Moving on

As many of you already know I will not be coaching this team next year because instead I will be helping to coach the newly formed under-12 girls team. Next year Dave Merriman will be taking my place and helping Gavin to coach this team.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for the great fun I had over the last two years. I was very proud of the great achievements you had in coming from the E division up to the C division. I know that joining the premier league cannot be to far in the future.

SOCAKIDS Summer Academy 2008

SOCAKIDS will be starting a 7 session training program for a period over the Summer to help with the development of players of the club.
The program will cover 7 1 hour sessions and is designed to introduce kids to ideas such as: Playing from the back, Team Shapes (Attacking and Defending), Danger zone, Scoring zone, Bodyshape etc.
The sesions will take place mostly on Saturday mornings in Porterstown for the months of May and June with the final session taking place on Wednesday 26th of June.

This application must be returned to the address on the form before Sat 17th May and copies can be downloaded from www.castleknockceltic.com or www.socaskills.com. It will not be possible to take applications after this date.

Details of course are:
Date: Sat 24/31 May, 7/14/21/28 June and Wednesday 26th June
Venue: Porterstown
Time: 1 hour on Sat morning between 10 and 12 depending on numbers who register + 1 hour Wed 26th June
Closing Registration date: Sat 17th May
Fee: €50

Contact Gavin or Brian if you have any questions regarding this course or have any problems downloading an application form.

Nado wins soccer skills contest

It was beautiful weather for the soccer skills day yesterday. We had a very tightly fought competition, with David O'Connor taking a lead after the cross-bar, penalty-shoot out and dribbling tasks. However, Nado was more accurate on the passing task and hence won the overall trophy. Here you can see him standing beside his mother waiting for the tropy presentation.

I hope you all have a great summer!!!

Schedule for penalty shoot out competition 5th of May

We have been scheduled to take part in the club fund raising penalty shootout competition at 1pm on Bank Holiday Monday (5th of May). This event is normally great fun so I hope most of the team will be able to attend.

For the benefit of anyone who has not been involved in this event before, it will take place on the back pitches in Porterstown. The competition itself will be on the two 11-a-side pitches.

Players only compete against their own team-mates, not against other teams, in four separate events: Crossbar Challenge (as seen on Sky Sports Soccer AM program), Dribbling Slalom, Passing through 'Gates' and a Penalty Shootout. Full instructions will be given before you start and organisers will be on hand to help you throughout the day.

There will also be a variety of Bouncy Castles, inflatable Sumo Suits, Lucky Dip Stall, Chipping (golf) Challenge Stall, Target Shooting (football). Bouncy castles are FREE and the three stalls will sell at 5 tries for 2 euro.

The shop will be open for tea, coffee, minerals etc., and we expect the Order of Malta to provide First Aid if required.

A sad end to our season with a heavy defeat

We started strongly in our last match of the season against Maynooth. We Zhudi and Niamh had several chances to score early on and it was looking like we were going to reverse our recent run of bad results.

Our defense was playing very strongly with Cathal in particular earning our man-of-the-match title. However, Maynooth managed to sneak in two lucky goals against he run of play just before half time.

Going behind seemed to affect our morale and we crumbled in the second half. Maynooth took full advantage and scored four more goals to end the match with a 6-0 victory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Away match against Dunshaughlin

Next Saturday (5th of April) we will have an away match against Dunshaughlin. Kick-off is at 11:30am, but since it is a fairly long trip, we should meet up at 10:30 beside the all weather pitch.

Knocked out of the cup by Maynooth on a miserable day

Although the weather was reasonably good on the morning of our match against Maynooth, the rain began to come down quite heavily as the time of the kick-off approached. The pitch was mucky before the match even started, but as the match progressed it got even muckier and it was clearly a day more suited to ducks than soccer players.

The match had hardly started when there was some messy play in the Castleknock goalmouth and Cathal accidentally handled the ball. Most referees would have given the player some leeway, but this referee immediately awarded a penalty to Maynooth. Maynooth scored the penalty and followed up with two more gaols so that they were 3-0 up at half time.

Castleknock were not willing to concede defeat and as the second half started they threw everything into attack to try and get back into the game. Zhudi, John and Niamh had plenty of chances to put the ball in the net, but it seemed that lady luck was not smiling on us today. Frank earned the man-of-the-match. title for his strong performance in defense combined with many attacking runs down the wing.

It seemed like it was only a matter of time until Castleknock got onto the score sheet,  but it was Maynooth  who slipped in another score against the run of play to go 4-0 up.

Most teams would have given up at this stage, but as the saying goes "when the going gets tough - the tough get going". Castleknock continued to attack strongly and we finally got our reward when  Omar sored our first goal with an excellent long range shot. The game came back to life when Demi followed up with another goal shortly afterwards.

However our rally came too late and the score was 4-2 to Maynooth when the final whistle blew. On the day I think it is fair to say that the better team won.

Sadly this is the end of our cup campaign. We will now have two weeks off due to St Patrick's day and the Easter Holidays. I am sure you will come back well rested  from the break to finish off the league campaign.

Cup match against Maynooth rescheduled for next Saturday

Our cup match against Maynooth which was called off last Saturday due to the rain, will now be held next Saturday 15th of March. Kick-off will be at 12:30pm, so we should all meet up in Porterstown by 12:15 at the latest.

Lets hope we can get our St Patrick's weekend celebrations off on a good note!

A 21st Birthday Party for Castleknock Celtic

The club are organizing a 21st birthday for the club. It will be held at 8pm on Saturday 19th of April in Castleknock Hotel. Tickets are 40 euro and include a buffet, Disco and late bar.
All parents are invited to come along and enjoy a great night out. For tickets contact Ainle Zambra at 087-9372611

A cup match against Maynooth

Our next match will be a home cup match against Maynooth. Kick-off is at 11:30am on Saturday 8th of March so we should all meet up at Porterstown by 11:15.

A tough battle ends in defeat to Grange Woodbine

We should have known that this was not going to be our lucky day when our captain Cathal lost the toss and we ended up playing into a very strong wind in first half.

The match was very open because the pitch was very wide and the gusting wind made the bounce of the ball very unpredictable. It was Grange Woodbine who opened the scoring with an early goal which left our goalkeeper for the day Omar with no chance.

Our luck began to get worse when John, who was having a great game in the forwards had to go off injured with a bad cut on his knee. He only spent a short time on the pitch, but it was enough to earn him our man-of-the-match title for the day.

After John went off, Castleknock did their best to get back into the game. One of their many shots was saved by Grange Woodbine and the ball bounced at Robert's feet. Robert's shot went over the line before the Grange Woodbine tried to scoop it out. Although the goal was already scored Zhudi was on hand to put it into the back of the net, just in case the referee didn't see the goal. This made the teams level 1-1 at half time.

We thought we would be in a strong position for the second half because we were now playing with the wind. However, Grange Woodbine had other ideas and one of their shots took a funny bounce due to the gusting wind and the ball curved around Omar to give them the lead 2-1. Shortly afterwards Omar hurt his ankle and had to go off injured, so it was just as well we had a full complement of subs ready.

Despite our best efforts we were not able to score an equalizer before the referee blew the final whistle after what seemed like less than 30 minutes. However the weather was beginning to turn nasty so everyone was more than happy to head for home.

Quarter Final Cup fixtures for 8th March

Next Saturday we will be playing our Quarter Final fixture in the Under 10 9-a-side Atlantic Homecare Cup.
It's unclear who we will be playing as there are two Castleknock Celtic teams through to this stage of the competition and the ndsl site has not made the distinction between the two.
Either tie will be tough one though, see below...

1. St. Ita's Portrane(C) vs. Castleknock Celtic(C or D?)
2. Dunshaughlin Youths(C1) vs. Woodlawn FC(C)
3. Castleknock Celtic(C or D?) vs. Maynooth Town(C)
4. Clontarf FC(C) vs. Dunshaughlin Youths(C)

It should be clear in the newspaper on Monday which match applies to us but for the moment, all we know is that it is either an away match against St. Ita's or a home match against Maynooth.
The winner of match 1 plays the winner of match 2 in the semi finals, and the winner of match 3 plays the winner of match 4, so I'm hoping we'll be travelling to Portrane on Saturday to play our match!!

Hard luck in your match today and see you at training on Monday, looks like we have a bit of work to do:)

Away match against Grange Woodbine

Our next match is an away match against Grange Woodbine. Kick-off will be at 11:15 am on Saturday 1st of March in Edenmore Crescent. This is a long trip and we don't know the way very well so we should all meet up at 10am beside the all-weather pitches.

If anyone knows directions to this pitch, I would much appreciate if you could tell us.

A great victory over Portrane

We were expecting a tough match against Portrane, but we were lucky that they were two players short.

John decided that he would like a change from playing in goals and as well as playing outfield he also acted as our captain for the day. Zhudi took over as our goalie and had a superb match which earned him the man-of-the-match title.

We got off to a great start when Nado scored an early goal which proved that his new bright orange boots were a good investment. We managed to hold on to our slender lead for the rest of the first half. Just as half-time was approaching, Nado made more good use of his new boots when he unleashed another great shot. Robert was standing in the goal mouth ready to help the shot on its way into the back of the net, but it seems that his help was not even needed.

Our lead was stretched even further in the middle of the second half when Demi dribbled almost the whole the length of the pitch before unleashing a scorcher of a shot into the back of the net. Both sides continued to play exciting football and in fact Castleknock had plenty of chances to extend their lead to 4-0 before Niamh was forced to pull out of the action due to a bleeding nose.

However, in the closing minutes of the game it was the Portrane number 10 who scored a well deserved goal to leave the final score at 3-1.

Another home match

Our next match is a home match against St Ita's Portrane who are the current league leaders. Kick-off is at 12:30pm on Saturday next (23rd of February) so we should all meet up at Porterstown by 12:15 at the latest.

A six goal thriller ends in a draw

It was a sunny spring morning as we prepared to take on Dunshaughlin, but we knew we were facing a tough match because they had a perfect record having won all of their previous matches.

We got off to an excellent start with Zhudi putting a rocket of a shot into the back of the net in the opening minutes of the match. Dunshaughlin had no intention of making things easy for us and they spoon pulled back level.

Both sides attacked for the rest of the first half and had several shots on goal. As the first half drew to a close Dunshaughlin had a shot on goal saved by John who managed to deflect the ball up onto the cross bar. The ball rebounded into the path of the Dunshaughlin forward who put it into the back of the next.

We went into the second half 2-1 down, but Demi did not take long to put us back on level terms with a brilliantly taken shot from the edge of the penalty box. Unfortunately Dunshaughlin quickly replied with a goal of their own to keep their slender lead.

For the rest of the match Castleknock were practically camped in the Dunshaughlin penalty box. However, their goalkeeper pulled of several great saves so that they maintained their lead as the game drew to a close.

There was an exciting final few minutes of the match which started when the ball seemed to cross the Dunshaughlin goal line following a corner. However the referee did not award the goal. Shortly afterwards Castleknock were awarded a penalty after a Dunshaughlin player handled the ball, but Demi's penalty kick was deflected wide by the Dunshaughlin goalie who was having a brilliant game.

It was beginning to look like Dunshaughlin were going to win against the run of play until Omar hit a rocket of a shot into the back of the net to put is back on level terms with only one minute of play left in the game.

It was very difficult to select a man-of-the-match when we had so many good performances. However, after much consideration we decided to give the award to Nado for his excellent performance both in attacking and defense.

Home match against Dunshaughlin

Our next match will be a home match against Dunshaughlin in Porterstown. Kick-off is at 10:45am next Saturday morning (16/Feb). Everyone should be there before 10:30 at the latest.

We have not played Dunshaughlin yet this season because our match before Christmas was called off. However, they are unbeaten so far this year so we will need to be in top form.

Closely fought match against Rivervalley ends in 2-1 victory

It was a lovely sunny spring day when we traveled to Swords to take on Rivervelley Rangers. Some of the team cars took a diversion to Finglas, but nevertheless we had a full team present for the kick-off.

Straight from the start it was clear that this was going to be a keenly contested match. Both sides were attacking strongly and David, Niamh and Zhudi all had great chances to open the scoring. However, it was Demi who finally put us in front. Rivervalley counter attacked but Frank, Dylan and Andy were rock solid in the Castleknock defense. John had to make a few good saves to ensure that we went into half-time with our slender lead intact.

After half time Rivervalley threw everything into attack in an effort to level the scores. However, our defense was able to control them - especially our man-of-the-match Andy Merriman. However, about half way through the second half they managed to score a lucky goal after a ball slipped between defenders before getting past John with an unfortunate bounce.

Castleknock were not disheartened and Nado and Robert teamed up well in mid-field to ensure that the remainder of the game was played in the Rivervalley half of the pitch. As the game was drawing to an end, Demi managed to score with a long range kick to give Castleknock a narrow victory.

Away match against RIvervalley

Our next match is an away match aqgainst Rivervalley Rangers. Kick-off is at 12 noon on Saturday next (9th of February). We will meet up at our usual spot beside the all-weather pitches at 11am.     

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An exciting match against Portrane ends level at 3-3

We new it was going to be a tough match when we traveled to Portrane to take on the top of the table team St. Ita's. The weather was looking grim with freezing cold and a biting wind. In fact we could almost have played ice-hockey because several of the puddles beside the pitch had frozen over.

St Ita's started out strongly and they missed several good chances when good goalkeeping by John was combined with a few lucky bounces off the woodwork. It was looking bad for Castleknock when St Ita's scored two excellent goals.

However, Castleknock had no intention of giving up. Our captain and man-of-the-match Demi made a great run down the middle of the pitch. His long range shot was helped into the back of the net by a clever flick from Zhudi. Shortly afterwards Demi went all the way and scored a goal himself to put the sides level. Just before half time Omar got his name on the scoresheet after lobbing a high ball over the Portrane's.

The score was 3-2 at half time, but we knew it would not be easy in the second half because we were playing into a strong wind. Indeed the second half was just underway when St. Ita's scored a goal to make it level scores again. Castleknock had several good chances toward the end of the game, but St Ita's had good luck and none went in. This left the final score at 3-3.

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Away match against Portrane

Our next match will be an away match against St Ita's of Portrane. Kick-off will be at 12:15 on Saturday 2nd of February. It is quite a trip to Portrane, so we will need to meet up beside the all-weather pitches at 11am.

Away match against Clontarf

Our next match is an away match against Clontarf on Saturday 26th of January. Kick-off is at 12:15 so we should meet up 11am beside the all-weather pitches.

UPDATE: This match was called off due to the pitch being unplayable.

Training restarts on Monday 14th of January

I hope you all had a nice Holiday break.

Just to clarify, there will be no training on Monday 7th of January. Training will restart on Monday 14th of January at our usual time of 6-7pm.

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