Wednesday 30 June 2010

Balaga Unlucky But Temple Inn Fair Plucky

Balaga went into last wednesdays game confident they could get back to winning ways after a slight mid-season slump saw them drop points in the last two games. But with a spirited comeback against the Friars last week there was promise of a return to victorious ways.

O'Callaghan was back from his trip. But with David W and Tristan out Mickey O'Sullivan was brought in as cover.


First Half:

The game started off pretty even and Balaga were pressing forward to good affect. With Webz, Dickie and Dunphy in the midfield area breaking up any attacks and looking to go forward when they could. But it was a ball over the top to Temple's main man that broke the deadlock, his quick turn and unstoppable shot flew into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Up step O'Driscoll, the striker has been prolific to say the least in the first half of this campaign for Balaga and he stroked the ball under the oncoming keepers legs after some terrific work from Webz first closing down the Templers defense, later described as 'some sexy ass charging down!!' and then making the square ball to the poised O'Driscoll. 1-1.

This would be the last time that Balaga had the ball in the oppositions net though as strings of chances went by. It wasnt the same for Temple Inn who grabbed 2 more before the break the second a header going wide came off a slow to react O'Callaghan and slipped past Kennedy into the net. 3-1

Second Half:

The second half came and Balaga were even more determined to win a game they thought they should be. But thinking doesnt win you games in the Wednesday Night Footy.ie Division 1 and Balaga had to prove on the astroturf that the deserved it. Pressure upon chances upon oppurtunties went by and it wasn't to be true no lack of effort. Then midway through a horror tackle on Webz on the left wing resulted in a sin binning for the muscular Rory Delap throwalike defender. Temple Inn down to 6 men and Balaga tried and tried again but no cigar and the half ended 0-0 with a final score of 3-1.

Other results saved Balaga's bacon again this week as the league is turning out to be as tight as David W's Wallet. QEF overcame Racing 5-3, Ma Duleas beat DouglasMortgage 6-3 and Red Army got back into form with a 10-1 win over Friars walk. The table:


The next round sees Balaga up against douglasmortgage.ie in what promises to be a great clash!

Friday 25 June 2010

World Cup Last 16


Money so far


Korea DPR - Webz Kennedy (worst team... wins €20)


Uruguay - Blake Shine (best 2nd seed team... wins €20)

Thursday 17 June 2010

Friar prayers earn unwelcome Draw

After a disastrous result last week, Balaga had to get back on track and couldn’t have hoped for a better fixture on paper. Frairs Walk Celtic were bottom of the table with only 1 points all season and were expected to be an easy opponent after last week’s table toppers.
Tom O’C was still out in Barcelona, Dumphy was needed to help his Dad out and with Parker and Dave both in London, Dave “Greener” Green was called back to plug last week’s leaky defence, allowing JD to move back into midfield with Phil up front.



Celtic took kick off and began the better side, with good one touch passing and movement from their midfield. They took advantage of Balaga’s slow start and took an early lead through their midfielder with a great effort outside the box, giving Damo no chance in goals. This didn’t inspire Tongo who once more seemed to be elsewhere early on in the game. Webz came off the bench and Tongo started to string a few passes together and a few efforts just off target. But 1 became 2 for Celtic as a another shot from far out deflected off Webz, under Kevs foot and wrong footed Damo to rattle the net.  

GOAL!!! Balaga Tongo 1-2 Frairs Walk Celtic

Balaga finally started to play ball and with the last kick of the first half the ball landed to john Duggan about 15 yards out, who struck it on the volley to see his effort fly into the top left of the Friars net.

HALF TIME FC Balaga Tongo 1-2 Frairs Walk Celtic

A stern talk at half time saw Balaga pile on the pressure on the Celtic goal after the second half kick off. Shot after shot was saved by the keeper, who managed to stand in the same position for most of them and just get a foot or hand to the ball each time. It was getting frustrating for Tongo and Frairs defence was playing some heroic stuff, just clearing the ball long to release some Tongo pressure. One of these clearances landed to the young lad up front who rounded Kev, and buried it past Damo to break Tongo hearts and make it 3-1.

GOAL!!! Balaga Tongo 2-3 Frairs Walk Celtic

All seemed lost but not long afterwards Balaga were back in it thanks to a calm head from Phil O’D. He collect the ball outside the Frairs box, turned one guy.. then dummied the shot with his right onto his left side and smacked it with outside of right boot into bottom left!!
Tempers heated and more Tongo pressure was starting to find cracks in the Frairs defence, but Damo was called into 2 top class saves late on to keep Tongo in it. Corner followed by corner followed by throw from both wings ended in shots rained down on the Friars goals but Keeper and defender line clearances meant Celtic were hanging on.

GOAL!!! Balaga Tongo 3-3 Frairs Walk Celtic

It was a throw in on Balaga right wing just outside the Frairs box. JD lined it up while Webz hassled the Celtic defender and was pulled down in the box, Phil turned to the ref and shouted "YOU SAW THAT REF" to which the ref shouted "JOHN” and warned the player to cut it out. The ball ended up with a throw out the left and once more where Greener threw it to Phil, who controlled it and hit a shot on goal, meanwhile Webz was again HAULED to the ground, and without warning pointed to the spot!!
After a lot of arguing from the Celtic players Phil stepped up.. slightly nervy..
Phil O’D – “once I hit I instantly thought "SHIT, MISSED" but it pinged into the top corner.. actually couldn’t have been any more into the top corner if i picked it up and placed it there..
A lot of player hand bag issues began to crop into the game and the ref decided to blow it up early, much to the annoyance of the Tongo side, who all in all felt it more like a loss than a draw, but other results went their way and the title is still on.


CAPTIANS VIEW

We were muck in tom's absence. Struggled defensively against racing. Couldn't finish our dinner last night. my biggest concern is people's attitude and hunger to win. This needs to be addressed. Next week we will have a team meeting before the match and if I don't feel that hunger from anyone they won't start. People need to get their heads in the fucking game. Everyone thought we were going to walk all over the ba's last night and that's what really fucked us. Damo said last night that this lot beat us the season before last and they could do it again...but of coarse no one listened. We had players talking about how many goals they were going to score, players who would only move if the ball was within 2 feet of them and players who tried to see how many times they could touch the ball before they got tackled. We lost every 50 50 ball. The ball would break in the midfield and it was like don't worry about it someone else will get it. The attitude only changed when we were in trouble and even then not enough. This doesn't go for everyone playing but most. That game last night could easily be the game that could cost us dearly.
As for our title ambitions.... at present not a chance in hell. We are very lucky that other results went our way. If the lot of us don't cop on we will be lucky to finish above friar's. And you can print that.....

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Balaga lose race to table topping RC

With a Superb start to the season, Balaga Tongo faced they 4th tough game in GW 4. Table toppers Racing Club stood in the way and with Tom O'C out travelling Latino style, it wasnt gonna be easy. the starting 7 -


Balaga moved JD into defence, to cover Tom, but in doing so lost the midfield battle and especially kick-outs. Moving Dave W to centre mid for the kick outs was a step too last as RC had scored about 3 at that stage. All in all it was a nightmare and a final score of 8-1 makes it a night to completely forget. The only plus of the evening was Tristans goal for Tongo.

The table -   


Jun 09 2010
5
2
Jun 09 2010
12
2
Jun 09 2010
1
8
Jun 09 2010
4
3

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Red ref cant help Army overpower Balaga

After last week’s terrific victory over QEF, Balaga faced another tough challenge in table toppers Red Army. Both Webz and Damo were out due to a personal issues so Tongo had to do without their captain and number 1. New signing John Dumphy stepped into goals which allowed Tom O’C and Kevin B to continue their central defensive partnership. The team was:



It was a piping hot 7 o’clock evening kick-off and this caused a slow start to the match, with both defenders guilty of some slack defending at the beginning. Only for JD, Balaga could have found themselves behind early on. The CIT international was playing out of his skin and made sure the back two and midfield were up for the task. With Stevie P back as cover, and Tristan down the other wing, quick breaks were always a problem for Red Army, but some quick passing by Army saw Dumphy make a few vital saves early on.
A throw in from JD out the left to the on running Kev out of defence, saw the defender hit a left foot volley which was goal bound only for it to strike off a helpless Dave on way to goal. Not long after this another JD throw, once more to Kev, was left by the defender for a red hot Phil O’D who controlled it with his left knee, while back to goal. He swivel volley and hit it past the Army keeper for 1-0!!!
The Cucumbers held out for about 5 or 6 minutes before Red Army got the equalizer, through a penalty. A quick attack left Tristan with no option but to slide in to block a shot. The ref had no hesitation in giving the peno, as he had no hesitation giving Army most decisions all night. They buried it and the score stayed at 1-1 till half time.

The second half ebbed too and fro with both sides coming close if not for some good defending by Balaga, (with Dickie and JD contributing to some great interceptions) or some over the top tackling by Red Army. Balaga refused to let the one sided ref to get them down though and with 2 minutes remaining, Phil the goal machine O’Driscoll collected the ball out the Tongo left, controlled it, looked up and hit an unstoppable effort into Army’s near post to leave it 2-1!!!!

The remaining 2 minutes turned into at least 5 or 6 and despite all the effort to allow Army back into it by the ref, Tongo held out to claim their 2nd victory of the season and moved to 2nd in the table on goal difference, after douglasmortage.ie held Racing Club to a 3-3 draw. In other results, QEF picked up their first points of the season with a 2-1 victory over MaDuleas.