Park u11 A 11 – 2 Tralee Dynamos A
It was an early start on Saturday morning for the return fixture against our near neighbours Tralee Dynamos. The weather fitted really well with our last game before the Christmas break with frost in the air and on the ground. The conditions underfoot were going to be a little heavy and the management were interested to see how the boys passing game would cope.
The game started at a frantic pace with the ball moving quickly from one end of the field to the other with neither team seeming to hold the upper hand in the early exchanges. Shots on goal were few and far between with our defence of Sean, Edward, Jack and Ben marshaling really well in front of Cian in goals. It wasn’t too long however before our midfield of Fionan, David and Conor started to create the opportunities to play to ball into dangerous positions and we started to create some scoring chances. The first of these chances converted was finished really well by Fionan following some good work earlier by the birthday boy Adam who was working the line really well up front. The score was no more that the team deserved and it seemed to settle everyone down. Michael, making his ‘A’ team debut came on to great effect in defence after Ben picked up a slight knock in a committed challenge. As always we try to utilise the bench and at this point in the half with Fiachra (another debutant) coming in to defence, Danny, Josh and Cianan came in to midfield with Colin and Cillian coming in to lead the line. The team began to get rewards for some lovely one and two touch football. Colin picked up his first of the afternoon with a close in finish after good work from the midfielders and soon after had his second with a finish to the corner. At this point we were creating lots of chances by getting heads up and always playing the ball to the player in the better position. A great team move culminated with Cianan finishing expertly from the edge of the box to make it 4-0 to the Park and not long after Colin finished for his third and the teams fifth. Before the finish of the half some good work by Dynamos gave them the opportunity that their play at times in the first half deserved. They finished the move well to Cian’s goal.
After the half-time team talk the challenge for the boys was to see if they could play possession football for the second-half against a still determined Dynamo’s side. In the second half players were also being asked to play in positions that wouldn’t be considered their normal position to give them an understanding of the overall game. Liam replaced Cian in goals for the second half. At times our shape suffered as players adapted to their new positions but we learned a lot from the exercise as we now know that we have attackers who are equally adept in defence and defenders who look impressive when moved into midfield. Even though a little experimental the boys still managed to create lots of chances and scored further goals with Cillian scoring, Cianan and Adam getting their second of the day and Colin capping off a great team performance when he added another two to his tally.
It must be said that Tralee Dynamos continued to put in a great effort right to the very end and scored an excellent second goal. They have some really good players and in particular their goalkeeper again put in an excellent performance on the day.
Since we started training in July this group of players have been completely committed to training and their attitude has been excellent. This has shown in the performances on the pitch and the results that have followed. From the management, it has been a pleasure to work with these boys and we look forward to starting again in the new year. We wish the boys, their parents and families a great Christmas.