Terenure Rangers FC vs Castleknock Celtic FC

Sunday October 4th, KO 11.30

What a lovely autumn morning it was to be out playing soccer.  This week our teams played excellent football against Castleknock Celtic FC at home in Bushy Park.  With a later kick off of 11.30 our boys were refreshed after their lie in and raring to go.

The first match was a super squad of Finn O’Reilly, Cillian Noonan, Pierre Renault, Tom McClure and Alistair Morgan, Orhan Gomlek (straight from Communion Mass!!)

The game started with a fast pace from the off and we soon realised that Castleknock were a force to be reckoned with…. However, straight out of the blocks were Cillian and Finn with a lovely 1-2 which was deflected for a corner which was saved by the goalie.  There was a fierce attack by the Castleknock players but which was met by the solid wall of Finn, Tom and Orhan giving nothing away.  Next Pierre, who displayed a great work-rate, laid on the ball from midfield for Tom who finished it off with an amazing goal. However, celebrations were short lived as Castleknock got three goals in quick succession. But our team wasn’t to be beaten and following an excellent piece of play by Finn, Pierre fired in a cracking goal just on the half time whistle.

Drinks taken and Terenure Rangers were back on the case – again another clearance from Finn saw Alistair being unlucky with his shot being saved from the Castleknock goalie.  Back up the field and next we had a huge save from Orhran in goals, followed by another amazing diving save from our super goalie!! (it must have been the help of all the prayers at mass!)  Alistair then closed the score line running in and snatching a goal from the rebound.  There was a period of lovely play by Pierre and Cillian in the midfield and only for the on form Castleknock goalie, the score line would have been a lot different, with a number of nice left footed shots from Cillian and Alistair constantly knocking on the door. However, all was not over – the backline kept their cool as what seemed like the entire Castleknock team attacked…. Both Finn and Tom dealt with this attack efficiently and with great composure.  All in all a fantastic team performance with lovely football by all.

Our other team was made up of Donnchadh Long, Solomon Gouldson, Ben Sheahan, Thomas Curran, Henry Morgan and Liam McClure with super sub Mark Power joining in later in the game.

Straight out of the blocks, this team had a great attacking start with a well worked free kick.  Following some nice play from the midfield of Liam and Donnchadh, Thomas let rip with a lovely corner which went right into the top left hand corner of the goal.  However, Castleknock answered our goal with a nicely worked goal from their back line.  Not to be outdone, Donnchadh whizzed up the right wing and earned another lovely goal for Terenure.

Back down the other end, Solomon bravely put his body on the line to block a shot on Target from Castleknock.  Some nice midfield play from Thomas and Donnachadh resulted in a free which was taken by Thomas but intercepted by Castleknock who attacked at speed but Ben confidently made a very important block to put the ball out for a corner, which in turn was saved by Henry’s fingertips.  From Henry’s kickout, Thomas made a very impressive run up the left wing and was very unlucky as his shot crashed off the post.  Thomas took a corner almost immediately which again was almost magnetically attracted to that post again.  However, Thomas need not have been too upset as shortly afterward, Ben placed a long range kick from the Terenure half right to Thomas’s feet who controlled the ball with great skill and was rewarded with a goal in the top right.

With Liam now in goals there was some lovely control again by Donnchadh in the mid who played some lovely football with Henry, both of whom were very unlucky a number of times due to the fact that the Castleknock goalie was excellent and kept them in the game.  Then on comes super sub Mark, who cleaned up at the back for a period of time with Liam making a very important save by just reaching the ball with his toe for a great save.  Thomas and Donnchadh continued to dominate the midfield with lovely control but were met with tough opposition by some very opposing Castleknock midfielders. Following some excellent play by Mark, the ball was put through the centre for Solomon who finished off with a cool and accurate goal! Back down the pitch, Mark puts in a spectacular diving header to clear the ball off the back line from a Castleknock free. Finally, we saw Ben make a blinding run down the full length of the pitch and lay off a lovely cross to Donnchadh who again was denied by the Castleknock goalie.