Courtesy: Fingal Independent


Rivervalley finding their Futsal feet

Wednesday August 24 2011

It's a windy and wet Monday night up in Donabate, but the Futsal players of Rivervalley Rangers are well protected as they take on Newton Heath in the Emerald League.

Managed by Peter Fijolek, they are currently Fingal's only representative in the sport (although that is about to change with St Ita's entering a team for the forthcoming FAI Futsal Cup which will be played in the new year) and they picked up a welcome 6-2 win, with Mark Flynn registering a hat-trick.

The Donabate Portrane Community Centre provides the venue for the game and the quality on show is top-class.

The league is in its third year and was set up in conjunction with the FAI's interal cultural programme to help provide regular high-quality Futsal for players from Ireland and around the world that are resident in the country.

Fijolek came over from Poland five years ago and played with both Wexford Youths and St Patrick's Athletic Futsal teams before a knee injury forced him to retire.

As a former goalkeeper he would probably have fully appreciated the heroics of Anthony Dowdall, who was exceptional on the night.

The Malahide man, who was called up to train with the Irish squad prior to their European Championship campaign in February, was a major thorn in the side of Newton Heath as he pulled off a Gordon Banks-type save after the break to keep his goal intact.

Captained by Shane Brady, Rivervalley certainly had their hands full for a while, having led 4-1 in the first half.

But they finally put the game to bed when Flynn found the top corner with a cracking shot with his left foot.

Other goals on the night come from Brady and Liam Dempsey and, having lost narrowly to B&H United in their last game (they had led 2-0) Fijolek – who formed the team with Liam Cullen last year – admits that his side are still finding their feet.

'The first season was very tough. We were nearly beaten by everyone. We were up against some very experienced teams like Shamrock Rovers, so it took a while to find our feet.

'It's a totally different type of football compared to the 11-a-side. It's different tactics where you are moving all the time and there are no positions and you are basically playing everywhere.'

Given the Arctic conditions we had last year, Futsal is sure to become very popular over here and in Peter's home country.

'In Poland we have very cold winters, so we can't actually play outside.'

RIVERVALLEY RANGERS: Michal Raiski, Adam Sheedy, Mark Purcell, Brian McLoughlin, Rob Murphy, Anthony Dowdall, David Kane, Shane Brady, Liam Dempsey, Mark Flynn, Darevy




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