Gazette
30 BLANCH gazette 27 August 2015
SPORT
FastSport
soccer: corduff graduate plays starring role for irish U-16s
Alex Uzunov a fitting victor of perpetual cup IT WAS a bittersweet victory for 15-year-old Alex Uzunov from Clonsilla this year as he won the Stefan Uzunov Perpetual Cup at Castleknock Lawn Tennis Club summer championships. Since the death of his brother Stefan in 2007, Castleknock Lawn Tennis Club run a competition in his memory each summer. Alex won the cup this year as he beat Dylan Byrne (18) in an exciting match on Sunday morning. The trophy was presented to him by his mother Caroline and all who attended were overcome with emotion.
Treacy hoping to use China test for future push DUNBOYNE AC’s Sara Treacy ran a 9.48.24 to finish 13th place in her heat at the World Championships 3,000m steeplechase in Beijing, missing out on a place in the final. Speaking afterwards about her performance, she said that she did not hit the kind of time she was hoping for but will use the experience of battling it out on the world stage to aid her future development. “It was my third quickest time of the summer but I know I have quicker in me. I just didn’t get it right. I’ve a lot to work on for next year and a lot to improve on. I’m not the finished product and hopefully
next year I will have that experience.” Reflecting on the race as a whole, Treacy added that the environment is very different to the kind of situations she usually finds herself in and said that this may have had an impact on her outlook going into the race in China. “I was more nervous going into that race than anything else I can think of in how long. All of that is good practice. “It’s my first major track event in four years. I did underage stuff but it doesn’t compare. I’ve never been in a stadium like this. “You get brought into the call room 40 minutes before the race, two different rooms where everyone is sitting looking at each other in silence. It’s something to get used to.”
Yassine En-Neyah with his Corduff club mates last season
Yassine answers Irish call sport@dublingazette.com
ONE of the shining stars of Corduff FC’s ever growing schoolboy section played a key role as the Republic of Ireland Under-16 development squad lifted the Mayo International Cup last week. Yassine En-Neyah may have swapped the red and white of the Duff for the red and black of Bohemians in recent weeks, but the club still clearly think of him as one of their own with a bundle of praise for the teenager on their various social media accounts. En-Neyah was part of
an 18-man squad that Tom O’Connor selected for the competition which featured Northern Ireland, FAI Castlebar, Chesterfield and Millwall. O’Connor’s side won all four of their fixtures over the course of the weekend and conceded just one goal in the process. The young Boys in Green opened the tournament with a 5-1 win over Chesterfield. Gavin Kilkenny opened the scoring after just a minute before Aaron Connolly doubled the lead just two minutes later. Cian Murphy added a third before Dominic Peppard made
canadian open Scrivener finishes eighth in Enduro bike challenge castleknock mountain-biker Stephen
Scrivener finished in a highly respectable eighth place at the Canadian Open Enduro Race in Whistler recently. He was joined by mountain bikers from all over the world at the event which is run over 6 stages. The 25-year-old unfortunately had to drop out of the race last year due to a puncture, but the founding member of Mountain Biking Association of Dublin (MAD) will be encouraged by his finish this year in such a large international field.
it 4-0 just before halftime. Chesterfield pulled one back through Maasai Dearlove after the break but Jordan Wells scored an own goal late to restore Ireland’s four goal lead and wrap up and emphatic opening victory. Next up was Millwall and the Irish recorded another four goal win, this time with a 4-0 victory thanks to a brace from player of the tournament Connolly and strikes from Thomas Caffrey and Jordan Doherty. Ireland then beat an FAI Castlebar Select 3-0 in the next game which was a decent encounter.
Connolly again got the opening goal before adding a second just after the break. Ireland’s final goal of the game courtesy of En-Neyah. The Blanch baller weaved his way in from the wing and struck a delightful finish past Lorcan Callaghan. Ireland then wrapped up the tournament with a 3-0 win over their Northern rivals which made it four wins from four. En-Neyah was one of six players who left Corduff over the summer to join Bohemians’ League of Ireland U-17 side. During the summer, Bohs and the NDSL announced a partnership which would
see the league’s most promising talents join the Gypsies youth set-up. In total, Corduff lost eight players to League of Ireland underage clubs over the summer and reflects a positive mark on the club according to its PRO John McGuinness. “We welcome it,” he said. “It’s a sign that we’re developing young footballers in the right way and it’s what we’re here to do.” As well as his international goalscoring exploits, En-Neyah was recently named NDSL Player of the Tournament at this summer’s Milk Cup tournament.