Boys U14 (2012) Major 2 - Naas AFC
Early Saturday morning saw our two M2 sides go head to head in a game that brought out many supporters including a few mutual ones for what proved to be a very entertaining game. Despite what the lads had been telling each other what they’d win by in school in the lead up it was never likely to be 10-0 to each side!
The “away” team started the liveliest and after 3 mins had the first chance of the game after a lovely through ball found their centre forward but Noah in goal rushed off his line to prevent the danger going any further. 2 mins later and Luke found himself with the ball at his feet inside the box but his shot fizzed past the right hand upright. Some nice passing down our left between Thady and Bobby set Frank up on the half way line to go off on one of his trademark runs. About 30 yards from goal Frank was brought down for a free kick and after shooing various players away Frank stepped back and sent a powerful shot into the bottom right hand corner. 1-0 to the reds (who were in white) That helped settle the nerves and helped the reds to play some confident football and 5mins later a superb double save from the opposing keeper prevented first Ben and then Lorcan from doubling the lead. The reds midfield of Charlie and Bobby were dominating proceedings and helped set Luke up once again with a chance in the 30th min but his shot just failed to find the target. Once again before the break Noah was called on to make a fine save and tip the ball round the post for a corner, after the resulting centre was collected a quick counter attack saw Lorcan feed the ball into James who beat a man and deliver a lovely pass to Ben to get the second goal.
Half time saw us ring the changes but the team that took to the field continued where the other lads had left off. Harry collected the ball out wide on the right and after beating two players found James on the penalty spot, James controlled the ball and hit a shot that the keeper once again produced a fine save from. A couple of minutes later and Ben was the recipient of the ball after a passing move that included Donnacha, Riley, James, Frank and Lavr but a last ditched block prevented Ben from getting a second. James and then Lavr were the next to test the Blue teams defence and again the keeper prevented the third goal. Eventually the third goal did come and it was another free kick and a deserved goal for James whose saw his effort find the back of the net via the crossbar. This goal combined with the removal of the impressive Andy, Scott and Dylan from the back 4 saw us hand the initiative to our opponents and with 10 mins to go a rasping shot from inside the centre circle found the back of the net and gave them something to fight for. Suddenly our passing wasn’t as crisp and with 7 mins to go a scramble in the box reduced our lead to a single goal. Credit to the lads though as they composed themselves (even if the sideline struggled) and saw out the final couple of minutes to secure the bragging rights at school.
