Girls U12s:
Last Saturday afternoon in a bitterly cold Samphire Park, the air of excitement was palpable as Fenit Samphires U12 girls arrived for a historic first ever girls’ home match against a strong Killarney Celtic side. This was the Samphires girls first taste of competitive soccer and the players thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they played with all their might urged on by a very supportive sideline.
There was plenty of talent to be seen and the girls will become stronger as the season progresses.
Well done girls, Artur and Aoife. Thanks too to Catherine and Elaine for the orange slices and brownies which were enjoyed by all.
Boys U11s: Samphires 1 v 1 Iveragh (Scorer: Jayden Deady)
A dry, cold and windy day for our U11’s at Samphire Park taking on Iveragh for their first match of the season.
It was a very entertaining game from the whistle and the wind played as an 8th player either side. In a closely fought affair Iveragh gave the first blow with an early pass behind our defence and slotted a neat goal to take the lead. Fenit strengthened up the back line and were unlucky not to level just before half time with a magnificent safe from Iveragh goalie to deflect the ball over the upright.
With Fenit playing with the wind in the 2nd half it always looked likely they would equalize but again the Iveragh goal keeper was giving an exemplary performance and saved 4 fantastic shots within 5 minutes.
Half way through the 2nd half Fenit played some great one twos and gave a great ball in to Jayden Deady to finally level proceedings.
It was all Fenit from here in but again it was going to take something special to pass this goalie. It finished 1-1 a piece and was a fair result overall with the wind playing a major factor in this contest and both goalies pulled off dramatic saves to leave this contest a close affair and level at the end.
Well done to both sides for a very entertaining game. Training continues in John Mitchels all-weather pitch every Thursday 7-8.
Seniors (FAI Junior Cup 4th Round): Glin Rovers 3 v 3 Samphires (Scorers Sean Foley, Ferdia O’Brien, Sean Downey) – Glin win on pens
Our senior team made their exit from the FAI Junior Cup on penalties last Sunday. We started well and went 1 nil up through Sean Downey but conceded just before half time to undo a lot of the good work from the first half. We started the second half poorly and conceded 2 more in the first 15 minutes. We pulled up our socks and got it back to 3 all through Ferdia O’Brien and Sean Foley but we fell at the last hurdle losing the penalty shootout. We probably feel it was one that got away but we wish all the best to Glin in the rest of the competition.
U17: Samphires 4 v 3 Ballyheigue (Scorer: Cian Donnellan, Jonathon Trant, Jack Falvey, Edward Stack)
Our U17s played their long awaited 1st game of the season last Saturday in wintry Fenit and won 4-3 against Ballyheigue in a game that could have gone either way. We had the elements in the first half but conceded first but replied with 3 goals of our own through Cian Donnellan, Jonathon Trant and Jack Falvey. In the second it was all Ballyheigue and they forced 2 goals to make it 3 all with 15 left to play. We played on the counter and defended well in this final period and were rewarded in the final minutes through an Edward Stack goal to give us the victory. Well done to all the lads on the day.
U16: Killarney Celtic ‘B’ 0 v 1 Samphires (Scorer: Cormac Lynch)
Our 16s defeated Killarney Celtic ‘B’ last Friday in a rearranged back match. We started well moving the ball from side to side with pace. We scored what would be the only goal of the game after a Conor Gaynor played a clever free to the unmarked Cormac Lynch who scored. In the second half Fenit continued well with Dara Heim and Edward Stack unlucky not to score. In the final few minutes our opponents piled on the pressure but the defence was resolute to the end to seal a good away victory.
U15: Killorglin ‘B’ 4 v 0 Samphires
Hard luck to the 15s who were well beaten by Killorglin away last Saturday. We had been on a good run up to that match and we hope to see a good response from the squad after this defeat.
U13: Mastergeeha ‘B’ 2 v 4 Samphires (Scorers: Gearoid O’Connor, Barry Hamilton, Oisin McGibney, Donagh Murphy)
The 13s continued on their winning ways with a tough away victory out in Mastergeeha. Against the wintry elements in the first half we were on top for most of the half and went into a 2 nil lead through Gearoid O’Connor and Barry Hamilton. In the final 10 minutes of the half though, Mastergeeha got back into the game and we had to defend well to keep them out but just on half time we were very unlucky to concede one which put a different complexion on the scoreline. The second half brightened up a good bit, the hail showers stopped and the game was quite exciting as both teams expressed themselves as they warmed up. We felt in general we had the better of it but when Mastergeeha came at us through the middle we were under quite some pressure but with Tomás Godley and Billy Walsh at the heart of the defence and Óran Murphy behind them were kept them to long range efforts. We scored a fortuitous goal through Oisin McGibney who threatened throughout after 20 mins but failed to add to this in this period of the game when we were in the ascendancy. Again as the half wore on we had to defend a bit more but threatened on the counter and in the last minute Donagh Murphy scored for the third match in a row to finish the game as a contest leaving it 4-2 to Samphires. Well done to all the players on both teams for such a good game.