Girls U16s: Park 3 v 0 Samphires
The U16 girls made short trip to Park last Saturday morning. We were close to a full squad with 17 girls available. We played with the wind in the first half and created some chances but Park scored when we failed to clear our lines leaving it 1 nil down at the break. We came out stronger in the 2nd half but couldn’t make the breakthrough and we got caught on the break as we pushed on. Final score 0 – 3. This was a physical contest and the girls coped really well especially the younger squad members. Lots of positives from today and the girls should be very proud of themselves. We wish a speedy recovery to the injured girls. Thanks to the parents for support and Park for enjoyable game.
Boys U15s Samphires 4 v Park B 2 (Scorers Mikey Corridan (2), Conor McGibney, Sean Hickey (pen))
A win but a disappointing performance. We were 2nd best for most of the match and were very lucky to come away with a win. We went in front with a clever one-two between Dara Harty and Mikey Corridan allowing Mikey to drive through a finish from close distance. However, we failed to use that as a example and started to over play the ball and dribble into trouble and then give away soft free kicks. From one of these free kicks Park deservedly equalized. We scored again after a Michael O’Sullivan free kick was headed home by Mikey. Conor McGibney then scored from a neat pass through to make it 3-1 at half-time.
We had the wind in the 2nd half on a bad evening for football, but it made little difference as we continued to give the ball away and struggled to make 2 or 3 passes to each other. At the back however Diarmuid Murphy and Garry Egan worked hard to keep Park at bay and we can be thankful Park didn’t score any earlier. They did finally score from a low cross to make it 3-2 and we were under pressure again. However, we got a lifeline when we were awarded a penalty for handball and Sean Hickey tucked it away to seal the victory. This was by far our worst performance, and we need to improve significantly if we are to have a chance of winning this competition. Best for Fenit Diarmuid Murphy at centre-half.