Junior Soccer
Aisling Annacotty Junior B team took another step towards promotion to 1A with a hard fought win vs Hospital. The first half was hard fought and both teams had chances. But it took until three minutes to the break for the first goal to arrive when Evan Quinlan steered in a great cross from midfielder Philly Maher. After that the second half was all about Aisling. Numerous chances were not taken until a second left footed strike from Evan Quinlan put Aisling 2-0 up. Graham Power sealed the win with another left footed shot to leave the final score at 3-0. Conor McCarthy at sweeper and Aidan Fahey goalkeeper, were excellent in defence, while Barry Madden ran until he dropped up front.
With one game to go in the league and a three point gap to fourth place, the B team only need a point to secure promotion. Our final game is vs Geraldines in Garryowen green at 6.30 on Thursday 12thMay. All support very welcome.
U16 Girls
Commiserations to our U16 Girls team who lost their county final to Regional FC this week. Well done on getting to the final.
U12A Team
Following the rain interrupted Winter Program of LDSL matches, our under 12 team are now playing up to twice a week to complete the program.
Aisling Annacotty 12A v Corbally A(27/4/16) League
Aisling Annacotty took on Corbally on the new playing pitch in the beautiful surroundings of Castletroy Park. A large crowd turned out to watch Aisling Annacotty play some of their best football of the season where they completely dominated possession with excellent passing and ball retention from Aisling throughout and Corbally were well in it until the second goal went in on 22 mins when their heads went down. Corbally were very competitive again after the half time talk. However, Aisling dominated the game with excellent passing where Darren Nwankwo was very solid and passed well out of defence. Mark Kinsella had a very good game in defence and saw a lot of ball which he dealt with well and retained possession. John Ryan was excellent again and took his 2 goals well and was unlucky not to get 2 more. Alex Carragher was excellent in midfield winning a lot of ball and linked play very well and Darragh Murray also played very well up front and was unlucky not to score but made 2 good assists. Stephen Oydajei was very good down the LHS in the first half and came close to scoring twice and gave his marker a torrid 30 mins. Finn Durack came on in the second half and was excellent in the last 20 mins and made some excellent runs down the RHS beating his defender easily and taking the ball into the box and crossed well to team mates in the box. Overall a great Team Display and whilst he was not troubled too much to make saves Stephen Kiely was excellent in possession and played like a sweeper making some great passes out to team mates on the wing and up the centre of the pitch to retain possession.
Geraldines v Aisling Annacotty 12 A(4/5/16) League
Aisling Annacotty took on Geraldines in Garryowen Green having won 11 out of 11 matches in the league and a win in Geraldines would give them the league title for 2016. Geraldines are fighting relegation and needed every point they can and set up with a very defensive formation to get the points required. Aisling Annacotty struggled initally on a surface where the grass was very long however after 5 minutes we were awarded a free on the edge of the penalty box and Darragh Murray stepped up to drive the free kick to the roof of the net. Geraldines held it at 1 nil until 10 minutes into the second half when we won another free kick and this time John Ryan stepped up to score with a wonderfully taken free kick. Aisling Annacotty were comfortable for the remainder of the match with all our players doing well. At the end of the match with a 2 nil win Aisling Annacotty 12 A's were league Champions having won 12 from 12 matches and still have 2 league matches to play to complete the league program.
Aisling Annacotty 12 A v Lisnagry A(7/5/16) Cup Semi Final
Aisling Annacotty were drawn at home to Lisnagry in the Cup Semi Final and the match was played in Castletroy Park. The match was played at a great pace with both teams giving everything in what was one of the toughest challenges Aisling Annacotty faced all season. Aisling Annacotty were able to play there possession and passing game on the excellent surface but they were hurried and harried all the time by Lisnagry who wanted to finish their own season with a cup final. In a very competitive but open first half both teams had numerous opportunities to score but it was Aisling who scored first when John Ryan took a pass from Darragh Murray and ran at the Lisnagry defence to score a wonderful goal. John Ryan scored again in the first half to give us a 2 nil half time lead. Our keeper Stephen Kiely was called on numerous times to make saves as Lisnagry had several good goal scoring chances and when he was replaced in the second half by Muiris O'Dálaigh he too came to our rescue with some great goal keeping. In the second half Lisnagry played very well looking for a goal to get them back in the game but it was Aisling who finished stronger and got two late goals with Alex Carragher scoring with a wonderful strike and Finn Durack heading in the fourth Goal. Man of the Match was John Ryan who was excellent throughout the game but this win was built on an excellent defensive performance from Mark Kinsella, Darren Nwankwo and Ben Hayes. Aisling Annacotty will now play Mungret in the under 12 A Cup Final on the Friday 27th May at 6.30pm in Glenbrook. All support welcome.
Aisling Annacotty Team for the above three matches from: Stephen Kiely, Ben Hayes, Darren Nwankwo, Alex Carragher, John Ryan, Darragh Murray, Mark Kinsella, Oisin Williams, Finn Durack, Muiris O'Dálaigh, Matthew Carroll, Stephen Oydajei, Seanie O'hAodha, Matthew Carroll.
All-Ireland UNDER 12 INTER LEAGUE SEMI FINAL (8/5/16)
Well done to the Limerick U-12's LDSL Inter League Team who played their All Ireland Semi Final against the Galway League on Sunday 8th May. Unfortunately the team lost out to an excellent Galway league team on a scoreline of 3-0. Aisling Annacotty had 5 players, John Ryan, Darragh Murray, Finn Durack, Alex Carragher and Oisin O'Connor in the squad this season and we congratulate our players on an excellent season where they won 6 out of 7 matches and won the Munster Title.
Barnardos Tournament
The Barnardos Tournament is fast approaching. Teams are preparing for a great day of soccer on May 22nd.
Summer Soccer Camp
Our annual soccer camp is being held the week of 4th– 8thJuly. Bookings can be made through www.summersoccerschools.ie
Club Communications
Aisling Annacotty has a Facebook page. Give it a like for updates and photos of our teams. We are also on Twitter, follow for updates and finally, our website www.aislingannacotty.ie
Match Reports to aislingpro@hotmail.com .
www.aislingannacotty.com
