Under 11 Gala Blitz

The U11’s concluded their matches for 2012 with 2 teams entering blitzes at Cuala and Faughs. 

We were blessed with good weather and the girls showed how well they have developed in 2012 with fine performances at both venues.  An enjoyable day was had by all and many thanks to our respective hosts and the good support from parents.

Cuala U11 Blitz –– Match Report 11-Nov-12

Clubs:	Cuala, St. Judes, Ballinteer St. John’s and Kilmacud Crokes
Venue:	Thomastown Road, Glenageary (Cuala pitch)

KC Team:

Anna Murphy, Helen Barr, Emma O’Neill, Niamh Comerford, Maedbh O’Gorman, Stephanie Galvin, Caoimhe McLoughlin, Sarah Fenlon, Anna Geraghty, Sadhbh Daly, Laura Maguire, Anna Foster, Aoife Hamilton, Kate O’Connor, Cassie Sultan

Match 1 v St. Judes.

Final score: St. Judes: 1-0, Kilmacud Crokes: 3-0

Our opponents had been strengthened considerably as we had loaned them Niamh and Cassie to make up their numbers. Both did Kilmacud Crokes proud by doing the very best they could throughout the game to get a good result for their temporarily adopted St. Judes team. We got off to a bit of a slow start in this one but lucky for us the sluggishness was matched by our opponents with AnnaM strong in the goal to keep them scoreless in the first half as AnnaG saw us one goal to the good after 4 minutes.  The second half we began to get into our stride. Laura struck for her first goal picking up on a lovely pass from Sadhbh who was sharing full forward duties with her. Shortly afterwards St Judes pulled a goal back to keep the pressure on us. But at about 14 minutes, a great puck-out found its way to Emma, who fought to get the ball up to Stephanie, who in turn managed to feed through to Laura who struck for a second goal. A great team play move to finish the scoring. 

 

Match 2 v Ballinteer St. John’s.

Final score: Final score: Ballinteer St Johns: 0-0, Kilmacud Crokes: 5-1

We were a bit more on top throughout this game as our girls had really found their rhythm. Just 3 minutes into the game, AnnaG fed a nice ball through to Caoimhe who turned and struck it into the net. Two short minutes later, Cassie got in on the action with a nicely finished shot into the goal after a bit of a scuffle of players had failed to clear the Ballinteer lines. Two minutes later Caoimhe struck again, this time being passed the ball in a lovely move by Aoife which came shortly after she had made a fantastic hook on one of the Ballinteer players. We hit the midway point three goals up and still feeling like we could push on further.  As the second half rolled on Stephanie got a goal to put her name on the scoresheet which was just desserts in return for the massive amount of work she did in the middle of the pitch all day. By now both teams had pretty much lost their shape as our opponents struggled to get the ball any distance out from their goal line and our team edged ever further forward. Caoimhe scored again to complete her hat-trick before Ballinteer changed the person taking their puckouts to someone who could drive it much further. This helped to reset some of both team shapes. Unfortunately for our opponents this meant that Sarah was a good distance back out from the goal when she got one particular ball which she confidently drove high and straight out over the cross bar to score our first point of the day and close out the scoring in this match.

 Match 3 v. Cuala

Final score: Cuala: 0-1, Kilmacud Crokes: 1-2

This was by far our toughest match of the day. On 8 minutes Kate opened our scoring in this match as she latched onto a smashing handpass from Niamh in front of the goal and struck into the net. This turned out to be the only score of the first half as both sides fought hard to break through. It was the kind of match where our strength on the ball was vital to gaining and retaining possession and both Helen and AnnaF played a huge role in the game in this regard. We reached half time with our noses just in front with a goal in hand. The second half kept up the same pace and provided quality entertainment for both sets of excited sideline fans. Cuala scored a fine point early in the half to eat back into the scoreline. There were lots of quality Kilmacud Crokes plays to cheer but few better than when Kate popped up for her second score of the day with a super point scored from wide out near the right hand sideline. Cuala really started to pile on the pressure at this stage. Emma took a hard knock on her leg in one exchange but Sarah was ready to step into her shoes and provided real strength in the backline when every one of our girls was being called on to work hard at keeping Cuala out. In our last line of defence, Laura was called on more than once in the goal to pick the ball out of the air, sidestep an approaching Cuala forward and drive the ball clear. Picking up one of these clearances, Maedbh lifted the ball quickly off the ground and struck a fantastic point in what turned out to be the final score of the day.

All in all, our girls can be very proud of themselves today. Far more important than the scorelines, they played well with lots of skills on display; handpasses, roll-lifts, jab-lifts, hooks and blocks. Strong side hits, weak side hits, in the air and on the ground. They played as a team supporting each other both on and off the ball. And most importantly, they showed respect for all the teams we played against with fair play during the games and enthusiastic handshakes afterwards. Roll on the games in 2013.

 Faughs U11 Blitz –– Match Report 11-Nov-12

Clubs:	Faughs, Cuala, St. Kevin’s CBC, and Kilmacud Crokes
Venue:	Tymon North

KC Team:

Katie Blaides, Eily Heffernan, Eibhe Kehoe, Dearbhla Kernan , Dervla O Brien, Rebecca O Keeffe, Caoimhe O Shea, Hannah Proudfoot, Sadhbh Quinlan, Sophie Spollen, Aoife Taylor, Roisin Whitley (with apologies from loyal player Julianna Ammann who had been ill during the previous night)

The weather was kind to the participating teams  on those high grounds at Tymon North  with some wintery sunshine appearing occasionally, and a mild breeze. We gauged the ground to be fairly soggy, so warm ups were based on roll lifts, striking from the hand and hand-passing as we tried to build tactics for the day.

Match 1: Faughs 2-1, Kilmacud Crokes 0-0

The first match, of three matches,  was against  Faughs and it took the team a while to settle with Eily Heffernan in goals, and a  back-line with Eibhe, Dervla, Caoimhe and Rebecca; Roisin and Sophie  midfield and Hannah, Dearbhla, Katie and Aoife in the forward line. With 20 minutes a match and no half time, despite good play by Crokes and fairly even-matched sides in the first match, Faughs stole the match with a score of 2 goals and 1 point, to no score to Kilmacud Crokes.

Match 2: Cuala  1-0,  Kilmacud Crokes 1-0

Crokes were determined not to let the same outcome happen in the second match against old rivals  Cuala. Position changes included  Aoife Taylor in goals, Sadhbh, Eily, Hannah and Roisin in the back line and Dearbhha, Katie and Caoimhe in mid-field, and Sophie, Rebecca, Dervla O Brien and Eabha took up places in the forward line. This match was a determined and feisty display by both teams with the  back line in Crokes working as a true team, doggedly pushing the Cuala ball away from the goals. Sadhbh  and Roisin worked  extremely hard and Hannah and Eily provided good support. With a huge amount of time spent by Cuala in our half, the power of the goal keeper Aoife (who saved numerous attempts) and all that work the back line undertook showed, in that Cuala received only a single score. Equally the forward line in Crokes did get the ball and worked to convert this to a score, with Eibhe Kehoe at left centre forward  landing the ball into the net and thus we saw the teams  draw in this match.

Match 3:   Kilmacud Crokes 4-0, St Kevins 0-0

Our second match was by far the toughest match of the day, but the steely determination of a skilled Crokes Team was visible combined with the girls being energised by their display against  Cuala, all auguring well for our third and final match v. St Kevin’s CBC to be a winner . The player positions largely remained as in the second match with Roisin Whitely moving from goals, to mid to forward during the second and third matches and showing herself as a tenacious player.

The final match saw Crokes with a lot of possession and a 4 goal score line attributable entirely to Eibhe Kehoe who was in top form all day, with a particularly strong display of dribbling from her own half right along the pitch past several opponents to eventually delivering the goal of the day! ( Eibhe was nominated ‘player of the day’- what an achievement 5 goals scored over the day!)

 Well done to Kilmacud Crokes, a determined and skilled group of camogie players who shone on the day. Each girl can walk away from Tymon North with her medal a true reflection of genuine hard work, skill display and being a member of a great camogie team!

KC Team:

Anna Murphy, Helen Barr, Emma O’Neill, Niamh Comerford, Maedbh O’Gorman, Stephanie Galvin, Caoimhe McLoughlin, Sarah Fenlon, Anna Geraghty, Sadhbh Daly, Laura Maguire, Anna Foster, Aoife Hamilton, Kate O’Connor, Cassie Sultan