Springfield Ramblers Match Reports 18/19th October

U13 Con Elliot Cup
Springfield Ramblers A (1) v St Mary’s A (2)

Under 14 National Cup
Springfield Ramblers (7) v Bunratty United (3)
Springfield 7 Bunratty Utd 3. Springfield dominated from the start and went one up from Colin Lane.Bunratty equalised and Springers took the lead again from Brian Danaj.Colin Lane got a fantastic 3rd goal.Bunratty got a second through some sloppy Springfield defending.The second half was all one way traffic with Springers upping the pace of the game to kill off the opposition.Further goals from PJ O Regan (2) and another from Danaj and a great strike from Keelan Ryan gave Springers a comfortable win.Bunratty pulled a goal back late in the game.Man of the match was Brian Danaj.

U12 Albert Conboye Cup
Under 12 A (1) vs Park Utd. (1)
(Springfield win 3-2 on penalties)

It was David vs Goliath today as the Crazy Gang had home advantage in the first round of the local cup against Park Utd, who play 3 divisions higher than our heroes. The full house got great value for the entrance fee today as the Crazy Gang rekindled the old giant killing tradition with a spectacular performance against their much fancied opponents.

Jake ‘Courtois’ Kennedy simply refused to be beaten between the sticks. The back four of Alex ‘Capn’ Kirk, Dion ‘Di Maria’ Griffin, Conor ‘Yaya’ McNamara and Charlie ‘CR7’ O’Regan gave the classiest of class performances. In midfield, Jake ‘Suarez’ Sawani, Paul ‘Messi’ Murphy, Sam ‘Nasri’ Kennedy and Josh Griffiniesta dazzled in attack and pestered in defence. While up front Ben’ando Torres’ Kennedy used his unique combination of creative football brain and dancing feet to stage many dangerous attacks for Sultan ‘Aguero’ Adebayo who ran and pounded the opponents into submission. In the second half Darragh ‘Ozil’ O’Regan, Ronan ‘Ramos’ O’Connor and Killian ‘Sanchez’ O’Connell doubled our efforts as we continued to rock and roll the visitors.

In the first half, the young Rams were by far the most dangerous team and played with a lot of skill, determination and smarts. They regularly threatened to score but the final finish eluded them. And you could have been forgiven for thinking here we go again when the visitors took the lead on half time. But not today. Seasons best performances all over the field resulted in a scrambled equaliser for ‘Nasri’ Kennedy as sheer will power got the ball over the line early in the second half. All square at the final whistle, extra time ensued and with the teams still even, it went to a squeaky bum time penalty shoot out. Every hand went up as volunteers were sought to take a penalty and the managment team, spoilt for choice with the calibre of characters in front of us, chose 5 able takers.

We scored, they missed, we missed, they scored. You get the picture. But cometh the hour, cometh the man and ‘Courtois’ Kennedy made two spectacular saves to send the Rams galloping into the next round. Hopefully he’ll recover quickly from the stampede that met him after the final save.

So the Sorrento’s sponsored man of the match was ‘Courtois’ Kennedy and he received his Tiki Taco fries from Captain fantastic ‘Yaya’ McNamara as the Crazy Gang slay a giant in the first chapter of this Cup Fairy Tale.

Under 14 Lenoard Gould Cup
Springfield Ramblers B (0) v Churchvilla (1)