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What can be achieved by DG’s going into the Super 7’s League?

A Review of Gameweek 1

A Captains Input

“We don’t have the most skillful players but we do have the most ruthless”
Paul Ryan, 2019

The Super 7’s League will be kicking off after the Christmas Break at the IT Sligo Knocknarea Astro Pitch. Myself and 8 others said we would throw together a team and play in the preliminary games in the weeks leading up to the Christmas break. We said we would do it as a bit of fun at the start not thinking that we may actually have a chance to win the thing out.

The team was put together with myself and other fellow classmates Paul, Callum, Keelan, Dylan and few guys from other classes James, Declan, Roshan and Karl. We were a team of player’s enjoyed a game of ball to have a bit of fun during the week. Only myself and Keelan play competitively on the weekends for Bjd Celtic and Dungiven Celtic respectively.

We arrived to play for the first night not expecting much just to have a game of 7-a side but this time with a competitive edge to it. The games were set to be played at 15 minutes per half. The first game we played against DCFC which was a team primarily of lads from Dublin. When we went 1-0 down within the first couple of minutes i was beginning to think we may get whitewashed from the early minutes as not only were we behind early on but we were playing very tough opponents from the get go.

Something changed in the 5 minutes to follow when we started showing a bit more grit, and one moment i fondly remember from this game that showed we were not here to just get pushed around when Paul made a crunching but fair challenge on one off the opposition players that left him on the turf and DCFC new this was not going to be an easy win in the end.

It was shortly after this the game was turned on it’s head and everybody playing really found there feet on the ground and before we knew it we were 3-1 up. It seemed like the players from DCFC just struggled to cope with the way we played after that and we went on to win our first game 5-2. Goals coming from Myself (x1), Callum (x2), Keelan (x1) and Declan (x1). It was an amazing turn around of events and we were a team full of confidence going into Game 2 which would be played shortly after the first.

When the second game came about everybody was full of confidence but fatigue would definitely be an issue when we came up against a team called KFC. This game was extremely tight and at times end to end however, this time we took the lead through a well time finish from Declan. The lead was to be short lived when KFC went up and equalized within 3 minutes of taking the lead. As fatigue set in early in the second half we found ourselves 2-1 down and we began to wonder where we would get another goal from. One thing that gave us an extra incentive to other teams was having 2 substitutes where most teams had just 1 or none at all. Constantly been able to change players up gave us that little extra edge toward the end and it paid off when a nicely worked piece of play was gobbled up by Callum to give us a last ditch equalizer and the game finished 2-2.

We were all buzzing with how we done when the second game finished. The second game felt like a win considering we were behind for close enough to 15 minutes in the second half but the fight that the lads showed to not give up and get the equalizer shows what we may have to offer in the coming weeks leading up to the Super 7’s. We know it’s early doors with a long way to go but we seem to have created a team that shows grit fight and the will to fight until the very end. In my view hard work beats skill every day and that can be applied to anything. Driving away from the ground we were all happy and agreed to keep the team spirit up by going for a pint with each other. The first performance was summed up nicely by Paul when he said “We don’t have the most skillful players but we do have the most ruthless” and i think this is a quote we will take to the very end of this league.

Team Clips

Callum and Roshan warming up before in preparation for gameweek 3.

Is it Time to Start Believing?

Corner taken quickly…

Gameweek 2

“We just flowed naturally and it was beautiful to be apart off”

We had a solid’s week rest following our first 2 games in the Super 7’s League and we were ready for Gameweek 2. The first game of this brought us up against Moose FC and couple off other fellow classmates which was set to be an interesting battle. The game got off to the perfect start when a long ball from our keeper James was flicked on and Callum let the ball run through his legs to set me in on goal to give us an early lead. Shortly after and a bit of complacency led us to conceding a sloppy goal at the back and we were all sqaure. The game which was well contested in the opening half saw us pile the pressure on in the first half and quickly take a 3-1 lead going into half time through a second goal from myself and a long distance strike from Keelan that evaded the keeper.

Going into the second half we knew that we could not let complacency get the better off us again. We made sure to keep chopping and changing by bringing the fresh legs on from the bench when possible. It paid off as before we knew it we were 5-1 up following goals Paul and a second from Keelan. Everybody was playing at a top level and even we knew at this stage we weren’t throwing this away. The opposition found a goal back within the last 3 minutes, but just before the finish a well worked corner was finished by Roshan to make it 6-2. A bit of sloppy play in the final few seconds led to Moose scoring a third but it was not to be enough and we finished the game 6-3 winners.

Going into game 2 off the night and we were set to play opposition who we had beaten the previous week in DCFC. Once again everyone was tired but raring to go..we knew we had something special with the group of players we had. We just flowed naturally and it was beautiful to be apart off.

The game started off tense following some of the challenges made in last week’s no love was lost between the two sides. They seemed like a side out for revenge from last week’s defeat and struck first blood early on through a nice team goal to give them a 1-0 lead. I said it myself when we went 1-0 down that the same happened last week and we can do the same again. The problem this week was that DCFC were alot more determined to keep to not let us back into the game and finding a breakthrough in this match was a lot tougher than the previous week.

As we struggled to break the opposition down, hope came in the form of a corner taken quickly by Declan who set it up perfectly for Callum who ambitiously went for an overhead kick which went perfectly into the bottom corner leaving the keeper with no chance. It was a goal that when we come to the end of the campaign will be looked at as a serious contender for goal of the season.

The game went into the second half with everything to play for. About 5 minutes into the second half disaster struck as DCFC hit the back of the net to go 2-1 in front. We knew the remainder of the game was going to be tough but i remembered that we were in a similar position in the second game last week and we still pulled it out of the bag. As the game approached the final stages we tried everything but DCFC were holding strong and proving to be a much better outfit than the week before. We were losing hope up until Keelan picked the ball up in the middle of the park and space opened up for him to drive into and drive into it he did. With a couple of opposition players close by trying to win the ball back he evaded them and picked his spot and finessed the ball perfectly into the top corner to level the game in the dying stages. The game finished 2-2 and we had somehow pulled the rabbit out of the hat again to remain unbeaten going into gameweek 3.

Behind the Blog

My name is Paul Denneny and i am the current captain of the DG’s 7-a side soccer team playing in the IT Sligo Super 7’s League.

This blog is created for player’s and spectators or followers off the club to have a chat about the team and other general chit chat regarding the league and other general sport news and gossip.

Why do this?

Because it gives extra insight to the team as it allows for extra input from members outside of the team
It allows extra people to come and be involved with the club and have a chat about anything sport related.

Come along have fun, get involved in the blog and invite your friends.