U-12 boys top division one
The U-12 Boys football team brought the first half of their season to a successful close with two good wins leaving them undefeated at the top of the table in Division One South Dublin. Midweek they comprehensively beat Round Towers of Clondalkin with a great performance, where all the hard work they put into training over the year came together.
After a nervous start Clanns broke free and scored three quick points with excellent passing play. Thereafter they settled down and played their best football of the year, showing great movement, anticipation and team work. Their shooting was excellent and the number of wides was minimal. It was a most convincing performance over close rivals. All the boys played superbly with Karl Morgan and Rory Tobin putting in performances of note. In addition, the defence remained fully committed despite the winning margin with Colm Kirby O’ Briain marshalling the full back line.
Clanna Gael Fontenoy 9-13 Round Towers 2-2
U-12 footballers rising to the occasion
The following weekend the squad travelled to play St. Judes and recorded another convincing victory. The opportunity was taken to experiment with some of the boys playing out of position. As a result, the match was a bit disjointed but Clanns still proved to be too strong for the opposition.
Ross Hanley and Aaron Lynch had great matches. In addition Jamison Rames had a superb performance up front on his last match for Clanns before his return to the USA where we wish him the best of luck! Thanks to all the boys, mentors and parents for a great start to the season. Here is hoping the boys will keep their skills sharp over the summer so that we can close out a historic League campaign.
St Judes 1-5 Clanna Gael Fontenoy 6-8
U-13 girls win out in thrilling encounter
The last match of the season was played in Skerries Harps Ballast Pit grounds and it was one of the best games seen all year. After losing the preceding fixture to St Maurs a win was necessary to be sure of the team’s place in Division Two and of keeping spirits up heading into the summer. The match was played on a full sized pitch in an amphitheatre-style venue – perfect for the game that was about to be played.
Almost immediately after the start Skerries put a goal past a valiant Laura Ferry. But Clanns responded well, were the better team in the first half and were unlucky to be a point behind at half time. The second half saw a tremendous response from the team that eventually broke the Skerries defence with goals from Orla Flanagan, Ellen O’Byrne and Maria O’Dea. Niamh Shaw, back from the Gaeltacht, grabbed another goal and, even though the Skerries girls responded with a number of their own, Clanns kept ramping up the scores – over and under the bar. In the final minutes a controversial penalty for Skerries came back off the crossbar and was cleared, only for Skerries to be awarded yet another penalty for overly exuberant defending. But this still proved too late for the hosts and Clanns ran out deserving winners. Everyone on the pitch played their hearts out, Laura in Goal, Mary, Grace Kate, Ella, Batsheba and Aoibhe in defence, Maria and Niamh in midfield, and Sally, Orla Naoimi, Leah, Emma and Ellen in attack. Special thanks to Aoibhe Walsh, Naoimi Lane and Laura Ferry from the U-12 team who made all the difference.
Skerries Harps 5-7 Clanna Gael Fontenoy 6-9
A well-earned rest for the U-13s
Consistently good form displayed by U-16s
This match away to St Maurs was the lads’ first game back after a long exam break and their championship final win. The first ten minutes was a tight affair during which Clanns managed two points from Tom G and Ross. St Maurs were short a few players and it soon began to show in the middle period of the first half during which Clanns scored a goal and six points – Dean T (both feet), Ross , Eric R , Aaron M (Monty) and Tom G (goal). Clanns had already beaten St Maurs in the league and were in confident mood as a result. Despite a very strong half-time lead, the lads
remained relentless throughout the second half, scoring a further three goals and six points – with some great scores from Sean, Dylan, Figo, Sean R and Theo. A big thank you to Ricky (Intermediate footballers) for taking the Monday evening training session.
St Maurs 0-1 Clanna Gael Fontenoy 4-18
And the winning form was to continue a matter of days later in a home fixture against Skerries Harps. While Clanns had a squad of 18 players, the visitors could only field 14. We started strongly, scoring four points in the first ten minutes (Tom G, Tomo and Dean T), added to by points from Monty and Dean. Though Skerries had a purple patch to score a goal and four points in the last ten minutes of the first half, a further two goals from Gary and Aaron left Clanns with a comfortable half-time lead of 2-8 to 1-4. However, the second half was a much tighter affair with the teams trading scores for much of the time. Ten minutes remaining and the Clanns lead was down to a single point, only for Dylan to score a clever goal which helped secure victory. Hopefully the team can take maximum points from the two league games left before another break for the summer.
Clanna Gael Fontenoy 3g-10pts Skerries Harps 2g 9pts
Winning run comes to an end
While the U-13 footballers can take heart in the fact that they still top their Division table, the manner of this first defeat of the season as much as the defeat itself is a source of disappointment. Travelling away to play Na Fianna, the squad was short quite a number of its regular players who were away in the Gaeltacht. Despite the best efforts of the fairly strong team of players that took to the pitch, Clanns couldn’t do enough to stop the strong attacks mounted by a skilful opposition whose forwards racked up a series of scores without reply during the second half in particular. Rohan van den Akker and Rory O’Kennedy worked tirelessly in midfield for Clanns while Ciaran Hendrick showed well for the ball up front and converted some fine scores, ably supported by Harry Murless. The teams’s defensive duties were well served in particular by the work rate of both goal keepers – Evan Downey in the first half and Shane Gallagher in the second. Na Fianna ran out comfortable winners in the end. The squad will now seek to regroup for one further fixture against Fingal Ravens before breaking for a well-earned summer rest.
U-9s do themselves proud in both codes
On a wet and windy Saturday a depleted hurling team faced Lucan Sarsfield. The eight lads, Eoin, Francis, Alec, Padraig, Senan T., Ethan, Emmett and Adam acquitted themselves well against a physical and skilful home side. In the first half Clanns matched their opponents equally in ground hurling, marking well and contesting every ball. Eoin got a great point from a puck out as it bounced over the bar. However, Lucan pulled ahead when air hurling came into play. They were slick at picking the ball up and sent many balls into our goal area where Emmett made some fantastic saves and cleared our lines on many occasions. But Clanns held on and were only a goal and one skill point adrift at half time. Emmett opened the second half with a fine point and for a while good defending from Adam and Alec and some powerful forays by Ethan into their half typified the Clanns play. But then our grip on the game began to slip away as our marking got sloppy and Lucan took three points from easily conceded possession. The lads battled on and Eoin never gave up. While Clanns lost this game in the end, our players are clearly making great progress in terms of skills and spirit as on the last occasion they were well beaten by this same opposition.
The lads turned out in numbers for the football blitz organised by Geraldine Morans. One team made up of Eoin, Tomas, Jonathan, Francis, Adam, Senan H, Davitt, Sam and Daragh S opened with a draw against the first Geraldine Moran side. It was a physical contest and Eoin and Francis were good breaking through with possession to get two good points. In the game against Kilmacud Crokes the lads were a point behind at half time but dominated the second half with some tight marking and a crucial well taken-point by Adam. Clanns won their other game in a convincing fashion. Tomas was crucial on the day with fine defensive work, Senan got some brave blocks and Jonathan battled consistently for every ball. Sam made some good saves and cleared his lines while Daragh marked tightly and nearly got a goal. The other team made up of Alec, Hugh, Ethan, Emmett, Aidan, Sam, Matthew, Reece and Finn fared equally well. They narrowly conceded the first game after dominating the first half. They were successful in both games against Geraldine Morans. Emmett and Ethan dominated aerial play in all games and took some good scores under pressure. Aidan and Matthew were dominant up front and both created and took good scores. Alec, Hugh and Reece were tireless in defence and Finn did some good running off the ball. It was a fun day out and a fitting end to the football season – with medals collected to boot!
No shortage of passion and skill with the U-10 boys
Saturday 22nd June saw the boys travel to Bohernabreena to play St Annes in two terrific games of hurling. Both teams recorded good wins, the first team by 10 points and the second team by 13 points – a great warm up for the Naomh Olafs blitz the following day. The club was invited to send two teams which meant we needed to call on some of the U-9 players. The tournament started with hurling, then a football match, followed by hurling again and then a final.
Football is pure enjoyment – at least for this group of U-10s
The second team played Olafs in their first match, losing in the hurling, but then coming back to win their next two matches against Castleknock and Round Towers. They were unfortunate to lose their final by just one point, but everyone on the team played exceptionally well, and in particular the four U9s. The first team started off with a hurling match against Olafs and in a tough physical game were deserved winners. The football match against Kilmacud Crokes 1 was affected by the wind and Clanns were well beaten; and they lost to Castleknock in their second hurling match. The final then was football against yet another Kilmacud Crokes team in a game that went down to the wire, with real passionate play on both sides until Clanns won out by just two points. Great credit is due to Naomh Olafs for such a well-organised event – it was a great morning. And well done to the 17 boys who turned out, they were a credit to the club, playing with determination, passion, fairness and skill in both football and hurling. They are really shaping up to be a team to be reckoned with in both codes.
U-8s battle the elements and the opposition
For various reasons Kilmacud Crokes were unable to field two football teams in their recent visit to Sean Moore Park and Clanns duly obliged in providing them with a number of players in order to make up the numbers for two matches. All games went well and it was apparent that the skills training over recent weeks was paying dividends. In particular there was some outstanding defensive work by Mike Glennon, Finn Burke, James Power and Joseph Henchion. The squad also welcomed a new player, Michael O Brien, a fellow student of Jack, Conor and Cillian in St. Matthews. Tackling and defensive play are improving week by week and the players are turning up well in advance of the games for the warm up which is proving very beneficial.
Three in a row for U-10 girls
Over the last couple of weeks the U-10 girls have played three matches against St Vincents, Raheny and Lucan Sarsfield. Playing St Vincents in Fairview Park on a very tight pitch, they got a tough hour’s football. With a panel of 26, we set about dealing with difficult conditions. At times the football was not pretty but Clanns showed great determination to overwhelm their opposition with four comfortable wins. It was a night of great effort and to see all the girls turn out in such big numbers gave everybody a great lift.
Next up was Raheny at home and this turned out to be our best outing as our girls showed fantastic teamwork to again win all four games with some ease. All the training and skills work came out on a day when Clanns were simply unstoppable.
Lucan Sarsfield travelled to Sean Moore Park with a strong reputation but again were met with the full force of an in-form Clanns team. Although missing six strong players, our panel showed its strength by again winning all four games with some ease. Teamwork again was the key and some fine shooting from all our players. A big thank you to the girls, parents and coaches. We will have more games after the summer and we would welcome any new players into the squad. We also wish Claire Ryan the very best in her new role with the club. Finally, a big thank you to all involved in girls4gaelic as we have acquired two new players – and hopefully there are more to come.
First defeat of year for U-13 hurlers
As one of the parents was heard to say at the final whistle of this bristling encounter with Crumlin in Pearse Park, this team’s impressive winning run was bound to come to an end at some stage. But, despite being without a number of their regular players, they did not let their record go without putting up a tremendous display of skill and determination against a Crumlin team that was equal to them on both fronts.
This was a match in which every ball was hard fought for and space was at a premium in a fairly narrow pitch. As a result, the scoring opportunities were limited in number which was reflected in the fact that, come the final whistle, both teams had registered just five scores apiece. In the end the difference was the greater number of goals scored by our hosts. The Clanns score line of 1-4, to which Cian O’Regan contributed 1-2 from frees, was simply not enough. But all is not yet over by any means in terms of the final destination of this league.
Team: Des Duggan, Ruairi Corrigan, Colm O’Briain, Patrick Whelan, Colm O’Keeffe, Cian O’Regan, Conor Pugh, Karl Morgan, Patrick McNamara, Ciaran Hendrick, Conor Hennessy, Seamus McCann, Cian Morgan, Peter Maher, Scott Collopy.
Crumlin 3-2 Clanna Gael Fontenoy 1-4