April 15th:
Our junior football team have played two matches in the Fingal League so far. Both of these have been home games in Innisfails GAA club. Our first match was against Thornleigh ETNS. We started the first half well and thanks to points from Dillon and Taylor we led at half time. We began the second half a little slower and Thornleigh managed to get a goal and a couple of points on us. However a great goal from Dillon brought us back into the game. We battled hard, especially in the backs where John and Sadbh blocked and tackled really well. Our opponents were just that little bit too strong for us and although Cillian got a point towards the end, we came up just short.
Our second match was against Gaelscoil Ros Eo. Once again we started strongly and Daniel A got a goal, followed by a point from Cillian. We were working really hard to stop the opposition, and Cathal and Daniella were putting great pressure on. Dillon got a couple of nice points and we were playing some lovely football, putting passes together and moving the ball up the pitch. Unfortunately just before half time, despite some great defending and two superb saves from Trystan, we gave away two goals. This put us in a difficult situation at half time. Even though we made a good few changes at half time, our effort never dropped and players like Caitlin and Niamh put in excellent performances. Ros Eo had a few big, strong players in the middle of the pitch and as we got tired, they were able to get scores a little easier. Despite this, we never gave up and Dillon scored a lovely point, while Niamh had a great shot which fell just short.
Our goalkeeper, Trystan, has to get a mention, as he made a huge amount of saves throughout the game. Even the parents from the other school were impressed, and one of them even commented afterwards to me that he could end up playing for Dublin one day!
So far, even results have not gone our way, we are really pleased with how hard everyone is working and with the football we are playing. We will continue to train on Mondays after school and if we keep working hard, we know that the results will come.
