Bright and breezy but not easy!
Game Report Saval U11 Og’s

Saval’s U-11 Og’s played Clonduff on a sunny but breezy Sunday morning at Nan Sands. Saval’s Captain Patrick Hamilton won the first physiological battle of the day by winning the rock, paper, scissors on the half way line and chose to play with the wind.

With the wind on their backs, Saval got off to a flyer, with Caolan Toner, Niamh McWall, Patrick Donnelly, Joe Murtagh and Cillian Mc Clorey playing champagne football which resulted in some great scores and left their opponents heads spinning! Ryan Hillen, Jacob Hughes , Daniel Turley and Matthew McCorry were dominating the midfield area and Clonduff’s rare encroachments into Saval’s half of the field were ably snuffed out by Halle Grant, Odhran Sands and James O’Neill.

Following half time, Clonduff had the aid of the wind and Saval immediately found themselves under pressure! Clonduff started picking off some nice scores but the Saval team working harder than a Garry Sand’s tarring squad, made Clonduff sweat for each score. Helped by some great Darragh Mc Daniels saves and wonderfully accurate kick outs from the big man, Saval started to find their feet again and with some great link play and running off the ball, Caolan ‘The Poacher’ Toner and Cillian ‘the Wavy headed Wonder’ McClorey were both able to find the back of the net.

Clonduff really put pressure on Saval’s half time lead but with some big tactical changes by the management duo of Cathal Grant & Jemma Quinn, Saval started to dominate the final 3rd of the game. Halle Grant and Ryan Hillen were sweeping up all incoming balls to the Saval half and their endeavours and pin point passing were rewarded with some great scores by the forwards. Matty McCorry, Jacob Hughes, Joe Murtagh and Daniel Turley were sensibly playing the ball through the hands against the breeze and Saval were unlucky not to have more scores by the end of the game! The referee was frankly having a wonderful performance by letting the game flow and this made for an even and keenly fought game!

Ultimately Saval were slightly better than their opponents but in the current climate of non-competitive games and no scored taking, the team that scored 2 points more must remain silent 🤫 😉💪🏽🇳🇬

Well done everyone!