The 2024 U11 season is reaching the final stages and on Saturday (02.11) our u11 team took to the field against Shankill.

The first half was mostly one way traffic with the St. Brendan’s defence having a lot of work to do. The Shankill midfield and attack were rampant in the early stages as it took the boys some time to get up to speed with this game. Jack made some great saves in goals and Milosz, Eduard, Logan and Seamus all did their best to hold back the relentless attacks. Daniel moved back into the defence and this helped greatly to stem the tide.

As the half wore on, the St Brendan’s attackers got to see a little more of the ball. Some great work from our midfielders, John and Logan saw the forwards supplied with the ammunition they needed to get on the scoreboard. We closed out the half with some great points from Daniel and John and a super goal from Jake.

The second half began with several positional changes but despite this, the St Brendan’s team continued with the momentum they showed at the end of the first period. The scores began to flow with early strikes from John and a lovely long range point from Daniel. The full back line of Jake and Milosz needed to be at their best to keep out the Shankill attacks. The new goalkeeper, Logan, made some great saves and his long kickouts helped get the St Brendan’s forwards on the attack. The forwards now began to click and Barthosz and Eduard did some great work in setting up scores for their teammates. We had points from Jack and Daniel (again) and a great “soccer style” goal from Seamus that Lionel Messi himself would have been proud of!

However, despite this great comeback, the St Brendan’s team were still behind on the scoreboard as the game entered the final stages. Some great play from the forwards set up Michael for a shot but it went narrowly wide. A few moments later, Michael had another attempt on goal, this time hitting the side netting. The game was now in the final seconds and Shankill were in the lead by 1 point. The St Brendan’s team worked one last scoring opportunity and this time Michael made no mistake. The ball sailed over the crossbar to put the team into the lead for the first time in the game (it is 1 point for a goal and 3 points for a point in this code). With that the referee blew the final whistle and St Brendan’s had the victory with the last kick of the game.

With Michaels last minute heroics, it was an easy choice for the “Player of the Week” accolade. A special mention goes to PJ who made the long journey but a late fitness test ruled him out of the game.

Team: Jack, Milosz, Eduard, Seamus, John, Logan, Daniel, Barthosz, Jake and Michael.