Thursday 21 May 2009

Premier Auto Taken Apart

Fears of complacency were overcome as Balaga scored 12 in a rout of Premier Auto Parts.

With fears of goal tender Damo Kennedy being late due to traffic issues, Balaga were forced to re-think their starting lineup, but this re-thinking was re-thought with minutes to spare, as Kennedy arrived with, no.1 Balaga fan and no.1 Damo girl, Ashling in tow. Problems continued though as the Tongelese 8 were seen passing an imaginary football around during the warm up, it came to light that gear man O' Driscoll had forgotten to bring his balls.

The pre-match issues did not phase the Balaga team though as they setup to face Auto Parts with a new formation said to be decided on when they were drinking for JD's 21st last Friday. Playing only Broderick and O'Callaghan at the back with a 3 man midfield of Parker, Browne and David W , and Webz starting upfront as O'Driscoll had to be satisfied with sitting on the bench for the first 15 minutes. Balaga Tongo got into full stride quickly as they attacked Auto Parts quickly and regularly.



The first goal came from a throw in as Parker flung a ball into the area for David W to get on the end of, his glancing header was enough to put it in the goal and but the cucumbers 1-0 up. Webz was next on the score sheet as he received the ball just outside the Auto Parts area, he turned and fired his effort past the helpless keeper. Soon after this Broderick popped up with his second of the season, Browne was involved again as his free kick was mis-read by the keeper and bungled onto noggin of the onrushing Broderick to make it 3-0. In a strange yellow card occurence the Auto Parts attacker was hauled off for 5 minutes i think for giving out to the ref. Balaga had even more time on the ball and the next goal was an excellent move in which David W won the ball in his own half, passed out to the right wing for Browne to make some yards, and his inch perfect cross was met by David W who had run most of the length of the pitch to touch the ball into the net, 4-0. O'Driscoll came on for Webz and with his first touches of the ball could of scored, and he didn't have to wait long as he was at the end of a Parker shot across the goal, getting the necessary poke to make it 5-0. O' Driscoll doubled his tally within minutes, as an Auto Parts break came to nothing, Kennedy made a quick move to get his kick out high and long to a very open O'Driscoll, this kick ended up going hard and low but an unlucy Auto Parts defender had a deflection come off his his heel sending the ball over the last defender and into the path of O' Driscoll, who proved he hadn't left all his balls at home and his jump in front of the onrushing keeper was perfect, the header dropping nicely into the Premier Auto Parts goal. David W was taken off then as Webz came back on in his natural striker role, and O' Driscoll dropped off into midfield. One of the rare Auto Part attacks resulted in a corner kick and a disorganised Balaga defence was left wanting as a Parts striker got a tap in at the near post. Kennedy was irate with his defenders marking, and rightly so. But before the whistle blew for half time Parker was able to get his name on the score sheet and showed real quality with the deftest of back post touches after Browne had put him through.

7-1 and morale was high at half time, which was taken up mostly with players trying to get their names in the referees notebook for goals. O'Callaghan was said to be disgusted with his teams petulance but was more likely disgusted with how he did not get a goal himself.

Kev came off for David W to fill in at the back at the start of the second half. Confusion was brewing though, as David W indicated he was a crap "corner back" and was seen mostly on the ball in the oppositions half with O'Callaghan shouting at him. But with Parker covering when David W made his runs the Auto Parts were kept at bay. Balagas attacks were still frequent but lady luck eluded them as there was some missed chances from O'Driscoll, Webz and maybe Rory who id say at this stage was gagging to get his name on the score sheet. O'Callaghan came off for Kevin 10 minutes into the second half and a puaaarrrre lack of communication from the captain resulted in Kevin not knowing who should of been playing beside him. 2 quick Auto Parts goals was the result of this before O'Driscoll moved back into defence to give the Tongelse their shape again . Browne then came off as O'Callaghan slotted back in beside his partner in hoofing and tackles Broderick. Auto Parts seemed to tire and this is when Balaga pounced for another 5 goals. Webz'z Tevex like pressure payed off as he won the ball and stroked it into the net to make it 8-3. Parker added to his first half goal with a long range effort nestiling into the bottom left corner, cozy as ya like. Webz hit his hattrick then as O'Driscoll found O'Callaghan running into space on the right wing, his cross was met by Webz whos clinical touch found the corner of the goal, not a bother. It didn't take long to make it 4 though as Phils pressure on the Auto parts defence found him on the ball 10 yards out, he put a low pass to the back post which Webz was able to bang into the roof of the net from close range, the way he likes it. Colin the other half of this season record crowd was seen going wild in the stands shouting Webz'z name and brandishing his navel. Rory Browne came on for the last few minutes as Parker took his rest and Browne finally got his name on the score sheet to add to his string of assists. Webz was bungled over just outside Parts area and Browne drilled the ball low and hard under the fooled wall and into the net, 12-3, yes baiiiii. Premier Auto Parts never really dropped their heads though and kept attacking Balaga up to the final whistle, this paid off for them as they scored with the last shot and touch of the game to make it 12-4.


Not much to say after this as my hands are bate out now, but a great result puts Balaga into 3rd place on goal difference. Top of the table Upsetters beat douglasmortgage 9-1, second place Mercer saw off the Cowboyos 4-1 and Rosies won their match against Bare-Arse 8-3. This leaves the Div2 table split into distinct top and bottom halves already.


With A break for the Champions League Final next week, FC Balaga Tongo will face 2nd place Mercer the following week.

Friday 15 May 2009

Balaga cripple Cowboys



A perfect evening for football greeted Balaga Tongo for their first match of the new summer season. New signing David W had to be happy with a place on the bench for the Balaga opener against new-comers Callas Cowboys. Balaga's starting line-up was:


Balaga wanted to stake a claim for the division 2 title early on this season and saw new-comers Callas Cowboys as a easy enough start, so it was widely thought, as history shows, favourite tags don’t suit the cucumbers, a win wasn’t a fore gone conclusion.

But right from the start Balaga began attacking the Calla defense. A corner kick on the left taken by Parker, was fired into the box where Kev took a left foot shot which appeared to be going in but for a deflection off Webz, who tried his best to avoid the collision. Soon afterwords however, Balaga found the opener with a goal from Rory. A loose ball out the right wing was just about kept in play by Webz who passed it forward to Parker. Steve controlled it and squared it to Rory for the finish.
A second for Balaga was soon to follow, this time Parker was the scorer, a carbon copy of the first, but this time the assist came from Rory. Just before this Phil made way for David W, who was to make his competitive debut for the club. His first piece of action was to find Rory for the midfielders assist to Balaga second goal.

If Balaga thought this was going to be a walk in the park though, they were mistaken. Callas showed good spirit to fight back and began to cause problems in the Balaga defence. Two goals from their best player and a superb save from Damo saw the cucumbers happy enough to be level. The Balaga goalkeeper had to dive full stretch down to his left to divert a Calla free kick around for a corner. A shot by Phil from the right whistled by the Calla keeper’s left hand post. 2-2 at half time.

The second half saw Balaga step up the pressure again, and as a result, had plenty of chances, even the defense got in the action, with Tom O’C taking another shot which was high though, along with Kevin who had a shot on target, and a text book Broderick bullet from outside the box which nestled in the top corner of the net, not the goal net however, the nets to prevent such way ward shots heading out in the road. No such net could prevent Parkers shot soon afterwords though which avoided the nets, the fence, the road and the neighboring wall for the kids to play with in the morning. Although some shots were way ward Balaga did deserve their third and a deserved second of the night for Rory. Unfortunately memories of the goal are sketchy, Phil O’D recalled it was passed in Arsenal style, which would suggest, a move without a finish, or end product so clearly it wasn’t like Arsenals style! Webz, when asked about the goal “I missed it, i was coming off”. From sketchy reports, it was a fine move finished off by Rory, assisted by the inform Parker. Both Parker and Rory were linking up well together with Webz and Phil.

But one goal wasn’t enough, Kevin found David W in the box but for the keeper to react well to save. Balaga had all the possession but the end product wasn’t happening. Then the equalizer came, a result of a free kick with deflected passed a helpless Damo, who still managed to get a hand to it. Not much time was left on the clock for Balaga to take all three points, and from the looks of it, Callas were happy with the draw. A chance fell to Webz to win it but he effort went wide. But soon afterwords, Callas tried to clear the ball, they squared it to their centre back who turn into an onrushing Kevin B. The Balaga defender appeared to block the clearance which rebounded into the Calla net. After the match Parker called it a tackle shot, which was to be the winner for Balaga. 4-3 the final score.


So after week 1 Balaga find themselves in familiar territory, in 4th place behind Rosies, last years runners up Upsetters and new comers to the Wednesday night Division 2 league Mercer, who beat Premier Auto Parts 11-1. Balaga face Auto Parts next week so a much larger crowd of zero is expected for the fixture, as goals are assured.

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Sweepstakes Draw - Semi Review and Final Preview

Parker defeats Browne and Shine defeats Damo as only 2 remain in hunt for 80 sheets...

NOTE: 5 euro collections will be started soon... In the case of a barca win, Blakes prize money may have to be drunk.

2009 Spring Review and Summer Preview

Balaga Tongo find themselves on the cusp of a new season in footy.ie Wednesday medium standard football. Participating in their first footie league last season, Balaga finished up with 24 points from 14 games and in 4th position. An early surge saw the Tongolese team at the top of the table but a run of poor mid-season form, following the horror injury to goalkeeper Damo Kennedy, resulted in points lost and what could of been a title challenge faded away, culminating in the routing received in a high profile 6 pointer against the upsetters, a match where defensive linchpin Graham Deano the Rock Deane suffered a horrific broken ankle.


Highlights of the season were of course some great attacking football which saw the team notch up over 60 goals. Christmas signing, playmaker and freekick specialist Rory Browne went on the win the official league MVP award, as well as the FC Balaga Tongo in house MVP award. Eoghan Webz Kennedy continued his prolific goal scoring record in the Cucumbers colours and picked up the FC Balaga Tongo Golden Boot award with 16 goals to his name. Stephen Stefán The Rat Parker ,another Christmas signing, made a big impact on the team and produced some memorable match winning performances, scoring 9 goals in the process. Phil O Driscoll was another good performer adding a touch of class to midfield and occasionally the Balaga front line. The last of the Christmas signings was John JD Duggan who was the most consistent defender of the season and managed to grab 8 goals from his thrilling runs up the wing.



Kevin Broderick, Tom O’Callaghan and Graham Deane all fought hard for the cause throughout the season and although they all individually played very well on occasion, they sometimes lacked the defensive organization and positioning awareness needed. This left their goal tender Damo Kennedy without protection, especially at the start of games. Damo himself had a solid season in between the sticks and came back very strong after his concussion which was a crrredit to him. An improvement is needed though, with the backline conceding over 50 goals in the 14 games and not picking up one cleansheet. O’Callaghan will be looking to have a more settled backline for the forthcoming season and the onus is on the captain to get the right formation.

With Deano and J.D. out with injury and summer trips respectively, transfer rumours were rife with John Owens and Andy Herbert looking like likely introductions but these were not possible and Balaga Tongo management moved before the end of the Spring season to sign David W for the Summer. With a squad of 8 rather than 9, this should result in more continuity in the team. David W himself is a colleague of O’Callaghans from his Dnet days in CIT. A hardworking player who is not afraid to get stuck in David W should fit right into Balaga and add an extra edge to the squad.




With some familiar teams from last season are present again, ie the Upsetters and Rosies. But the league is filled with mostly new ones, Mercer, Premier Auto Parts, Bare-Arse-Alona, Callas Cowboys and douglas mortgages make up the 8. Nothing is known about these 5 teams but if Balaga can get going from the start it shouldn’t matter too much!!!

Talk of a Balaga Tongo 11-a-side team did not materialise yet... but players are there and a place to play is needed!