The U18 Women’s team face Wilton United in the CWSSL Evening Echo U18 Cup on Friday the 30th of April in Turners Cross with a 7 p.m. kick-off.
The favourites tag has to go to the Premier side but Ballincollig are not going up there to make up numbers. Get down and support your own and here’s hoping Ballincollig cause a massive upset by bringing the Cup home.
Academy
U7s CSL Non Competitive League
Ballincollig v Wilton
Last Tuesday evening Ballincollig’s Under 7s continued their home fixtures in the Regional Park this time against Wilton. Thankfully the rain held off this time.
The game started brightly for Ballincollig with a number of outstanding saves by our keeper, Paraic O’Keeffe. Scott Kelly, captain for the game, showed some great defensive work and in midfield Robbie Walsh was at the centre of most of the attacks, and he was very unlucky to see a shot stopped on the goal line, by the Wilton keeper. As the game progressed, Dillon Ring, Ryan Crowley and Jordan Murphy came more and more into the game. It was Wilton though who managed to strike first when the Ballincollig defence got caught out of position. We responded well though with Jamie Slavin put through on goal only to see the keeper just pip him to the ball.
The second period saw Bryan Smith up front and he was straight into action with a shot saved by the Wilton keeper. Ryan Crowley, now in defence, gave a great display in his new position. The Wilton keeper had to make a number of saves from Bryan after some good play by Jamie and Alex Hill in midfield. Bryan then had another shot but this time into the side netting. Was he ever going to score we wondered. Mark Oldham and later Alex had good crosses but each time there was no one in penalty area. Jamie had a looping shot from a corner, which deflected out off a Wilton defender. For a time Ballincollig were pinned back, but the entire team defended well as a unit. Then on the counterattack Bryan skipping around a defender and slotting the ball home as cool as you like. Ballincollig were well on top again and we soon had a second. It was a spectacular goal, and a celebration to match, from Bryan as he cut in from the right, went past the defender and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top left corner, giving the Wilton keeper no chance of saving it.
The final period saw some great passing moves and relentless pressure by Ballincollig. This resulted in Mark hitting the post, Bryan and Robbie both having shots cleared off the line as they tried to extend their lead. Scott was deployed in midfield as defensive cover to the defence of Jordan and Alex, to help try and protect the lead, with Robbie, Mark and Bryan leading the attacks. This worked well up until the final few minutes when tiredness seem to set in and the Ballincollig defence opened up to let Wilton in for the equaliser.
So close to a win, but it was plain to see the continued improvement in the Ballincollig players. Keep it up lads. Man of the Match was a close call too with so many good performances, but we had to give it to Bryan for his stunning goals.
Academy
U8s CSL Non Competitive League
Ballincollig v Carrigaline
Last weekend, April 24th-25th, our eager under 8s went down to a very wet Regional Park. It was a far cry from the last couple of weekends when we were drenched with sunshine, however we got drenched with the wet stuff this weekend. But this didn’t dampen our spirits, and every one of the spectators thoroughly enjoyed the superb display. Both teams were very evenly matched, but only for the brilliance of Darragh Dorgan in goals who pulled off some great saves, Carrigaline found it very difficult to get the ball past us.
Stephen Wills was our box-to-box player on the day and ran his heart out for his team. Jonathon McLean, Jake Thomas and Isaac again showed their true mettle with some sterling defending and last ditch tackling. James McArdle and Ciara Healy put in a great days work closing down Carrigaline at every opportunity, and Ciara’s pressure paid off when she slotted her first goal for her team.
Paul Cooney and Eoin O Callaghan dominated the midfield area and Eoin pitched in, with two goals of his own. Paul Cooney hit the upright on no less than 3 occasions, but the ball wouldn’t cross the line for him.
Ryan Crowley was superb at the back, but when we switched him to striker, he became our ‘Hat-trick Hero’ banging in 3 goals in quick succession.
It was very hard to pick the man of the match but if it has to go to someone, we must give it to Stephen Wills. He never gave up, he tackled, tracked back and covered the most ground. Well done Stephen.
Academy
U7s CSL Non Competitive League
Ballincollig v Blarney
Last Saturday, April 24th, Ballincollig had their first home fixture in the Regional Park against Blarney United. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best as the rain had started to fall even before kickoff.
It was pretty much an even contest in the first period with both sides having some good possession. The main threats for Ballincollig came from Luke O’Sullivan and Robbie Walsh in midfield with Bryan Smith up front. On occasions Ballincollig had to defend for their lives, and did so brilliantly. On one such occasion they broke forward, with Justin Eguaibor playing it to Adam Summers, who beat two Blarney players and then set Brian and Robbie up for a neat one-two, which unfortunately the Blarney defence cut out. It was a great passing move. Ballincollig had a number of chances but were very unlucky not to find the back of the net. In defence Craig Keane was outstanding with tackle after tackle, and Scott Kelly made a great save to keep Blarney at bay. So at the end of first period it was honours even.
The second period of play saw the rain getting much heavier with conditions under foot getting worse, but Ballincollig still showed some nice touches. Mark Oldham now in defence was sweeping out and linked up nicely with Luke and Robbie to create a number of good chances. James Faherty, in midfield, was getting stuck in helping to break up the Blarney attacks and Robbie started to show his skills as he repeatedly tormented the Blarney midfield and defence, but Ballincollig were still unable find that elusive opener. Instead it was Blarney who opened the scoring when they got through for a one-on-one with our keeper. Ballincollig immediately attacked with Mark setting up Luke only to see the Blarney keeper make a great save stopping his shot going into the bottom right hand corner. Again though it was Blarney who proved the more clinical as they counterattacked down the right wing and despite Scott closing the angle well and getting a hand to the ball the shot was too strong and Blarney now had their second.
The third period got underway and for most of it Ballincollig had to drop back into their own half to defend. Darragh Moriarty was now leading the line, up front alone, and he showed some nice dribbling to help relieve the pressure. Unfortunately a combination of the weather and Ballincollig falling back deeper and deeper allowed Blarney to turn possession into scores and they grabbed a few more in the last eight minutes of the game. The score didn’t reflect all the effort the lads put in and the miserable weather just compounded things.
This week Ballincollig will be at home again on Tuesday evening, April 27th, at 7pm against Wilton in the Regional Park, and away against Corinthian Boys of Douglas on Saturday, May 1st, at 10:30am.
Academy
U7s CSL Non Competitive League
Greenwood v Ballincollig
Ballincollig continued their league campaign last Saturday, April 17th, with another away trip, this time to Greenwood in Togher. The game started brightly with Greenwood playing with the advantage of a slight slope. Both sides were well matched with the tenacious Ryan Crowley, Gabriel Czubak and the silky skills of Mark Oldham providing the platform for most of Ballincollig’s attacks. At the first interval however it was the defences that had come out on top.
The second period of play saw Ballincollig under some serious pressure at times but looking very dangerous on the counter attack. On a number of occasions Scott Kelly broke from defence linking up with Mark Oldham and Dillon Ring. This trio first allowed Mark and then latter Darragh Moriarty to narrowly miss out after opening up the Greenwood defence. In between Ballincollig had some serious defending to do with a finger-tip save by Bryan Smith in goals and a goal line clearance from Alex Hill. Greenwood then scored with just minutes of the second period to go as Ballincollig got caught out of position. Not to be deterred Ballincollig soon were on the attack again this time down the right wing with Dillon Ring bringing a great save out of the Greenwood keeper.
The third period of play saw some excellent pressure from Ballincollig and it was Greenwood’s turn to perform the last ditch defending. Ballincollig forced corner after corner, with Alex Hill, Scott Kelly and Sean Callinan all testing the Greenwood defence. Then Greenwood hit Ballincollig on the counter attack as they broke down the left wing tucking the ball into the bottom left corner. Despite the set back Ballincollig never gave in and were soon on the attack again. With only a few minutes to go Scott Kelly finally broke through and slotted home with a nice finish to throw Ballincollig a lifeline. Moments later he was through again and unleashed a thunderous left foot drive, which all on the sideline were convinced was destined for the top left hand corner of the net, only to see it slip wide past the post. Well done lads great performance.
Next week Ballincollig U7s will be at home against Blarney United at 5pm in the Regional Park. Do come and support us if you can.
Academy
U8s CSL Non Competitive League
Ballincollig v Bandon
Our league kicked off with a big bang on the weekend of the 10th-11th down in the Regional Park. It was a brilliant sunny day, perfect for a match, and there was a huge turnout for the 3pm kick-off.
Bandon had the best of the play for the first period and the Ballincollig defensive duo of Jake Thomas and Eoin O’Callaghan had to dig deep to keep their team in the game.
The midfield dynamos of Ryan Forde, Christopher Twomey-Fahy and Ronan Hennessy, got stuck in and produced some fantastic one twos all across the midfield. Oisin McCormac came close on several occasions, but a great solo goal from Ryan Forde got us back into the game.
In the next period Jonathon McClean and Christopher got a firm grip on the Bandon attackers and cut out every single attack, they cleaned up completely at the back, but when the goalkeeper was called upon, up stepped James McArdle and made super saves. James was very brave in goal and Bandon found it very hard to get the ball past him. Dylan O’Flynn was introduced on the left wing, along with Evan Cooke, and they made a great impression on the game with their skillfull play and superb tackling.
In the last period, Ballincollig’s dominance started to show, with a trio of super goals that you wouldn’t see in the Champions League. Ryan Forde bombed one in, and nearly broke the net. Eoin O’Callaghan took a ball off the line and set up an attack for Jake Thomas to slot home his first goal of the season. And to finish it off, Ronan Hennessy finished off a fantastic move to score his first goal of the season. Well done lads.
Academy
U7s CSL Non Competitive League
Leeds v’s Ballincollig
Ballincollig started their league campaign on Saturday, April 10th, with an away trip to Leeds.
The game started brightly on a pleasant sunny evening. Both sides were well matched and showed some good passing. Ballincollig were unlucky with a shot on goal early on, but it was Leeds who eventually took the lead. The second period of play was a similar pattern this time Padraic O’Keeffe stepping out of defence to unleash a fierce, yet wayward shot, but again it was Leeds who took their chance leaving it 2-0 at the second interval. It could have been more for the home side only for some fine saves by Cillian Kierse.
After a quick pep talk Ballincollig stepped it up a gear in the final third and got their reward with an early goal from the tireless Bryan Smith. Unfortunately Leeds then replied with 3 unanswered goals. It was a good performance nonetheless and others to play well were Scott Kelly, Jamie Slavin, Sean Casey, Robbie Walsh, Jordan Murphy, Alex Hill and Kyle Daly.
not incl. Schoolboys
Youths at home to Carrigaline United B in the league, Regional Park, Saturday 3rd April, 2.30 p.m.
U17s away to Mallow United in the league, Town Park, Sunday 4th April, 2.30 p.m.
O35s against Casement Celtic in the Cup, Mayfield Park, Friday 2nd April, 8.00 p.m.
