The two Gaels U 11 teams entertained the Kilkerly/Malachi's and St. Joseph's teams last Friday 17th at Pairc Na Gael in Dundalk. The Gaels 1 took on St. Joseph's in a game full of commitment, skill and great team play from both sides. The two teams were evenly matched in the first half with both sides enjoying periods of dominance with the wind slightly favouring the St. Joseph's club. Some great passages of play by both teams ensured some lovely scores and plenty for the crowd to keep them entertained. The latter end of the first half saw St. Joseph's take the upper hand and if it had been for stout defending from Conor Weir, Caylem Burns, Patrick O'Connell and Sean Lambert ably assisted by Tom Mahon in goals the visitors would have enjoyed a much larger share of the spoils. Up front for the Gael's, James Haughey, Conor Crichton, Preston Keating and Patrick Curley won plenty of possession and kept the score board ticking over. A special word of praise for Lennon O'Hanlon who is relatively new comer to the game, but from this performance has a bright future in the code. The second half saw the Gaels in ascendancy during the latter part of the half with the Gaels midfield, in particular Liam O'Connor getting plenty of possession and keeping the visitors pinned in their own half. This did not deter St Joseph's and the accurate kick outs from their goal keeper supported by the strong work rate of their two midfielders ensured a game with plenty of hard fought battles. At the end of a hard fought contest both teams both teams will be happy that they took plenty away from the occasion.
Gaels 2 played host to the Kilkerly/Malachi's combination. The first half was an even enough affair until the last couple of minutes when the visitors great team work resulted in 3 quick goals in succession coming up to the break. In the second half the Gaels were a different team with Adam Burke and Thomas Kindlon defending well and with Tony Mc Donnell reverting to half back he worked some brilliant short kickouts with the goalkeeper Liam Coleman. Jack Mullen, and Daniel Brogan in midfield enjoyed lots of possession but scores were hard to come by inspite of Fionn Conlon's and donal Lavery's best efforts. In the end, the Gaels left themselves too much to do but can take heart from a determined performance from Max valentine, Matas Lukosevicius and in particular Michael Heuston who defended stoutly throughout.The visitors started very strongly and held the upper hand for much of the first half. Their fine team play and sold tackling making it hard for the hosts to cope with them. Only for some committed defending by Tony McDonnell, Michael Houston ably assisted by Adam Burke and Jack Mullen the margin at half time would have been far greater. The second half proved to be a far closer affair with a few switches in the Gaels line ensuring their challenge was more effective during this period. For the Gaels Daniel Brogan, Fionn Conlon, Donal Lavery, Thomas Kindlon, Matas Lukosevicius , Max Valintine and Liam Coleman tried very hard during this period. The Kilkerly/Malachi's team are a formidable outfit and overall shaded the day in this encounter but the Gaels team can take a lot away for this contest. The Gaels U 11s had a very competitive outing recently against a strong Kilkerley Emmets/Naomh Malachi combination at the Ramparts.
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