U11 Teams Match Reports

U11 Blue Team Match Report 12th August – Home game vs Austin Stacks

We welcomed Austin Stacks to Ballymac for Round 4 of the u11 County Football Go Games, on Thursday 12^th August.

We lined out without two of our key players, Daniel and Adrian who were on well deserved holidays.

The last time we faced Stacks they played with a full strength A team consisting of the best u10s and u11s.

This time around the mixed both their teams.  Our boys started very well, with Tadhg scoring 1-1 in the first few minutes , thanks to a lovely assist from Ciarán.

Meanwhile, Harvey Leen was everywhere in the full back line and cleared everything that came his way. He was ably assisted by Gearoid Joy, Diarmuid Trant and Gearoid O’Connor.

Tadhg chipped in with an outstanding point from the sideline, like Maurice Fitzgerald all those years ago, before Ciarán added a goal of his own.

Ballymac were dominant in this period and before the water break Gearoid O’Connor added another goal that was superbly finished and Tadhg added another goal.  Tadhg has been in superb scoring form in the last few games.

Stacks had only managed to score 2 pts at this stage, to Ballymacs 4-3.

Stacks made wholesale changes to their team at the water break bringing over the stronger players from the Gold team game and they began to dominate possession after the water break.

The very impressive Danny Lane moved in the forwards and scored 3 goals in quick succession, with some sublime play.  Stacks added a number of points to give them the lead at half-time.

Our boys legs were starting to tire, having had 3 great days at the Ballymac Summercamp and we again had no subs bench to call on to rest players.

However, all the boys battled to the end and never stopped working for each other.  Eric Quirke was superb in a variety of positions and had the beating of their talisman when he marked him early in the game.  Diarmuid Trant stuck his man like glue and won numerous balls throughout the game.  Gearoid Joy, playing with an injured arm, put in another storming performance. This guy is as hard as nails and has one of the finest kicks around.  Patrick Leen was a constant threat and made clever runs for balls all throughout the game. Jack Lynch had to come off injured near the end of the game but had put in a great showing making some great saves.  Jamie Harrington deputised for Jack in goals and didn’t put a foot wrong with some excellent kickouts. This was Jamie’s first game playing in the backs and he was a natural in the position.  Evan Horgan again, like all his team mates worked from start to finish.

Eventhough in the end we were outscored by Stacks, for me this was their most impressive performance to date because even with the odds stacked against them, with tired legs, missing key players, no subs and playing a Stacks A team for three quarters of the game, they never stopped working. When the chips are down this team comes out fighting and that bodes very well for this great bunch of boys.

Thanks to Niall Collins, who was excellent as referee on the night and kept the game flowing.

U11 Teams

Ballymac U11 Boys Blue Team Match Report

2^nd Game Phase 1 County Football Go Games 17^th June

Our boys travelled to J.P Sullivan Park to play Laune Rangers on Thursday evening.

Conditions again were ideal for football with our boys playing into a breeze in the first half.

Laune Rangers started strongly aided by the breeze and notched up the first few scores and could have scored more only for some valiant defending by the likes of Eric Quirke, Gearoid Joy and in particular Harvey Leen who put in a storming performance at full back.  Jack Lynch in goals pulled of a string of saves throughout the game and his kickouts were impressive all night.

Adrian O’Connor covered every blade of grass in the first half, putting in a massive shift at midfield, ably assisted by Gearoid O’Connor and they both got some lovely passes into our forwards.

Patrick Leen had a shot saved and for the second game in a row, his partner up front, Tadhg O’Connor was on hand to finish the ball to the net. The first half finished with two wonderful points from play from Adrian O’Connor who had run himself to a standstill by halftime.   Our boys had by now overcome the slow start and were starting to dictate the game.

We have been using these games to give players opportunities to play in a variety of positions and we made a few changes at half time. Once such change saw Eric Quirke move to half forward and he took to the position like a duck to water, rattling off 3 quick points from play in the first 5 minutes. Others to excel in changed positions were Ciarán Brosnan and Gearoid O’Connor at half back.  The work rate and hunger displayed by all our players in the second half was a sight to behold. They dominated the second half and deservedly won the game on the night.  This team is showing real progress over the last few weeks and we look forward to our next game away to Kilcummin next Thursday.

Match Report Ballymac U11 Gold Team

Ballymac gold team travelled to Killorglin to play Laune Rangers in the second round of the County Go Games.  It was a brilliant evening for a game with just a slight breeze blowing across the pitch.

We had a full panel to pick from again and we knew that we would need to call on all of them during the game.

The game started at blistering pace with both defences on top with David Fealy and Rory O’ Connor to the fore with great tackles and block downs.

All the lads continued from last week’s game with their great work rate and honesty. Both teams were finding scores hard to come by but eventually Jack Hobbert stepped up with the first score of the game after he gathered a long pass from Flynn Boyle and popped it over the bar. This which was closely followed by two goals for Ballymac, the first by Darragh Lyons and the second by Finn Hannah. Even with a strong breeze blowing against us we played some fabulous long range foot passes which we used to great effect which our forwards used time and again to start attack after attack.

Finn Hannah scored a cracking goal to start the second half started again by great team work from our backs to get the ball cleared. Our forwards again were not to be over shadowed by the backs with some savage work rate continued from last week’s game with great work by Aidan O Connor, Jack Stack and Keelan Burke. Overall, it was a brilliant team performance with no weak links anywhere. We roll on to Kilcummin next Thursday night away.  Hopefully we can continue our great form. Once again, a special thanks to our great support that travelled last Thursday night.

Ballymac Abú!.

On Wednesday evening our under 11 played Milltown in the first round of Gavin White/ Adrian Spillane Group phase 1 in there Go Games Division 1  in Ballymac.Thankfully the rain  stayed away  and with just a breeze coming from Bradley’s end  the two teams took to the field. The two teams had met last year which turned out to be a close game and Thurdsdays Nights was no different.