Match Reports

Mt Merrion 9-2 Terenure FC

An unusually sunny Sunday morning for November, the bells of Dundrum peeled over the Rosemount ground as we arrived. We had not played a competitive match since before Halloween and the boys were up for a result. An entertaining clash ensued ...

We followed the usual pattern of containment for the first half. Our defence played well, with Matt R and Louis at the heart and Michael and Tom in the corners. Tom had clearly loaded his Duracells, running around all match long. We played very well in the air (which was commented on by the other side’s coach at full time) with Jonathan and Andy up for every ball. Conor D and Dan did some great running up the wings and Oisín and Matt P had some nice touches up front. Cian P was his ever terrier-like self, doing some  tremendous running. First blood went to Merrion due to a slight mix-up (!). Jackson performed very well in goals again and the final scoreline is a rather unfair reflection of his heroic efforts. We had further miscommunication and Merrion scored again a few minutes later. 

However, we then witnessed the best phase of play from us so far this season. Rather than let our heads hang low and roll over, we strengthened our resolve, composed ourselves and got right back in to the game. On the back of a good break from midfield, Oisín played a great ball to Matt P who finished it off to make it 2-1. We ratcheted up the pressure further and Merrion seemed to start capitulating. We forced them to concede a corner and Matt P turned in a lovely floating cross. Dan rose to the occasion and headed the ball over the line. 2-2! So 40 minutes in and we have levelled the score to 2-2, showing  a lot of heart in the process. And that, unfortunately, is the zenith of the tale ...

Losing concentration, we allow Merrion to come back at us and score not one, but TWO soft goals, leaving it 4-2 to them at half-time. We are clearly now a bit dejected but resolved to get straight back in to the game at the start of the second half.  We made some changes, bringing on Robbie, Cian McC, Conor E and Luke.  Merrion made a quick break as we re-started and yet another soft goal left it 5-2. The familiar sight then unfolded - our heads go down, our  questionable  levels of fitness start to show and what was a reasonably even contest turned in to a rout. We let them run at us and the defence consistently loaded pressure upon themselves by failing to clear the ball first time, out of the danger zone and in to the safer no-man’s land of mid-field. We also had to play so deep that when the ball did break forward, it was usually a case of one of us versus 3 or 4 of them – odds we were never likely to surmount.

However, as Sharon mentioned in her earlier mail, we must not lose sight of the purpose of this whole endeavour – to learn something about ourselves, about working as a team, about identifying the issues and then making a plan to address them – and making some progress. We scored two goals this week – that is a 200% increase on our season total. The only way is up!

Esker Celtic 6-0 Terenure FC

“In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are ...”  (Arnold Glasgow)

We set to sunny Lucan off for a late kick-off at 1pm. Word had clearly gotten around about the quality players we have in the side as our fan-base was swelling.

The now familiar pattern of play commenced – we held our own for the first 20 minutes in an evenly balanced competition. Some good running by Luke up the right wing lead to our first real chance from a corner – the ball fell to Tom but his strike was just wide. Somewhat against the run of play, Esker came at us and we let them through for a soft goal.

This was followed up by the softest goal of the season yet, with some miscommunication at the back. Louis made his debut and did some great tackling and running in defence and the welcome return of big Matt R made for a solid defence that battled away until the end. Cian P was his usual terrier like self but he came off in the second half and was replaced by an on-form Robbie who did some great work. Conor and Luke had decent first halves on the wings and both came off at half-time for Oisín and Cian McC. Luke in particular played well in mid-field and covered a lot of ground. Some of the referee’s decisions were pretty controversial (to put it politely), denying us a clear corner (and goal-scoring opportunity) when we were 2-0 down. He also awarded a penalty for a very, em, “loud” tackle in the box by Louis when one of their men was nearly though.

We thought it was an elegant and perfectly timed sliding tackle, with Louis taking out the ball and THEN the man .. but the referee saw differently and also gave Louis a yellow card. Jackson, who actually had an excellent game in goals, nearly got to it but the ball hit the net and it was 4-0. Some great battling by Tom, John and Sam in midfield ensured we only conceded one more (!) and it a disappointing 5-0 at half-time.

But, as Eamonn Dunphy would say, it was a game of two halves…We showed an awful lot of spirit in the second half. Some great running on the break by Dan as he was fed the ball by Matto (who also had a pretty good match overall) lead to some good chances. With fresh legs, Oisín and Cian McC weaved through their defence on a number of occasions and were also running frequently on the wings. We had a number of free-kicks that we were unlucky not to convert and we were also blown up a few times when we were attacking in somewhat dubious refereeing calls … Jackson was unlucky not to get to their 6th and final goal which they scored on the break. Andy came on for Sam with about 20 minutes to go and our midfield showed a lot of courage in keeping up the attacking momentum right up to the final whistle.

So the summary for the second half was that we did not collapse, only conceded one goal and were unlucky not to have scored a few ourselves! We think that this match, despite the scoreline, was a good one for us – we are starting to make progress!

Blessington AFC U17 9-0 Terenure FC U17

"Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Winston Churchill)

We assembled in Rathgar to compare map references and set compasses for the trek to Blessington. The inclement conditions were an ominous sign of things to come ...
The windswept hillside was at its cruelest with the "soft" rain relentlessly lashing the players (and coaches!). The match kicked-off and the first 15-20 minutes were scoreless, with both sides pretty evenly matched. Some probing passes to the wings were effectively closed down by the back four with Prendo running relentlessly down the wing. Robbie was in good from, making several excellent clearances and Jonathan was much more effective this week in midfield, dispossessing the opposition on many occasions.
However, for the second week running, we steadily allowed the opposition to gain command of the midfield, losing possession from most every kick out and throw-in in the middle of the park. The superior amount of possession that we allowed them to have, coupled with giving them too much time on the ball, eventually lead to their first goal at about 25 minutes in the game.
And also much like last week, we started to see our confidence ebb away from this point onwards. Despite a valiant performance from Andrew in goals, they managed to put three more passed us in the run up to half-time. We had one very close chance from a corner that nearly went in but luck was not on our side.
We made a few changes at half-time, with Conor D (who had played very well against tough opposition in midfield, covering a lot of ground and landing some great tackles) coming off for Conor E. Charlie also came off (he played a very solid game in central defence) with Sam replacing him and Cian McC made his debut when he came on for Michael.
We started the second half tentatively, with the 4-0 scoreline clearly weighing on our confidence. Luke came off the bench for Matthew P. Unfortunately, we conceded again and from that point onwards, the midfield collapsed and the opposition forwards were running through our defence at will. Sam played well and Dan did a lot of running and was unlucky to hit the post in the 80th minute. The highlight of the match was the very fact that we kept going despite the mounting tally and were still trying to play constructive football and score goals right to the final whistle.

It is now pretty clear that we are going to be up against it this season and we have to figure ways to combat the fact that this team has never played 11-a-side together before - and the teams we are playing have been together for 10-plus years. The team-spirit and camaraderie in the dressing room was still exemplary - a testament to the boys' spirit. We will work on translating this spirit and commitment in to better results together.

Beechwood FC U17 6-2 Terenure FC U17

“A journey of a Thousand miles begins with a single step”

The brand new U-17 Terenure FC team took to the field in competitive soccer for the first time this morning against a more experienced Beechwood side (several of the boys on the Beechwood team had played together for many years at Bushy Park Rangers).
Without making excuses, the confidence gained by the Beechwood team from playing together at this level week-in, week-out manifested itself more and more as the game progressed. We started out very well and it was a very even affair for the first half. Andy played a stormer in goals throughout the match and the fancy-footed Beechwood Number 11 (Steve “Torres”) was denied several times. We put them under pressure with impressive running up both wings from Michael and Matthew P and it was Matthew P who put us in to an early lead with a powerful strike from the side. Beechwood were not long replying, making it 1-1 and the pace continued to be pretty quick with end-to-end play. This was the score in to the half-time break.
Early in the second half, however, Beechwood continued to press and a free was awarded just outside our box, leading to some argy-bargy and two cards –a yellow for us and a straight red for them! They missed the free and we struck again from a corner with Oisín knocking the ball in at close range, making it 2-1. Ironically, however, the sending-off somehow managed to become the turning point in the match – against us!!
With only 10 men, Beechwood were galvanised into action and scored again, making it 2-2. We had made some changes at half time but our fresh legs did not help matters much and full credit to Beechwood, they stepped up and scored two more goals in quick succession. At this point, our confidence collapsed. In addition, our levels of fitness started to tell – we were waning fast and Beechwood were winning most of the ball.

Dan was unlucky on at least two occasions but the die was cast. We were caught ball-watching and Beechwood scored two more soft goals before the final whistle, making it a very flattering 6-2. In addition to the players mentioned above, we had some great individual performances from Tom, who never stopped running in an Ashley Cole-esque performance, Matthew R who was very strong at the back and made some David Luiz-style runs and Cian P who was a dogged Jamie Carragher at the back.