Boys U16 (2009) Major - Opponent

We arrived for a 9:15 warmup on a crisp saturday morning, with an early 10 o’clock kickoff looming ahead. It was a windy morning with some light rain on the pitch from last night, which made for some difficult conditions.

Unfortunately, with only about 5 minutes gone, Straffan found space on the edge of the box and let fly with a flukey strike that was going well over the bar, but was caught in the wind and dropped over a helpless Craigs head and into the net. 

Despite the early setback, we eased into the game and did not let it get us down. Straffan came out of the blocks hard and fast, and were perhaps a bit more alert than us in the early morning sunshine. 

We withstood great amounts of pressure in the opening half but gradually found our own with the ball in our possesion more and more, and we went into the break in a comfortable position, despite being a goal down. 

With a quick few subs at the break, we restarted the game in control and created a  number of nice chances. As our confidence grew, we began to create more chances as the half went on. 

With little more than 15 minutes left, the ball was played across to Tadhg Keane, who took it down and fired it across goal, despite many furious shouts of offside from the opposing coaching staff. The keeper saved Tadhgs effort, but it fell to Drew Sinkey on the edge of the box, who made no mistake in tucking it away to bring us level. 

The remaining minutes of the game were full of end to end football, with both teams creating chances to win it. Great performances from Ross Wheeler and Conor byrne at the back held everything up and ensured we didnt concede another. Another impressive performance from Noah Molimard earned him a deserved Motm award. Full time Naas Afc 1 Straffan 1