EASTER weekend saw our Under 14B Team travel to Stoke to take part in the Solar Tournament. Managers David Walsh, Paul Mann and David Ward had good hopes going over there with the lads well prepared to pit their wits against other teams from Europe and Great Britain.

MONDAY: HARTSTOWN UTD 5 PALMERSTOWN RGS 2

The first match of group 1 and our lads were up against north Dublin league premier team.
Straight from the off Palmerstown thumped balls up and across the field, and after three minutes a ball was played out of defence and right full Aidan Maguire beat three players up the wing to smack a 25 yrd lob from the touchline over the Hartstown keepers head and into the net.
The English F.A and referees insist that managers call the offside, with the refs having the final say.
So needless to say the lads were the victims off very dubious calls throughout the rest of the game, and at no fault by the ref or any players were 2 - 1 down at half time. We battled away against a good hartstown team, but with offside a lottery at this stage we found ourselves 4 - 1 down. Sean Johnston got one back for Palmerstown,only for the N.D.S.L team to get another. Good performances from Aidan Maguire and Keith Weekes.

TUESDAY MATCH 1: BETLEY(CREWE ALEXANDRA) 1 PALMERSTOWN 1

Parmo boys had felt hard done by in the first match, and so where out to prove their strengths.
In this game they had most of the ball throughout and there passing and movement was coming together just nicely. 0 - 0 at half-time the lads pushed and pressed at the Crewe defence and after hitting the post and missing four or five shots on goal, eventually Chris madden came in from the right side of midfield to hit a thunderbolt header from 10 yrds out. Crewe upped the anti, and the english lads made a few changes. They played some neat footie of their own and got a deserved equaliser with three minutes to go. Names to mention for a good game Chris Madden and Gavin Walsh.

TUESDAY MATCH 2: WOODLANE(WIGAN) 5 PALMERSTOWN RGS 0

The scoreline doesn’t do justice to the absolute commitment levels shown by our lads against the Wigan academy boys. Wigan showed how to play football but where not having it all there own way and palmerstown battled bravely and played some great ball, holding their own up until five minutes before half-time. Wigan went on to win the tournament and each match by no less than seven, eight and eleven goals in each match. The football the English lads played was a joy to watch, and so it was a great compliment at the end, to hear their coaches and team applaud us on been the toughest test they had. Great performances by Keith Weekes, Aidan Magurie and Lee Dunne.

WEDNESDAY MATCH 1: PALMERSTOWN RGS 2 SPITFIRE(LIVERPOOL) 1

Third game of the tournament and only one point to show, manager dave walsh asked the lads to up the levels for the last day. Legs where beginning to tighten and the panel of sixteen was now down to fourteen through injuries. Palmerstown passed the ball, from left to right and slowly pushed up the field in an attempt to draw out the Liverpool boys, who where solid in defence. Having most of the play again it was clearly a battle of wits and concentration, as the counter-attacks where in full flow. The dead lock was broken on 15 minutes, when Adam Mann played a throughball in for Sean johnston, only to see Johnston bundled over in the box. The referee awarded a peno against the Liverpool keeper and Gavin Walsh cooly put it away. Second half seen tiredness set in, and as was said earlier it would be all about concentration levels. Many positional changes were made and Liverpool capitalised on them to get back in the game. But with both teams tiring and three minutes left, Palmerstown threw hook, line and sinker at the Liverpool goalmouth. In the last few seconds of the game, Palmerstown took their fourth corner in a row, where lee Dunne jumped highest to head the ball to the back of the spitfire net and claim parmo`s`first win. Good game by Adam Mann and Sean Johnston.

WEDNESDAY MATCH 2:KNOCKNACARA(GALWAY) 0 PALMERSTOWN RGS 3

Palmerstown were in full swing in this game and over powered what was a big, strong Galway side.
Our passing and movement was excellent and every tackle and header was won with passion. A strong breeze against us in the first half allowed us play ground football. No less than 12 frees where awarded against Galway, and four came very close to smacking the net, from the feet of Dunne, Johnston and Walsh. Palmerstown were yet again fouled on the 8th minute. Lee Dunne stepped over the free, and to the applause of the large on looking crowd, curled a beautiful left footed shot into the top corner of the galway net. Spurred on by this and the cheers from the crowd and new friends from Wigan and Liverpool teams, parmo pressed and pressed. 19 minutes gone and a quick, short and clever cornerkick from Keith Weekes to Aidan Maguire, saw Maguire take a touch look up and smack the ball over a helpless Galway net-minder. 2 - 0 up at half-time Palmerstown came out even stronger and played wonderful football and stayed very level headed against what was now becoming a very undisciplined Galway side. Half way through the second half Mal Taylor beat two players on the left-side to play a neat ball through to Keith Weekes. Keith cruised passed two Galway players lunging in and slipped pastng the last lunge by a third Galway player. He looked up and curled one into the opposite top corner to put a 3 - 0 scoreline on the board.

PALMERSTOWN FINISHED RUNNER UP IN THEIR GROUP AND PLAYED SOME GREAT FOOTBALL ALONG THE WAY.

A BIG WELL DONE TO AIDAN MAGUIRE WHO COLLECTED THE PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT.

MANAGER DAVID WALSH SAID, THE LADS WILL LEARN FROM THESE GAMES AND HOPEFULLY BRING THE EXPERIENCE TO OTHER GAMES.

THE LADS HAVE HAD A BALL AND MADE SOME GREAT FRIENDS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF ENGLAND.

THEY ARE AN ABSOLUTE CREDIT TO THERE PARENTS AND HAVE REPRESENTED THEIR CLUB IN AN EXCELLENT MANNER.

DAVID SAID HE COULDNT ASK FOR ANYMORE AND THANKS TO THE PARENTS WHO TRAVELLED OVER AND WERE ALSO GREAT IN HELPING OUT.