15/05 - Rush 2:2 Malahide United

CHAMP-I-O-NÉS...CHAMP-I-O-NÉS

A phonecall to the Rush secretary about 1.00 - just to check if the match was still on as a result of the deluge. "Come on out" he says and it was a good call as it turned out to be a glorious evening at around the KO of 6.45, as you can from the following photo's................

The first quarter started at a ferocious pace but the first goal came in Q2 with Sean and Arran in a build up finishing with Jess's shot in the back of the net. The equaliser came a few moments later with a speculative Konchesky type lob from about 25m out which Sam could only get his fingers to. Still we had shots from all angles including a triple barrage from Eoin, Paul and Arran that nearly knocked out the Rush keeper! Cue the distant sound of thunder and a deluge! Now check these photo's.....

(yes there is a keeper there!!)

A Rush free kick in Q3 in near rain blinding conditions saw another 25m long range effort hit the back of the net. There was one very upset person on the pitch who thought that we had blown the league. But these guys dont give up. Robert got his wish and was taken out of defence and put out on the right. Off he went, a couple of more shots at goal in atrocious conditions. But guess what! He knocked in the equaliser from about 5m out. The ref blew a few minutes later but it was still stay in the rain time, as the manager had a something to say.

The rain did not matter anymore, I mean how wet can you get? When you are wet - does it matter when your league champions? Des and I had brought the goodie bags, the parents were soaked but the rain only made it better! True footballers and heroes!

My only regret - the stupid camera had run out of batteries and I missed snapping the entire squad diving and sliding through the drowned grasslands of St Catherines Park, Rush!

Paul

03/05 A Tale of Two Halves – Our Season so far with 2 Matches to Go!

Our season breaks neatly into two halves, the first half when we were U9C and the second when we became U9C2. Both halves can be summed as follows: -

The Greek Goddess of Goals did not favour us – then she did!
Under pressure – then pressurising!
Our busy Defence – then our busy Attack!
Some Heartbreak – then lots of joy!

The First Half – U9C

In the first half of the season we played 10 matches. There were 3 pre-season friendlies, 4 league and 3 cup matches with a performance of W 2 D 1 L 7 with goals F 7 A 22, but as is the story with statistics, they sometimes lie. They do not tell the full story.

“Our busy defence” – consisted 90% of the time of Liam, Rob and Sam. They were ably substituted by Daniel, Alex and Paul – with Sean nipping in behind when required. The good thing about being constantly in the game is that it gives you a lot of experience, Liam Rob and Sam evolved into a very experienced back line because of the amount of time they had defending our goal throughout those various onslaughts. We worked hard in training with either Liam or Rob keeping a central defending role in order to cut out any goals from an opponent lurking around in front of Sam’s goal.

As for Sam – he got by with a couple of cuts and bruises but I’ll never know how he wasn’t damaged more with those keeper charges off his line. The image of him taking out the ball along with 2 Glebe attackers at the edge of the box in Gannon Park will always stick in my mind. He had so many great saves but his “keeper hat” save against Kevin Craven’s U8 DDSL and the penalty save against Santos were 2 of the many best. Our worst defeat was 4:1 against Glebe North in Gannon Park - the last 2 coming in the last 5 minutes. A lot of other teams in other leagues have been thumped this season; we were not one of them!

Towards the end of last season Des and I decided to play our squad in positions. We enhanced this process this year by deciding where they best played in order to limit the number of different positions they would play in a single match. We spent some time at training getting them to play in and to cover positions! Sam was easy – he offered to stay in goal at all times, sometimes he wanted to come out but his manager (against most rules) had to persuade him to stay in. Rob and Liam stayed in defence and grasped the concept of positioning. When one of them launched an attack from the back, the other moved over to cover the gap. Our midfield also understood and also covered the attacking defender! It didn’t stop there, once our attacking defender released the ball, it was sprint back to their position. Yet again shouts of “Well Done Liam” and “Well Done Rob” came from the line all season.

Paul Devaney scored our first goal of the season and with more goals to come, little did we know that he would become our leading goal scorer for most of the season. More about this guy in the second half!

The Second Half – U9C2

So far we have played 8 matches in the league with a performance of W 7 D 0 L 1 with goals F 24 A 8, These set of stats tell a different story. The Greek Goddess of Goals used to never favour us – now she does, as you can see from the U9C2 hi-tech internal computerised goal scoring stat table generator below: -

Note: The two that have not scored have stopped as many goals as we have scored!

Our midfield dominated nearly every match and at times we had up to three going forward for goal having broken through the opposing defence. Not only did our wingers Jess, Arran, Daniel and Eoin score from play but also made goals from pinpoint crosses. Another team member always made it into the box and was prepared for the cross – whether it came or not! Jess, Sean and Alex nearly always played together in training and what they did in training worked its way into the match. The passing, ball control, dummying, skill, possession and positional play were U9A stuff at times. Even one of the refs pointed this out on one occasion! The whole area of passing is highlighted when we see that there were 21 goal scoring assists (see table at the bottom of this page). One of Jess’s best goals came at the end of spectacular move that involved Alex and Sean after midfield run from Arran.

Some of our other jaw dropping goals deserve a few words: -

• Eoin’s narrow angled thumping left kick from 5m out from the sideline!
• Paul’s solo run winner against Kilbarrack, being forced out right of the goal but managed the pull the shot back and thump it in.
• Both of Arran’s goals from pinpoint goalmouth positioning
• Daniel’s winning sliding goal against Kinsealy.
• Sean’s LEFT footed lob winner in the top of the table clash against Rush
• Alex getting on the end of an Eoin corner to score the equaliser in the top of the table clash against Rush. Nice goal and a crucial one – but 10 minutes earlier he came off injured with a bad double stud cut that had to be disinfected and bandaged, hobbled around in defence, moved forward and then scored the winner.

Another stat (see table at the bottom of this page) that reflects how well we did in 9C2 is that we had 93 shots at goal - most in this half of the season! Our heavy hitters Daniel, Eoin and Jess had the ball screaming from all angles towards the goal. I think Daniel’s crack that rattled the upright had the goal vibrating into the match after us and this was only 30 seconds into our match.

There were also some key positional switches that worked brilliantly. Arran moved out to the right wing and Paul moved into the defence – both for the first time and had no problems adapting to their new roles. Inspirational changes by the manager!

Let’s not forget that when our midfield and attack were doing the business our defence did not get off too lightly. Sam still saved us at times, noticeably when we were 0:0 at Baldoyle with a superb dive in the Q2 and against Kibarrack at home, also in Q2. We were 2:0 up but Q2 was back to the onslaught days of almost being under pressure for the entire Q. As for that Rush match at home both Rob and Liam soaked up the pressure and were outstanding.

Finally, the one thing that I really like about our team is the manner in which they play on the pitch and I don’t mean from a tactical or skill perspective. They may dig at each other and cause a little grief in training but never ever on the pitch. They may mess during training and before a match but never during one. We have all seen and heard strange things coming from some of our opponents on the pitch and from the other sideline, but never from our guys (apart from the manager being told to get off the pitch). There have been one or two howlers during the season but nobody has ever criticised another – in fact I have heard consolation and/or encouragement. We have trained to be strong, tough and more physical and have played in this manner but have never played dirty. I recall one incident when we were penalised but our lad shook the others hand immediately after. Then there were always the handshakes all round after the match – win, loose or draw!

They have a lot more to learn about as they grow older, but at the age of 9 and 10, our guys are already there - as skilful and honest footballers.

29/04 - Malahide United 2:1 Rush Athletic

After an incredible run of 5 league wins, the Top of Table showdown took place on Pitch 2 in the Castle. With a great training session last night and some awesome displays over the last few weeks, we were ready for Rush today - or so we thought! Rush showed why they are at the top also.

A gruelling Q1 got under way and nearly saw Liam put one away after a fantastic run down the right, but in Q2 a thundering stike from the Rush forward was too hard for even Sam "Lehman" to handle. 1:0 to the visitors. The heads did not go down and if anything we upped our pace. However it looked scary for a while as Alex had to come off to get two stud cuts cleaned and bandaged. It still didn't look good as he limped around in Q3. But like all great footballers the pain was forgotten as he got to the end of another thumping Eoin corner to push the ball home 1:1! In fact he wove his way through the Rush defence a number of times with that damaged leg.

We had a string of near misses throughout the match with our wingers pumping the ball into the box or had a go themselves. Jess twisted, turned, cut inside, outside screamed down the left and almost put one away while Daniel and were doing the same on the other side as they both owned the right hand side of the pitch. Arran put a number passes through and alomost replicated his goal from our Monday Night football match the other night. Paul played striker in the Q1 and got to the end of a great cross but was so close. We had a number of near misses throughout the match. There were 3 or 4 close ones that would have gone in on another day. Eoin had a great free that just ripped over the crossbar.

Sam had not much to do, but it wasn't from the lack of Rush attacks but for those two guys in front of him. Rob asked me could he go out on the right for some of the match and I said that the team, Des and I needed him at the back for this match - and did we need him! The stats show that he personally terminated 6 onslaughts and we all saw that he owned our third of the pitch today. This didn't stop from going forward for corners or taking free kicks. A well deserved Player of the Match!

As you can see from the above bunch of bunny eared footballers, we played "inside out" due a color clash and fortunately for us we just about managed to turn Rush inside out in the last 2 minutes. Another attack by Malahide with Alex and Daniel on the right and somehow the ball ended up at Seans left foot. This left foot lobbed the keeper 2:1 to Malahide. The last few moments were played at a great pace by both sides but eventually referee Brendan Short blew his whistle. Sean was on the mobile to his dad within seconds of the final whistle!

A great game and a step nearer the league title but with another game to Rush and then Kinsealy starting to pile it on - it'll be close!! The table (below) looks good at the moment but there are still a lot of matches to be played in the U9C2. The table is as of 29/04 with the Kinsealy 8:0 Ladyswell match not yet updated. Remind me agin....who did we loose to?

Better not mention the visits to Beaumont A & E, local heart surgeons and Stress Councillors for the manager.

Paul.

03/04 - Malahide United 3:1 Kinsealy

Sam Furey

Great goalkeeper that does not stay on the line, dives at attackers feet (that big red haired lad is still crying as he came off worse on a 1-to-1 with Sam), charges the opposition and shuts down their chances to score. Kept us in the games last season with some brilliant saves against the continuous bombardment from Howth Celtic, St Mochtas and Swords Manor 19/2/05. He is to making his presence felt as a fighting left winger - that loves to shoot at goal. Lets hope that when he scores this season he won't want to desert his keeper role! Forms a part of our impressive defensive "F" line. Stayed in goal in a couple of matches last season - when he really wanted to play out, kept the scores down in both cases!

Liam Finn

Our player of the season from U7 White. Superb defender that rarely lets anything get past him. Stays in position and when the opposition make a break and Liam is in the way - we can all relax as Liam will be there stop them! As with the last 2 seasons, one of the most common shouts from the touch line is "Well done Liam!". Liam is also starting to move forward to have a pop at goal and at the same time shows his intelligence by knowing he has to leg it back to his right back position to cover the gap he had made in defence. The second member of our "F" line. Work very well with Rob by covering a centre back position that does not exist in 7-a-side.

Sean Finn

Started last season by scoring a hat-trick in a pre season friendly (he also thumped the crossbar and narrowly missed a 5th)! Dynamic and intelligent mover with the ball. Can play in all positions including goal - in fact he is now our number 2 keeper, as Dylan has now left us. Sean both scores and makes goals. Strong, fast and can cover the defence when playing midfield. Runs for miles and miles. He proved his match intelligence during first our away win against Skerries Town last season. They came forward in numbers, swamped our defence but Sean saw what was happening, ran in behind our defence, won the ball and launched a Malahide attack! The third (and part time) member of our defensive "F" line.

Rob Whelan

Skilful running attacking midfielder/defender that scores goals. He is famous for his very long runs and powerful shots at goal. His passing is very accurate and loves to beat the opposing players. He scored our first goal of last seasons in a pre-season friendly ensuring our first victory. However as the season progressed and when we needed our defence to work harder, Robert transformed into an excellent defender. Can read the game intelligently and can tackle quick and slick. Another all rounder in our team that can play in any position. Shouts of "Well done Rob" are now coming from the touch line.

Alex Doherty

Wonderful stylish player that also plays great football. Another U8D player who can score and save goals. He is well known for the very skilful dummies that he sells to the opposition. Last season he scored in both of our 1st round cup matches against Dunshaughlin, Skerries in Gannon Park and has nearly had a handful more in a lot more matches. Can play midfield, attack and defence but excels as a midfield goal scorer. A very hard and intelligent worker that can cover the entire park when playing.

Paul Devaney

Great midfield/striker that fights for the ball and passes accurately. He has fantastic drive and energy and never gives up running and is never afraid to fight for the ball. Scorer of a brilliant goal against Skerries (which also cost his dad a few bob) last season and nearly got a second in the same match. Has just narrowly missed scoring a handful of goals in various matches, namely that rain soaked mad wind driven day out in Swords Manor. Finished last season with 3 goals.

Daniel Murray

"Impressive debut" said the newspaper after his first match in U7 White and there's no fuss with our Daniel, he gets stuck in - hard! An attacking midfielder and crunching defender that also launches attacks on the opposing goal. Scored a thumper of a goal against Skerries last season and narrowly missed a couple of goals after two very powerful and fast attacks against St Mochtas. A great midfield general with a powerful boot.

Arran Harte

Another mighty midfield/striker who runs and runs and runs. When he is not running he is stopping the opposition and winning the ball. A great tough player who finished our U7 White season with our last goal in our last game. Has one of the best touches of the ball and demonstrated against St. Mochtas last season how he could control a match. Arran has had his share of near misses. He had the unique double last season of being captain and winning Player of the Match in the same game against Swords Manor on the all weather in Gannon Park.

Eoin Daly

Not a bad first game for Eoin during our U7 White season, scored 3 goals! Has a very powerful left foot and takes most of our corners and free kicks. Scored a brilliant goal and also hit the post with a great free kick against St McCullins last season. A very stong and tall player. He will score again this season because he thinks that, he says that - so he will! A great attitude to have.

Jessie Corr

Just before our first match of last season, the opposing manager asked "is that girl still playing for you?", I said "No", he said "Great!". She tormented the DWSL U10 league all summer by scoring a bucketful of goals, played last season in the DDSL - but guess what NDSL - "SHE'S BACK!" No expense (or trick/bribe) was spared in securing Jessies signature and why? (a) We had a problem scoring goals last season and (b) Jessie is going to be big in Malahide United football for a long time to come. Its great to have Jessie back with us.