Courtesy: Westmeath Independent


Villa retain title as first half power show downs Celtic

By Kevin O’Neill

Temple Seal Villa 3 AC Celtic Hawks 1

TEMPLE Villa successfully retained the ADSL Futsal Stacey Cup by virtue of a 3-1 victory over AC Celtic Hawks in the final of the tournament at Athlone IT last Thursday evening.

Hundreds of proud parents and friends turned up at AIT for the latter stages of the competition, and they were treated to a total of 33 goals from eight matches - an average of more than four goals per game from the quarter-final stage.

The tournament, organised by the Athlone & District Schoolboy/Girl League, was again a rip-roaring success. And so, too, were this fine Temple Villa side, who brought the competition’s main trophy back to Mount Temple for a second year running.

Villa, managed by Eddie Sleator, did most the damage during a first half in which they netted all three of their goals.

The speed and sheer powerful nature of their attacking play caught AC Celtic off guard in the early stages. And although AC Celtic kept trying and showed lots of heart, they were always fighting a losing cause after going 3-0 down before the interval.

AC Celtic came into the final unbeaten after impressing greatly during five group matches and the subsequent quarter and semi-final stages. Temple Villa seemed to grow as the competition progressed though, and were physically stronger than many of their opponents.

Patrick Sleator, Darren Hynes and Billy Berry grabbed first-half goals for Villa, and such a hefty half-time advantage provided too big a mountain for Celtic’s brave heroes to climb.

The game started in somewhat nervy fashion with neither side wanting to give anything away in the opening stages.

Temple Villa drew first blood but Patrick Sleator’s long range drive was always going well wide of the target.

Seconds later, AC Celtic broke upfield and almost got through Villa’s rock solid rearguard. However, the towering Patrick Sleator was on hand to cut out Liam Flowers’ attempted through ball to Chris Roche.

Patrick Sleator again tried his luck from long range but his well struck effort was narrowly wide. However, Sleator’s shoot-on-sight philosophy reaped its rewards in the fourth minute when his drive slipped through the grasp of AC Celtic ‘keeper Cathal Mannion and into the back of the net. Cue wild celebrations in the Temple Villa camp.

And once they found the elusive breakthrough, there was no stopping a rampant Temple Villa.

They doubled the advantage within seconds of their first goal. This time, Billy Berry set up Darren Hynes and he calmly slotted the ball past the exposed Cathal Mannion.

Villa were dominating every sector of the court and could have gone further in front had AC Celtic’s Chris Roche not made a terrific block to deny Billy Berry a certain goal.

AC Celtic rallied briefly but Chris Roche’s drive was well held by Keith Malynn, who provided a safe last line of defence for Temple Villa.

With only a minute remaining in the first half, Villa more or less put the game to bed. Cathal Mannion did superbly to save from Stephen Connolly’s original drive but Billy Berry followed up to blast the rebound into the roof of the net.

There was still time before the interval for AC Celtic’s Chris Roche to strike the post with a thunderous drive but Villa’s three-goal half-time advantage gave them a safe lead at the break.

Celtic spent the majority of the second half on the attack and stretched every muscle to claw their way back in the contest. Chris Roche tested Keith Malynn early on but the Villa ‘keeper coped comfortably.

Midway through the second period, AC Celtic found some hope when Chris Roche, their most impressive player on the night, netted a wonderful individual goal. Roche lifted the ball delicately over a Villa defender’s head before striking a well hit volley past Keith Malynn.

Unfortunately for AC Celtic, they were running out of time and staring defeat in the face. Villa generally managed to weather the storm and almost added to their tally when Stephen Connolly was denied by Celtic ‘keeper Cathal Mannion, who was beaten in the final minute only for defender Liam Flowers to clear off the goal line and leave the final score at 3-1 in Temple Villa’s favour.

Temple Villa are worthy champions and are certainly setting the standard in the two-year old Futsal Tournament. The gauntlet has been laid down to their rivals in the ADSL before next year’s tournament. If next year’s event is anything like this, everyone can look forward to another treat of Futsal in Athlone.

Meanwhile, two goals by Luke Carty gave Hodson Bay a 2-0 win over Willow Park in the third/fourth place play-off.

Temple Villa Seals: Keith Malynn; Patrick Sleator; Billy Berry; Stephen Connolly; Sean Pettit; Darren Hynes; Dylan Molloy; Kevin O’Flaherty.

AC Celtic: Cathal Mannion; Patrick Joyce; Liam Flowers; Cathal Stacey; Chris Roche; Timmi Olahede; Shane Duffy; Dean Kelly.

Referee: Declan O’Connor.



Courtesy: Westmeath Independent


Stacey’s golden goal helps Hawks to win over over Reds

By Kevin O’Neill

AC Celtic Hawks 3 Willow Park Reds 2

IN what turned out to be the most exciting and entertaining fixture of the finals evening at Athlone IT, AC Celtic Hawks secured a place in the final of the second annual Futsal Tournament thanks to a golden goal by Cathal Stacey.

With the game level after normal time (16 minutes) and a five minute extra-time period, the game entered a golden goal period of three minutes.

And just over a minute into the golden goal period, Cathal Stacey, who had several long range efforts throughout the match, finally found his range and sent a piledriver past Shane McEnery in the Willow Park goal.

It was always going to be very harsh on either side to lose this game - particularly on the golden goal rule - and neither set of players really deserved to be on the losing side after dishing up a thoroughly entertaining end to end game of Futsal.

The several hundred spectators gathered to watch the competition’s latter stages were not disappointed by this affair, with chances aplenty at both ends of the court. Apart from the five goals, there was also several instances of the ball hitting the woodwork as each team went hell for leather to seal a place in the final of the second annual Futsal Tournament.

AC Celtic made a quick start to the first eight minute period, with Cathal Stacey smashing an effort off the Willow Park crossbar within seconds of kick-off.

Over the course of the next few minutes, AC Celtic had goalkeeper Cathal Mannion to thank for a couple of fine saves. Firstly, Mannion saved well with his legs to deny Habib Sanusi after fine approach play by Willow Park’s Corey Reid. Seconds later - and with the game being played at helter-skelter speed - Mannion again saved well, this time denying Corey Reid from close range.

The flow of these matches tends to change extremely quickly - and this proved the case here.

AC Celtic were suddenly in the ascendency and were desperately unlucky not to break the deadlock when the hugely impressive Chris Roche’s shot beat Shane McEnery but crashed off the crossbar and away to safety. It was the second time AC Celtic had struck the woodwork inside three minutes of play.

AC were further denied when Habib Sanusi got back to head Cathal Stacey’s header off the Willow goal line.

Ryan Gaffey was having a good impact on Willow Park’s attacking play and was unfortunate to see his well struck left-footed effort pushed away to safety by Cathal Mannion.

Willow had another let-off when Cathal Stacey beat Shane McEnery to a loose ball only for Willow’s Michael Doolin to do brilliantly when hacking the ball off the line.

A blistering yet scoreless half ended when Ryan Gaffey’s delightful backheel set up Jack Ruane for a strike at goal but his effort was soundly turned around the post by Cathal Mannion.

Willow Park were on the back-foot during the opening minutes of the second half and had Shane McEnery to thank for a terrific save from Chris Roche’s long distance effort.

But AC Celtic found the breakthrough goal on eleven minutes.

Patrick Joyce managed to burst past his marker near the touchline and his hopeful shot squeezed in between the Willow ‘keeper and the near post to give AC a valuable lead. However, it was short lived.

Willow Park responded straight from the restart when Habib Sanusi’s excellent low finish found the bottom corner of the net. It was breathtaking stuff.

AC replied with a couple of good attacks. Cathal Stacey’s powerful drive was just wide of goal before the same player, Stacey, saw another goalbound strike well blocked by Willow Park defender Michael Doolin.

Ryan Gaffey then set up Habib Sanusi for a strike at goal but Cathal Mannion got down swiftly to save.

But Sanusi was not to be denied and gave Willow the lead with a well struck shot following hard work by Jack Ruane.

Just as Willow had done though, AC Celtic replied in an instant, as Chris Roche blasted home from the restart.

Both sides had a couple of good chances during extra-time, with Habib Sanusi going closest for Willow and AC Celtic almost notching a winner through Chris Roche, whose shot struck the woodwork with only seconds remaining. Ryan Gaffey was also forced into a last ditch defensive block to deny Shane Duffy an almost certain winning goal for AC Celtic.

The winner eventually arrived a minute into the golden goal period, with Cathal Stacey emerging the hero and sending AC Celtic into the final.

AC Celtic Hawks: Cathal Mannion; Patrick Joyce; Liam Flowers; Cathal Stacey; Chris Roche; Timmi Olahede; Shane Duffy; Dean Kelly.

Willow Park Reds: Shane McEnery; Ryan Gaffey; Habib Sanusi; Jack Ruane; Michael Doolin; Corey Reid; David Cleary; Brendan Martin.

Referee: Declan O’Connor.









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com