U12 DB Sports Shield Winners
24th July 2016
Our brilliant u12s won the DB Sports Shield this past weekend. Tadhg Bedford and Adam Smith, both of whom were part of the victorious squad, have each put together an excellent article on how they won it. Both talented lads clearly have a future in football or sports journalism.
Adam Smith, Age 11
Our first group game was against Cherry Orchard. It was a very tight game and thanks to some great saves from Sunshine the game finished in a 0-0 draw. We played a very strong Belvedere team in our 2nd group game. There was no score at half-time and our only real chance was a shot from Seany that hit the post. Belvedere went on to win 3-0. Our last group game was against Newbridge Town which was a much better performance from us. Patrick was through on goal early on but put his shot wide. He made up for it later when he had another chance and this time he drilled it into the bottom corner. Newbridge came back at us strong in the 2nd half but we held out for the win.
We made it through to the shield quarter final where we faced St Joseph's Boys who attacked from the off but couldn't break us down due to some great defending from Cian, Tadgh and Sami. I was in the middle of the pitch when Domo passed to me, I took a touch, saw the keeper slightly off his line and smacked it just right, it flew into the top corner, one of the best goals ive scored so far. The lads kicked on from this with Patrick scoring again shortly after and Shay making the game safe with a goal late in the 2nd half.
In the semi final we played Knockmitten. Adam Scott scored, and Patrick added another 2 goals to his tally before I scored my next, We scored loads of goals in that game, I think Sami and Domo scored a few.
In the final against Newbridge Town again, we started well, and a great run from Joshua saw him take the ball around the keeper only for the keeper to take him down in the box and give away a penalty. Sami stepped up and put it in the corner. Newbridge got a free kick outside the box and one of their defenders found the bottom corner with it to make it 1-1 and bringing the game into extra time. We had 3 goals disallowed in extra time for offside following some good attacking runs from Tadgh through midfield. Newbridge were offside and we had a free kick in our own box, Tadgh put it over the top for Patrick who lobbed the keeper with a volley. I was delighted to come away with a trophy after a long day.
Tadhg Bedford, Age 11
Today I woke up at 8am, early, to go and play in a tournament in Dublin. I had been looking forward to playing with my new team mates.
I got a lift with my friend Adams mam.We drove to a college, and we got a bus to the tournament.
Our first game was against Cherry Orchard....... We drew that game, and we should have won.
We finished 3rd in our group and fought hard to get to the finals of the shield.
We should have been in the final with Cherry Orchard or St.Kevins, but not today.
The final started fast with Joshua running through the defenders and rolled it passed the keeper, who fouled him and he got a penalty.
Samuel took the peno, and he buried it bottom left corner.
The second half, the other team got a jammy goal.
Final went to extra time and we were fighting to stay in it, 1 all going into extra time.
Sunshine our keeper pulled off some wonderful saves, to keep us in it,and I also defended very well as I wanted to win.
During the second stage of extra time, it was a battle, the game changed when we got a free kick from our box due to offside. I hoofed the ball over the defenders head to Patrick and Patrick let it bounce, and lobbed it over the keeper. That was the game changer.
Today was the first time we played off side rule, and some good things about it and some bad things about.
After the game my manager said that I played the best today and I was very happy and proud of myself, i have been training hard.
I enjoyed the day and was tired and came home with my new teammate Adam, who is in my class.
Shield winning squad
Sunshine Chukwunwejim, Adam Scott, Tadgh Bedford, Samuel Soyemi, Sean Goff, Shay Rawat, Adam Smith, Patrick Browne, Domo Linkevicius, Joshua Effiom, Cian Cleary