Friday 23 April 2010

Passage Shut Down.

FC Balaga Tongo were the latest team to benifit points wise from Passage Rejects going into administration and therefore not having a team in the second half of the season.

This leaves Balaga on 2 points with Dulleas who got the better of 4th placed Mortgage 5-4. Temple inn have had a resurgence moving up to 18 points now 2 behind them. 5th place Abtran are Balaga's final opponents and hopefully the cucumbers can seal victory and second spot, although a favour from Temple Inn would be handy as they play Dulleas next Wednesday.

Far from Dull as Balaga shine.

After the very disappointing loss to QEF Global the previous week, Balaga knew they were out of the title race. But a game against Ma Dulleas was just the tonic to get the team back together playing footy and getting as many points out of this season as possible. Gary Breen was rumoured to be playing before the game but this turned out to be untrue as the full Cucumber squad was available, maybe most importantly formation wise goal keeper Damo Kennedy was back after playing house down in Kerry and ditching his teammates the week before!



The game plan was to have Tristan and David W to go at theyre backs from the start, chasing down everything and try to ware them down and not give them time to pick passes. JD John Duggan and ODriscoll would then come on and do the same up front. Webz and Parker were behind them and would clean up everything in midfield as Broderick and OCallaghan would try to mark their strikers out of the game.

In reality something kinda like that happened...

Ma Dulleas were kept pretty quiet and although Joe, Biffo, Nala and Heno made breaks they were usually snuffed out before causing any danger to the Balaga goal. Damo was on hand when there was any shots though as he was making saves left right and centre with all his limbs. Balaga were doing well on the break and were 3 goals up before they knew it.

The first came from Parker who fired a great long distance effort from the rights side. The keeper looked to get a hand to it but this only made things worse as the power in the shot caused the keeper to knock it straight into his own net. PEOW FLAP.

Then it was Hurley's turn. A long high ball to the front pair and David W took it down Berbatov stule and layed it off for an incoming Hurely who smashed his half volley into the top right corner. DINK BAM.

The third was another quick break, Parker made headway down the right channel and held back from firing off another shot as David W , OCallaghan and Hurley were all shouting for it on the back post. It was OCallaghan who got the touch, and it was an easy side foot as the ball from Parker had the defense and keeper beat already. WHOOSH PING.



JD and Phil were on at this stage and continued to press. Seeing his oppurtunity and being one that doesn't like not to score, Webz forced the fourth a few minutes before half time, gathering the ball on left he put it on his good peg and wanged a nice effort at the Dulleas goal. The shot like Parkers was slightly high but the power had the keeper confused and deciding to deal with it instad of leaving it go over he flapped it down into his net also. BANG PLOP.

Lamp the link for full size images, video lowlights coming soon!

Half time came and Balaga were pumped. It looked like it was going to be the 2nd time beating Ma Dulleas after the mauling at the end of last season. There was still work to do though and any comeback would have to quenched as Dulleas stars were sure to be up for the second half.

That they were and Balaga were under a lot of pressure finding it hard to hold onto the ball for any long periods. Two goals from Dulleas followed but in between these Balaga were limiting their opposition to long shots. Damo had no fear as he came out to gather the ball when it did go behind his defenders.

The cucumbers continued to battle hard and it was JD who sealed the victory as he was at the end of another Balaga break away. Tristan making the run and winning the throw down the right picked it up fast and saw JD waiting at the top Dulleas box. His throw was pinpoint and JD obliged with a neat touch into the net to make it five. WANG TIP.

The win left Balaga joint second with Ma Dulleas, ahead on head-to-head, but behind on goal difference. This ensured QEF were champions as neither team can catch them at this point with their final game against Passage Rejects a walk over.

Friday 16 April 2010

Balaga's attempt to go Global shattered

With Balaga’s biggest match in 2 or 3 seasons about to take place, keeper Damo Kennedy dropped the BoB Deep bomb and decided to stay in Kerry with his woman/friend for an extra day and only informed captain Tom O'C that morning.



This left Balaga high and dry and as a result Kev was taken from defence and placed in goal, with JD dropping back into defence from midfield. It affected Balaga’s balance and although they took the lead, they lost the match 4-1(Dave W getting the goal), mainly down to players being out of position and the team never settling correctly. 

It left the Balaga team with only 2nd place to play for which made it too depressing to write this blog for a week. Tongo lied 3rd in the table after the match, 4 points behind QEF and 3 behind Ma Duleas. 

Mothaf*%kers

Thursday 1 April 2010

Temple No Place of Solitude as Balaga Torment Tigers.

It was a cool evening in Garryduff last night as Balaga lined out to face the Temple Inn Tigers, a team they edged victory against 7-6 earlier in the campaign. David W was back so it was a full squad of 9 for only the second time this season.



The start of the match was quiet and it was the cucumbers that went 1-0 down as they needed to wake up everywhere. O'Driscoll was causing problems up front and Tristan supporting him was getting on the ball as well looking for the break through. At times the Tigers seemed overrun as JD and Webz came from midfield to support the front two and soon Balaga equalised through Duggan as Hurley found him in the centre of the box with a pinpoint throw and the header was straight into the far corner past a flapping goalkeeper. In fact the goalkeeper was their usual best player stuck in goals for 20minutes as Temple's regular keeper was absent.

As soon as he came out field he was causing danger for the Tongolese and made it 2 for Temple Inn as the defenders struggled with his pace and strength. Duggan then got involved again as it was his shot came of the keeper onto the crossbar and into David W's path, the striker just on a minute before for O'Driscoll happily knocked it in. More Balaga pressure and a free kick was earned 15 yards out in the centre of the pitch, Duggan hammered his effort through the wall, a lurking Parker, attempting to break his 5 game goal duck, blocked the keepers view and the ball found its way through the two of them and into the net. Tristan got himself got on the score sheet. Breaking down the right wing he picked his spot in the opposite corner to make it 4-2 at half time.

After sorting out how to defend against the two front men and the Rory Delap like throws from the strong looking earringed chap at the back for Tigers, Broderick and O'Callaghan seemed much more comfortable. Damo though was called into action on occasion and no more so than when the Tigers striker turned and whipped a fine effort at the top right corner, Damo flung himself and got his fist to it to put the ball over the bar and Balaga were safe again. Super Save! Duggan didn't have the same luck as the first half though and his best opportunity saw the midfielder fire high high high.

Webz on a goalscoring streak of late then finished off Temple Inn in real style with 2 good goals. The first came from a throw in on the left as Webz gave it to Parker who chested it down for his midfield partner and Webz duley obliged by hammering it high inside the near post. The second was opportunistic if anything else as the Temple Inn defense were confused Webz picked up the ball between two men and strode through on goal "thinking David W is a defender, struck it early between the keepers legs" and 6-2 FC Balaga Tongo.

Other results saw Ma Dulleas held to a 4-4 draw against Abtran, to the delight of the Balaga faithful! QEF pipped DouglasMortgage.ie 2-1, a draw would of been better! And finally and surprisingly the Friars ran out 5-0 winners against Passage.



It was an excellent team performance on the night and if Balaga can keep playing together like this they could still be challenging for the title come the end of the season. Big games loom for the cucumbers though with league leaders QEF Global up next and then second placed Ma Dulleas before games against Passage Rejects and Abtran Connects.

VIVA LA BALAGA!