After a fantastic season for the National Champions, Assistant Coach Martin Perciavalle takes a look back at Sporting Fingal Futsal's 2009/2010.
Emerald League
To kick off the year, the team played 2 friendly matches against Shamrock Rovers and Portlaoise to get in shape before the league kicked off.
In the season opener, Sporting Fingal drew with St.Patrick’s Athletic, followed by a 6-4 win against North Co. Dublin and a 5-4 win against Bray/St. Joseph’s. These opening results gave the team the boost needed to face the rest of the season.
But after a fantastic 9-2 win against Dublin Santos, the season really started to look good for Sporting Fingal, as they won five of their next five games, and sat on top of the league table.
Out of 14 matches, Sporting Fingal won 11, drew 2, and lost 1. Finishing in the first position at the end of the preliminary round, they had to play in the knock out stages against Bray/St.Joseph’s. Unfortunately they could not carry their good form through to the knock-out stages, as they lost 7-4 in what was a poor all-round team performance.
Despite not winning the League the team kept the form, a few new players joined the team and we had our revenge in the FAI National Cup.
FAI National Futsal Cup
In the first round, Sporting Fingal played Bray, Alpha Futsal and Dublin Santos, winning the three games, 3-0, 3-1 and 5-0 respectively.
In the second round, Fingal were drawn to play against Clare Dragons from the Munster League. However, Clare pulled out of the competition and the team were given a bye to the Quarter-Final.
In the Quarter-Final, Fingal faced a tough AUL Futsal Team and beat them in a fantastic game, played at full tilt by both teams. Both fought until the very end and it took penalties to determine that Sporting Fingal had qualified for the Semi-Finals.
In the Semi-Finals, Fingal played Bray/St.Joseph’s again and they finally got their revenge after losing against them in the knock-out stages of the Emerald League. This time the team didn’t hesitate and demolished Bray, winning the game 9-2.
In the final against Blue Magic, Sporting Fingal started the game a bit slowly, and after the first 5 minutes, went behind. But they battled on and Rodrigo De Melo's skill created the equaliser for Marco Prudencio to tap home with 18 seconds to go in the first half. Remarkably Sporting then hit the post through Hygo Cezar before the break.
Hygo Cezar gave Fingal the lead with a brilliant shot on the turn eight seconds into the second half. Man of the match Cezar then hit the crossbar with long range shot in the 29th minute and De Melo had a shot blocked on the line by Bartosz Paszkiewicz two minutes later. Isiais Lima produced a stunning long range effort in the 38th minute to make it 4-1 and although Krystof Jasinski pulled one back in the same minute, Sporting held firm to claim the title for the first time.
Huge credit for this win must go to the Head Coach Gleudson Da Silva Junior. He was the mastermind behind the Sporting Fingal success in the FAI National Cup and with the assistance of Martin Perciavalle, a very competitive team was formed. The team is now made up of mixed nationalities and numerous Irish players who are currently playing for the Ireland Senior Futsal team.