Friday 27 February 2009

Game 7: Balaga 5 – Manning Park 8

FC Balaga Tongo lacking in Big Game.

As reported before the game, midfielder O'Driscoll and regular goalkeeper Damo were absent for the long awaited game against Manning Park Rovers. Broderick once again dropepd back in between the posts and J.D. called upon his buddy Chainsaw aka Slots aka SLATZ aka a rake of other names kevin was shouting behind me during the game that werent right. Hopes were high and the players seemed wellll up for it going on the pitch, but a lack of organisation on the pitch or something was the teams downfall.

The Cucumbers had a great start as J.D. clocked up towo early enough goals, one from a corner i think that either webz or Rory fired across goal and it seemed to come of Duggans shins and go past Mannings keeper. The next was a ball down the wing from O Callaghan to webz who played a nice touch into the path of Duggan who finished like the best left back in the world, John Duggan.

But Balaga were soaking up the pressure with Deano (who blew some poor fella onto the ground into the nets at one stage) and the bais battling like gladiators or that fella in gladiator that BEATS gladiators, ya Russel Crowe i know... Anyway the the defense was good but Manning Park snuck in a goal 5 minutes before half time. So going into the break, 2-1... (i think)

After getting some very welcome but probably bad for us redbull at half time, fair play to Rory who i noticed didnt drink any, ATHLETE!!! The second half kicked off and i cant really rememebr anything but i do know Parker put a beauuuuut of a chip to the back post from a corner kick and Rory Browne executed one sexy first time side-ish volley straight into the back of the net. Rory also got another and Webz added one to his tally tooo.

But despite Balagas cutting edge in front of goal, they let themselves down making some terrible decisions, tackles, and general play and conceded 7 goals as heads dropped all over the place and impatience destroyed the shape of the team. That or we didnt have shape. 8-5 win and fair bowellll to manning park who deserved it. Also of note Kev made some spectacular saves at the end.

As Webz commented after the game its better we lost than get another spoofy draw. Prob the kick up the posterior Balaga need to get on track again. But only a lot of hard work will do it if the team wants to start enjoying theyre football again like the start of the season. Rumours now shroud the club, with tactics, formation, passion, love, work ethic and gender all coming into question.

ELSEWHERE in the league Sevin Sinners continued theyre great run by thumping Rosies 9-0... Seven FC still top the table after a 8-3 win over World Class and the Upsetters drew 4-4 with Balagas oppostion for next week, Ma Dulleas. This leaves the table looking like this, although i can barely look... tear.



Kev might have some good video footage, but its prob depressing, although it may be motivational!

Monday 23 February 2009

CL Last 16 Sweepstakes Draw Preview


The "last 16" matchs throw up some interesting games.

With current keeper Damo and Chelsea up against previous keeper Bundy and Juventus in the first game. Then there is wonderkid J.D. and Villareal up against Balaga legend Paul Scott and
Panathinaikos. Braintrust members Webz and George will battle it out in the sporting, bayern tie. A tight game is instore when Phil and Freds Athletico and Porto come up against each other. 223 homies Tom and Blake are the names for the Lyon Barca game, with ShinShins Barca odds on to come out of that and win the cup! Sicknote Deano and Ian McC's will battle it out in a very big game between 2 of the biggest clubs in Europe, Real and Liverpool. Sean and Rorys Arsenal-Roma-super-Pinecroft-head-to-head is another interesting one, where allegiances are split! The last game is the only all balaga tongo squad match up where kevs Inter come up against Parkers Man Utd, the current champions.

Heres the list of odds for winning the cup and the 80 bones that i should really be collecting:

3/1 - Barcelona - BS
11/2 - Man Utd - SP
7/1 - Chelsea - DK
9/1 - Inter Meeelan- KB
12/1 - Real Madrid- GD
13/1 - Liverpool - IMcC
14/1 - Aresenal - RB
14/1 - Bayern Munich - GmcG
20/1 - Juventus - AOF
22/1 - Villareal - JD
22/1 - Roma - SN
28/1 - Atletico Madrid - POD
50/1 - Lyon - TOC
80/1 - Panathinaikos - PS
80/1 - Porto - FN
100/1 - Sporting - EK

Check out the recording of the draw here

Thursday 19 February 2009

Game 6: Balaga - Upsetters... Further Report.

Damo Kennedy recovering after collision.

With Damo now recuperating at his homestead, things are looking a bit more positive then on Wednesday night when the incident had some Tongolese shook. Scans and Tests came back positive for nathin'. No face breakage thankfully! Video footage of the incident has now been released by Kev, daycent!




See the full list of Balaga Video posts here.

Regarding the result of the game, Balaga and Upsetters club management along with league officials have worked out a solution whereby the second game, later in the season, will be played for 6 points.

Other Division 2 results went somewhat in Balagas favour as previous league leaders Manning Park recieved heavy 7-3 defeat to Ma Dulleas. Both Seven FC and Seviin Sinners recorded 6-3 victorys over World Class and Rosies respectively. This means Seven FC have jumped up to first place with Manning Park in second and Balaga in 3rd with their "game in hand".


The much anticipated crunch game between high flying Manning Park Rovers and FC Balaga Tongo will be played at 7 next wednesday in Garryduff. In some early team news, O'Driscoll will miss the game as he travels to the Emirates to see Arsenal-Roma, lucky duck!

CL Last 16 Sweepstakes Draw Results


Wednesday 18 February 2009

Match Cancelled.... Damo OWNED!!!

Match 6 saw Balaga face Upsetter's who finished 2nd last season in Division 2. The same formation was employed with Damo kid in goals, back 3 of Tom, John and Phil. Midfield saw Parker back from an enjoyable holiday alongside Rory with the leading goalscorer Webz up front.

The match began slowly again as Balaga quickly conceded a sloppy enough goal. Upsetter's certainly lived up to their name as Tom was stuck marking a fella up front who wasn't afraid to give his point of view of any rough stuff, not afraid to give dish it out either though. A tussle looked to be brewing as within the first 10 minutes both players had words on 2 different occasions.

The scores were leveled soon enough as Rory latched onto a long ball and slotted it past the keeper for his seventh of the season.

The biggest incident of the night though occurred soon afterwords as unfortunately Parker lost possession in midfield and a through ball set the fella up front for Upsetter's 1 on 1 with Damo with a steam rolling Tom in chase. Damo ran out to the edge of his box and slid for the ball. The Upsetter's fella slid to shoot and collided with Damo who saved the shot. Unfortunately for Damo though the onrushing Tom OWNED the Balaga number 1 after smacking his knee/elbow into the face of Kennedy. It has to be said though that this was through no fault of any player involved.

Damo lay concussed on the floor and after quick thinking by the Balaga captain who laid Balaga's stricken keeper onto his side and checked for any tongue swallowage. The Ambulance guys were called and Damo was taken away, awake but groggy. Initial reports are good and here's hoping the trusty keeper is back for next week, possibly with a rugger hat!!

Both teams decided to cancel the game and a decision has to be made about the future fixture.

Get well soon Damo from all at Balaga...

Thursday 12 February 2009

Sign Up For Sweepstakes Draw

O Spots left - Draw Tonight!!!

16 entered: Blake S, Paul S, George McG, Kevin B, Tom O'C, Webz K, Phil O'D, Ian McC, John D, Sean N, Fred N, Rory B, Stephen P, Damo K, Graham D, Alan O'F...

With the first knock out round of the UEFA Champions League kicking off on the 24th of February, it is time to announce the first annual Official FC Balaga Tongo Champs League Super Sweepstakes Draw.

The 16 teams.

Following in the format of previous World Cup and Euro Championship sweepstakes draws , entrant and team names will be randomly pulled out of 2 separate hats and paired up.

Entry will cost €5 with the full €80 pot going to the person with the team who lifts the trophy!!!

Reserve your place in the competition soon by leaving a comment below, lamping me a text, email, facebook, bebo, some other inteweb thing, or maybe even in real lifess?!! All welcome...

Once the 16 spots are filled, the draw will be recorded live and posted here with analysis and odds.

Game 5: Balaga 6 - Seven FC 6

Browne To The Rescue As Edgy Balaga Battle For Point.

After a rollercoaster of a night, which saw Balaga behind for most of the game and in the lead with one minute to go, the match ended with a fair result and one both teams should be happy with.

With Parker and Damo absent from the squad, Fred Nagle came in as cover for the Tongelese side. Broderick had to drop into goal (where he had not played for Balaga since their first season) to cover Damo, and the rest of the side lined out in a familiar enough formation of Duggan, O'Callaghan, Deano across the back, O' Driscoll and Browne in midfield, Webz upfront and Nagle on the bench, keen to get his first Balaga cap before jetting off to Australia next week.

Although not quite as caught as Ireland were in their International match with Georgia last night, Balaga didn't get off to a smooth start as Seven looked the sharper side and it showed as Balaga conceded 2 early goals due to poor defensive organisation and lapses in concentration. But Browne was looking as determined as we have seen him in a Balaga shirt and pulled one back for the cucumbers with a fine solo effort soon afterwards.

About 15 minutes in, O'Callaghan was caught on the nose (which was dawked at the weekend too) by an elbow. A quick substitution was made in the hope the blood flow could be stopped. Nagle was ready and slotted into left back as Duggan dropped into the center. Minutes later things didnt get any better, as Deano looked to have strained some sort of leg muscle and was struggling.

O'Driscoll, Browne and Webz searched hard for the goals to get Balaga back in the game and were not getting much joy from a tough Seven back line. But O'Driscoll did eventually find the net. He recieved the ball from a Deano throw in and fired off a powerful strike. Meanwhile Seven FC were controlling most of the first half procedings and scored another 2 goals, to make the score 4-2 before half time. By this time O'Callaghan had stemmed the bleeding and had replaced the injured Deano.

Unsuprisingly the dressing room/dugout was not a happy place to be at half time. But frustration with the performance didnt boil over and the team kept their heads, coming out for the second half more focused and with more purpose.

It was another very tough tightly contested half where webz was working hard but finding little joy against the strong Seven defenders and O' Driscoll had a tough job of trying to hold the midfield with Browne. Duggan, O'Callaghan, and Nagle were communicating a bit better and were doing their best to stop the Seven attacks.

Browne showed great skill to get his name on the scoresheet twice with two absolutely cracking shots drivinig Balaga right back into the match. O' Driscoll got another too, this time recieving the ball from a Nagle throw in and shooting past the Seven keeper. But Seven got one themselves and the score was 5-5 going into the last 5 or so minutes.

Balaga then scored their 6th to put them in the lead The goal itself was a nice counter attacking move started by Duggan, involving O'Driscoll and O'Callaghan and then finished cooly by Webz.

So it was 6-5 and Balaga just had to hold out for the last few minutes, Seven piled on the pressure and Browne was forced to drop back into defence as Balaga were pinned back. Some heroic defending and goalkeeping by Broderick kept the lead intact. But it wasn't to be and on 59 minutes a lofted ball to the back post was struck well by a Seven FC fella giving Broderick no chance and the game finished honours even.

A good result on the night but Balagas title aspirations will be put into question after a game which saw them palying poorly at times. Definate frailtys in defence were shown again as the players seemed to be uncomfortable and lacking organisation. Captain O'Callaghan commented:

"We have some good players at the back and in midfield but we were caught a lot last night and I am not happy with the performance in that respect and i need to take responsibility for most of that and get it sorted. But the grit and determination shown was excellent to see and although we couldn't hold on for the win the lads really fought to get back in the game after a first half we would like to forget."

When asked about the games intensity(texted) this morning, midfielder O'Driscoll said:

"Can Barely move... Got a knee into the ribs/hip in the first minute and was in agony for the game! Back is wrecked too. A draw awas a fair result though... they were handy."

With Manning Park beating World Class 5-1, Balaga Tongo and Seven drop into joint second place. Fourth are the Upsetters who got a great 8-1 result over fifth placed Rosies. Elsewhere Sevin Sinners beat Ma Dulleas 4-2.


With Parker back from France early next week and Damo hopefully not doing any late shifts Balaga Tongo should have a full squad and will aim to get back to winning ways against an Upsetters team coming of the back of 2 good wins.

Video Highlights Coming Soon!


note: match report may not represent actual events exactly.


Friday 6 February 2009

Game 4: Balaga 6 - Sevin Sinners 3




Match 4 of the Balaga Tongo season saw the cucumbers face bottom side Sevin Sinners. Balaga were back to full strength following the return of Rory Brown to the starting line up. The starting 7 was Damo in goals, John, Tom and Deano in defense. Rory, and Parker made up the midfield with leading goal scorer Webz up front. Subs for the night were Kevin and Phil.

It was a slow first 5 minutes before Tongo made the break though with a brace of goals to shatter any Sinners early confidence. The first was from on form striker Webz, after some neat interplay from the midfield. Little is know about the actual goal as stand in cameraman Sean Nicholson failed to record any of the first half goals. Rory missed a one on one with the keeper afterward but made up for it with 2 fine goals to make it 3-0 to Tongo. One of these goals was described by Webz after the match "well, Phil played it across from the left wing, the defender heard a shout from the keeper who let it roll, but Rory came in between the keeper and the defender and slotted it home". Balaga's forth came from John Duggan, who started and finished a fine Balaga break. The sequence of passes saw John, Rory, Phil and Parker all involved. Parker crossed for he onrushing Duggan to slot home his forth of the season. Goal number 5 came from Parker(no info on the goal, sorry!)

A lax half time talk didn't help Tongo's second half display and after goal number six by Webz, his 2nd(caught on video)seemed to seal the deal players slacked off and decided to relax. So much so that some rare errors in defense saw a quick 3 goals from the number 7 fella reignite Sinners hopes. After these scares though the back 3 tightened up and Balaga ended the match with a 6-3 victory.

The victory saw Balaga stay on top albeit just on goal difference. A tough match is in store next week as a top of the table clash against Seven FC is in store. Parker is missing due to well deserved holiday, and techno day is on in UCC (an annual stumbling block for Balaga numbers), but players have agreed to attend... Video to follow.