Football V Naomh Olaf 6/03/2010

Cuala 5 - 7

Naomh Olaf 1- 3

The 1999 girls opened their league campaign in style on Saturday with a fine win over Sandyford side Naomh Olaf. Playing their first ever League match the under 11s showed a combination of individual skill and fantastic team work and enjoyed a great win. The honour of opening the scores went to Orlaith O'Sullivan who scored a fine point within the first five minutes and added a further 2 points during the game. Other scores came from Brid O Donnell, Niamh Sheehan, Eimear Loughlinn, Jennifer Dunne and Alison Slowey bringing the Cuala total to an impressive 5 goals and 7 points. Our defenders too were outstanding, with Caoimhe O'Carroll, Albha O'Dwyer Boyle and Ana Deevy rock solid in the back line and Niamh Sheehan supreme in the centre half back position. Fiona Murphy played her usual great game displaying great all-round play in the forwards, backs and even a stint in goals. Jennifer Dunne and Rebecca Beggin are an impressive pair in mid-field, working well together and feeding plenty of ball into the forward line. The wings were well covered, in both attack and defence, by Caoilinn Quinn, Nora Noone, Rosa Hickey, Eva Tiernan, Jennifer Byrne, Alice Matthews and Caoilfhionn McGrath. Sinead Ruigrok played well in this her second game of day,

Special mention, and player of the match, goes to Eimear Loughlinn. Eimear only recently joined the team and scored an impressive 2 points in this her first ever match wearing the Caula jersey.

Camogie V Naomh Mearnog 07/03/2010

Cuala Reds 1goal Naomh Mearnog 1- 1

The Cuala B team were beaten by the narrowest of margins in a fine game of camogie played on the all-weather pitch in Portmarnock today. The girls, playing their first league match, fought hard for every ball and were very unlucky to be beaten. Ana Deevy started the game in goals and played well making some great saves and fielding the ball well. Our backs tackled hard and marked their players well. Caoilinn Quinn was particularly strong and was ably assisted by Alice Matthews and Sinead Ruigrok. Sinead played in goals for the second half and made some lovely clearances. Her puck outs were excellent and helped launch many of the Cuala attacks. In mid-field Jennifer Byrne was outstanding and ran up and down the pitch offering support to both backs and forwards. Caoilfhionn McGrath moved easily from forward in the first half to defence in the second and played her usual steady game. The team were assisted by Orla from the 00s. Playing in the forwards Orla was our goal scorer. We hope she joins us again.

This Cuala team were unlucky to be beaten today. With a little more coaching and with some of our missing players back they should win their next game.

Naomh Mearmog 3-0 Cuala (Whites)

The 1999 girls opened their Camogie league on Sunday morning out in a sunny but cold Portmarnock. The girls competed very well with a strong defensive performance throughout the first half, conceding only one goal. This was down to a strong performance from Caoimhe O'Carroll in goal, Niamh Sheehan, Fiona Murphy and Albha O'Dwyer in the back line. Special mention to Sinead Wilde from the 2000, who togged out at short notice and had a player of the match performance. Our midfield paring of Jennifer Dunne and Brid O'Donnell gave as good as they got from their midfield counter parts and supplied plenty of ball to our hard working forward line of Orlaith O'Sullivan, Alison Slowey, Rosa Hickey and Rebecca Beggins (was up all night with tummy bug) who were unlucky not to put away a number of goal chances. A couple of late goals from Naomh Mearnog in the second half hid the actual closeness of the match which could of gone either way. Well done to all the girls for great effort and team work and here's to a win the next day. Finally best wishes to Niamh Sheehan on a speedy recovery after receiving a nasty bad to the knee in the second half.

Football Cuala vs Thomas Davis 13/03/2010

Cuala played a very exciting and fast match against a determined Thomas Davis last Saturday. The teamwork displayed by the Cuala girls was impressive with lots of passing and calling and it paid off handsomely.

Alison scored the first point followed quickly with a point scored by Orla from a free kick. Sinead then scored a goal. Cuala had their first ever 45 which Jennifer Dunne took and almost scored a goal.

Due to excellent work by the backs, Albha, Nora, Caoimhe, Ciara and others it was early in the second half before Thomas Davis got their first score which they followed quickly with a second point. This got Cuala fired up with Eimear putting in a goal followed swiftly by another from Ana. Rebecca also added to Cuala's score. Thomas Davis kept fighting to the end and scored another point.

The mid field never let up and fought for every ball enabling the high score which Cuala finished on. The final score was Cuala 3-4, Thomas Davis 3 points

Well done to the Cuala girls on a great performance.

Player of the match: Albha Dwyer Boyle

Camogie Match 14th March V Ballyboden

Cuala (Whites) 3-0 Ballyboden 5-01

Captain: Jennifer Dunne

Team: Caomhie O'Carroll, Sinead Wilde, Roisin Quill, Rebecca Begins, Rosa Hickey, Brid O'Donnell, Katie O'Reilly,Jennifer Dunne, Rachel Byrne, Alison Slowey, Orlaith O'Sullivan, Catlin O'Hannigan,

Player of the match: Katie O'Reilly

This was the second camogie match of the season for the 1999 girls against southside rivals Ballyboden St Enda's. A much improved performance from the girls resulted in a very strong second half effort, which could have resulted in an overall win but for a high number of near wides from our girls.

The team competed well throughout the first half but came in at the break 3 goals down. Our girls came out in the second half determined to fight back working hard as a team scavenging for all balls and as a result putting the Boden girls under pressure. Their endeavour was rewarded with 3 consecutive goals which nearly brought them level and had the large crowd on the edge of their seats, unfortunately Ballyboden scored 2 late goal to finish out winners. Welcome back to Katie OReilly who put in a player of the match performance on her return, showing great determination and bravery throughout the game.

Cuala Reds V Ballyboden. 

Cuala Reds lined out last Sunday in a very fast starting game against a strong Ballyboden side. Playing on a large pitch for what was a 10 a side game Ballyboden were first off the block and scored three goals in rapid succession. Cuala however fought hard and were unlucky not to score in the first half, with ball after ball going wide. Despite some excellent displays from Cuala backs, in particular Katie Reilly, Ballyboden managed to put another score on the board leaving it 4 -0 at half time.

The Reds came out fighting in the second half and a great goal was scored by Ana. Our mid-fields of Jennifer and Nora worked hard helping out in both defence and attack. Ciara, Caoilinn and Caoilfhionn gave some great displays of camogie and Sinead's puck outs were wonderful.Eimear and Alice worked hard in the forwards and were unlucky not to score. Well done and many thanks also to Suan Slowey (01's) and Orla (00s).

A final score of 9 goals to 1 did not reflect the true strength of the Cuala Reds who played so well and deserved at least a few more scores.

Football Cuala V Naas - March 20th 2010

Yet another riveting display by Cuala. Within the first few minutes, Naas were in attaching mode and Rachel Byrne was called upon to make a great save. However, the opening score (a point) came from Orlaith O'Sullivan. Soon to be followed by another point, this time from Sinead. Sinead was also unlucky to score a goal soon afterwards. After 10 minutes of play, Naas scored a goal, however, this was disallowed by the Ref. Cuala were soon on the attack again which lead to a fine point scored by (No 15). However, Naas were back attacking our goal area, which was superbly defended by Niamh, and the rest of the defensive team. Caoimhe made a terrific save after replacing Rachel in goal as Rachel moved to a forward position. Unfortunatly, Katie had to come off towards the end of the first half due to infury. This was a shame as she had played a pivotal role in the game and had some brilliant play. Suddenly, Naas were on the attack again and scored a point. Yet again Caoimhe was called upon to made a terrific save. Another Cuala injury followed as Ciara was called upon to replace Rebecca. Up to this point Rebecca was fully immersed in midfield play and was a force to be reckoned with. However, Naas were constantly chasing the ball and Cuala had to up their game to stay ahead. Naas scored another point. A brilliant run of play by Cuala was finished off by a beautiful point by Rachel Byrne. During the second half, Cuala went up a gear. Then Alison came from midfield and following a great run put the goal in the back of the net, which she soon followed with a point. For the second half Niamh and Jennifer Dunne swapped positions -Niamh played midfield and Jennifer defense and both were fantastic and never stopped chasing the ball. Niamh soon followed with another goal. Unfortunately, Rachel Byrne was unjured and had to leave the field, which was a terrrible shame as she was having a fantastic game up to that. Cuala could not afford to relax as all of a sudden, Caoimhe was called upon yet again to make a brilliant save. This game constantly moved from end to end and Anna just missed out appearing on the score sheet with a goal. The Cuala girls were working together and there was some great offensive play by Niamh, Anna, Rosa (who never gave up) and Alison. Following another run of brilliant collective play from midfield, Orlaith O'Sullivan scored another great goal. All of a sudden there was another goal, this time from Niamh. As the game progressed, Cuala were definately in control and Emer was unlucky her shot for a point went wide. However, Naas never gave up and Caoimhe was called upon to make another great save. Brid also was superb and played brilliantly in defense. Ciara, Alice, Eva, Chloe certainly caused Naas plenty of trouble and played a huge role in preventing Naas scoring more points/goals. Not to be outdone, Nora, Jennifer Byrne, Caoilinn and Caoilfhionn must get a mention and they were an integral part of the team and never gave up. All the girls were fantastic and they never stopped trying to score more points. Keep up the great work girls and here's to the next match/

Camogie Cuala v Castleknock 21 March 2010

Cuala Reds 0

Castleknock 3

The 1999 girls travelled to Castleknock on 21st of March. There was a great turnout of girls. The red team played very well, they had a lot of possession and the final score did not reflect the work effort and skills they displayed during the match.

Niamh got Cuala off to a great start with a lovely point. Albha was captain and once again did great work in the back with Caoimhne in goals. Brid and Fiona also did sterling work in defence with a great clearance from Fiona. Jennifer D took a great free from the centre line. Castleknock got their first goal mid way through the first half. Rachel played the ball back down towards the Castleknock goal. Ali showed some very determined play.

The second half started well with Cuala in possession and the forwards doing great work at keeping the ball there. They were very unlucky not to score on many occasions. Orlaith, Rachel and Sinead all showed great character in keeping going as the Castleknock girls displayed their skill and determination and got another 2 scores in the second half although Cuala never gave up and looked like they were going to score on many occasions. Orlaith, Sinead W and Rosa also played with great heart. Congratulations girls on the improvements to date and we are all looking forward to the next match.

Cuala Whites 0 

Castleknock 3

Cuala Girls U11's team played away in a thrilling match against Castleknock. After a quick warm-up and team talk, the first half was played at a frantic pace with Castleknock testing the Cuala defence. Caoilfhionn McGrath and Ana Deevy presented a wall of defence that was almost impossible for Castleknock to break down. Such was the pressure that Cuala's midfielders spent a lot of time assisting the defence throughout the first half with Captain Chloe Costello and Jennifer Byrne playing really great in midfield, tackling hard and doing some brilliant passes. Ciara O'Callaghan (Cuala goalkeeper) foiled some great efforts with magnificent saves and clearances. A cohesive team effort from Cuala, together with some fantastic saves from Ciara, kept Castleknock at bay until the last minute of the first half when Castleknock scored a point.

The second half started with Cuala making one change - Caoilinn Quinn moving to midfield and Jennifer Byrne going forward. Castleknock scored 3 minutes into the second half but Cuala pilled on the pressure and were very unlucky when, after a great pass from Caoilinn Quinn to Sinead Rugriok, the ball hit the post and went wide. Alice & Roisin played exceptionally well in half forward positions and showed great skill and determination throughout. Our two full backs Nora and Susan were fantastic, consistently getting to the ball first and defending really well, keeping Castleknock on their toes all the time. Cuala were unfortunate not to score after some great passes and attacking play. Castleknock scored the final point of the match with a goal just before the final whistle. Fantastic play by all ' WELL DONE GIRLS.

Player of the Match: Ana Deevy

Camogie Cuala V St Vincents 28th March, 2010.

Team members: Jennifer Dunne, Rachel, Orlaith Alison, Rebecca, Katie, Albha, Bríd, Rosa, Caoimhe, Fiona, and Niamh.

Player of the match: Jennifer Dunne

This was a truly great match all the girls played extremely well. From the outset the girls were determined to win, as this was their fourth league camogie match and they had narrowly lost their first three matches. The team put St. Vincent's under great pressure and after 15 minutes play, it finally paid off when Jennifer scored a goal from a 45. 

When St. Vincent's did manage to get the ball up to the Cuala end our defence was excellent and Niamh made some brilliant passes right up the field. There was a lot of high play and our defence made some great saves from Vincent's 45s. There were some great hand passes from Albha, she and Niamh worked well together. This was a very tough match and our girls did get hurt but they kept going, making some great tackles. At one point Alison was tackling four of the St. Vincent's players on her own, she was fearless. We scored again when after a long pass from Niamh at the back, Fiona managed to put the ball through the posts. 

Bríd like all the girls had a great game, but she will remember this game because of the rough tackles and smashed hurls, not being satisfied with breaking her own hurl in the first half she went on to break a replacement hurl in the second half, such was the tempo of the game. During half-time the team had a great talk from coaches Orla, Celestine and Maria. The team started the second half of the match with great gusto. Rosa and Rachel were great at getting stuck in. St. Vincent's were equal to Cuala in that they upped their game and became even more physical , finally they managed to score a goal, despite a great defence by Caoimhe and the rest of the girls. 

Cuala were not discouraged they really put the pressure on. Jennifer played a blinder of a game she was fantastic and rightly won player of the match. Jennifer played 45 after 45 and after a great effort by all the girls including Niamh, Bríd, Katie and Orlaith, Rebecca scored our third goal. 

St. Vincent's were not happy and continued to play a very tough game with more of our girls getting injured, but our girls have spirit and were not put off. However St. Vincent's did manage to score another goal close to the end just as one of our girls got injured but the ref did allow the goal. This was a fantastic match to watch our girls have shown, that despite their past they are a great camogie team. We expect to see great things from them as they continue to improve as they have done. 

Football Cuala V St Anne's Saturday 10th April 2010.

St Annes 1 - 1

Cuala 3- 8

Cuala under-11 girls travelled to Bohernabreena on a glorious Saturday evening last to tackle St Anne's in a league match. Cuala were a little slow to settle and St Anne's opened the scoring with a point in their first attack of the match. However, from the kick out the Cuala girls upped their efforts and soon levelled through an Orlaith O'Sullivan free. Niamh Sheehan's long pass was well gathered by Sinead whose quick handpass to Orlaith split the St Anne's defence. Orlaith was fouled and pointed the free herself. Brid and Jennifer Dunne began to dominate midfield, winning much possession to pass into the forwards who were getting on top of their markers. A fine point by Katie Reilly put Cuala in front before a lovely turn and shot by Rachel was narrowly wide. Though St Anne's were on the back foot at times they mounted some attacking breaks, but the Cuala back line was holding firm, with Albha and Emer Reilly working hard and reading the game well. At half back Niamh Sheehan was showing great athleticism and soon burst forward to score a goal herself. A further St Anne's attack was broken up by Nora and the ball was fed through to the forwards for Sinead to score another goal. Orlaith added a point to put Cuala 8 points ahead before Jennifer Byrne won the ball in defence and worked the ball up to Chloe who slotted the ball over the bar to extend the lead. Unluckily Cuala conceded a goal just before the break, leaving the half-time score St Anne's 1-1 Cuala 2-4.
Soon after the restart Alison Slowey burst down the right and was unlucky to see her effort come back off the crossbar. Jennifer and Brid, together with Alison, continued to work hard to win possession around the middle of the field, at one point spreading it out to Niamh on the left whose clever handpass inside to Chloe resulted in a point. Catherine Scully, Orlaith O'Sullivan and Caoimhe O'Carroll were putting great pressure on the St Anne's defence despite the heat, and mid-way through the half Cuala's efforts paid off with two quick points from Katie and Niamh. Then came one of the best moves of the match, with Jennifer Byrne winning the ball in defence, passing it up the right wing to Sinead who fed it through the middle for Katie to burst through and slot home Cuala's third goal. Another raid down the left by Niamh drew the St Anne's defence towards her but she squared the ball to Orlaith who calmly put it over the bar. Cuala ended the game on top with their defence absorbing any pressure and the midfield and forwards combining well. The final score in the sunshine was St Anne's 1-1 Cuala 3-8.

Camogie Cuala V Kilmacud Crokes 11/04/2010

Team Captain: Niamh Sheehan 
It was a beautiful morning, as Cuala Whites took on Killmacud Crokes. The first half was dominated by great defence from Cuala in the first few minutes from Fiona Murphy Albha and Orlaith. Kilmacud came on then with pressure. A great block from Alison Slowey saved Cuala again from the pressure in front of goal. Brid O'Donnell came in fighting , and put on the pressure again. 
Albha moved to backs and did some great work there . Caoimhe was now playing in goal and had a great game. Jennifer Dunne did some fantastic blocking and Niamh Sheehan made some great runs down the side line on more that one occasion. A goal by Rebbbica Beggins set the tone towards the end of the first half With great marking by Katie Rielly nothing was left to chance.The mid field was strong , again no one was giving Crocks a lchance at the ball. Niamh made some fantastic clearances. Crokes were lucky to get a score leaving the half time score at Cuala 1 -0 Crokes 0 - 1

Cuala piled on the pressure at the start of the second half with a great goal by Rebecca. Lots of good pulls by Cuala and another two un-stoppable goals from Brid O Donnell, made the score 4-0 ' 1-1 . Rebecca then scored her third goal.
Cuala had some more chances as the match moved into the end stages, with the girls never letting up the pressure. There was some great defending from Rachel Byrne. Killmacud came in with another point near the end . 
A GREAT STRONG PEERFORMANCE FROM ALL THE 99 GIRLS .
BRING ON THE NEXT GAME

PLAYER OF THE MATCH:.. BRID O DONNELL. 

BY J BYRNE..

Football: Cuala V Foxrock Cabinteely; (Friendly)
A true local derby match, this proved to be very exciting with touch and go scores from both teams from start to finish. Foxrock Cabinteely are a strong club who play only football and we expected a tough match. However the girls played extremely well and showed great skill in passing and taking scores. There was lots of good tackling and some lovely hand passing. Our backs were outstanding while the girls who played in goals were rock solid. In the match with Team M (Maria's group) the entire team played well, they never gave up and tackled hard for every ball, indeed it is difficult to single out any players for particular mention. However Niamh Sheehan at midfield was outstanding and scored a grand total of 5 goals and 3 points. Jennifer Dunne, Alison Slowey and Rosa Hickey also gave excellent performances. Congratulations also to Rebecca Beggins who played outstandingly well (and scored a point) in this her first match for Cuala.

Team C (Celestine's group) also played particularly well. The wind was a big factor on Saturday last and Cabinteely managed to put a lot of scores on the board in the first half. However Cuala fought hard and tackled for every ball. The second half saw a fantastic rally for the Cuala girls who almost managed to grab a draw. Bríd O'Donnell in mid-field gave a truly awesome display while Carrie McGrath and Ana Deevy were also fantastic, tackling hard and never giving up. The entire team put all their training into action and there were fantastic displays of hand passing and some lovely kicking. Well done Cuala.

Camogie: Cuala V Faughs (league)
This was our first outing in the Under 10 Camogie league and both the Cuala teams played really well. Faughs are a Camogie only club and their skill levels reflected this.

In the game with Team M (Maria's group) both teams won even amounts of possession but the Faughs forwards were very accurate and despite a great performance from goal keeper Ciara O'Callaghan they managed to pull ahead. Our forwards were very unlucky with ball after ball going wide. Excellent goals from Fiona Murphy and Jennifer Byrne in the first half kept Cuala in the game. Caoilinn Quinn gave an outstanding display in both defence and attack. Special mention must go to Orlaith O'Sullivan who continued playing with a finger injury and scored a lovely goal late in the second half.

Team C (Celestine's group) were only narrowly defeated by this strong Faughs team. They had pulled ahead in the first half but the Cuala girls were given a stern team talk at half time and they pulled out all the stops in the second half. Caoimhe O'Carroll gave an outstanding display in goals and was ably assisted in defence by Albha. Rosa Hickey and Alison Slowey played their hearts out and never gave up while Kate O'Reilly played her usual strong game.

Celebrity Cheerleaders Add Colour to "Bainisteoir" Matches
Cuala has never seen such colour and style in its long history. One of the highlights of the day was the appearance of our very own Cuala Cheerleaders. They demonstrated perfect coordination in their style, chants and marching. Well done to all the girls on their fantastic performance.







Some of the 1999 Girls who received medals at the recent Awards Evening

There are 30 girls on this panel at the moment and all play both football and Camogie. Both codes are covered in each training session so the girls need to bring their hurls, helmets and gum shields to each session.

The girls will be playing in both football and camogie leagues in 2009. Camogie matches are on Sunday mornings. Home matches are normally played in Meadowvale with teams of 9 a side and unlimited substitutions. Football matches will be played on Saturday evenings. The football league will not commence untill late April 2009. Teams are 10 a side with unlimited substitutions. Home matches will be played in Meadowvale. Both leagues are non-competitive and the emphasis at all times is on having fun.

New members are always welcome. Come along and join in, no experience or equipment needed for the first few weeks.

1999 Team
A Ni Dhuibhir Baoill, A Matthews, A Coleman, A Slowey, A Deevy, B O'Donnlee, C McGrath, C Quinn, C O'Carroll, C O'Connor, C McGrath, C Scully, C Costello, C O'Callaghan, E Reilly, E Tiernan, F Murphy, J Dunne, J Byrne, J Doran, J O'Doherty, K Reilly, M Brennan, M Power, N Sheehan, N Noone, O O'Sullivan, R Byrne, R Hickey, S Ruigrok, Z Hall.