C division will be a home match against Grange Woodbine. Kick-off is at 11:15 am on Saturday next (3/Nov), so we should meet up at Porterstown before 11am.

I believe that some of our players won't be able to play on Saturday, so it is vital that all available players turn up on time. Grange Woodbine were previously in the 10B1 division so we will have to play well to keep up the good showing that we have been having so far this year.

The previous note about the fixture against Clontarf is incorrect. Sorry for any confusion caused.