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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