YMCA 12th April 2008
St Brigid’s 1 -14 Moneyglass 3-3
St Brigid’s u 16 girls, playing very attractive football at times, started their league campaign with an emphatic home win over Moneyglass.
The victory would not have been achieved without the invalauble input of seven u14 players who made up the team, Hanna Loughran (1-0), Niamh Webb, Sarah Toner, Bronagh King, Naomi Morris, Caitriona Montague (0-2) and Niamh McCann (0-1).
Playing with the breeze in the first half St Brigid’s midfield of Aoife McCann and Aoife Montague dominated possession while Katie McMullan gave an exemplary display of high fielding to mop up many of the visitors kick outs. With Rose McKeogh playing at full forward there was a lot of breaking ball for the St Brigid’s forwards to score 7 points from play without reply.
Moneyglass showed how dangerous they were on attack by scoring 2 goals from their first two forays into the St Brigid’s half of the field and they also tagged on a point before half time. The home side registered another fine point from play to lead by 0-8 to 2-1 at half time which did not reflect the dominance of the home team.
With the wind advantage and gradient favouring the visitors, St Brigid’s changed their formation and brought Catherine Macauley into half back where she had a storming second half. Ellen McGrath moved to the middle of the park with Aoife Montague going to centre forward. Straight from the restart the ball was won by Aoife McCann who moved the ball quickly to Bronagh King. Bronagh handpassed to Aoife Montague who scored a splendid point from play. This marked a period of dominance by the home side with a number of goal opportunities spurned.
Encouraged by the misses, Moneyglass came back into the game and added 1-2 to their tally but the score of the match followed from the St Brigid’s kickout, Katie McMullan, who was very influential throughout, picked out Kate Finnegan in the middle of the park Kate fielded well and kicked a superb long ball to Aoife Montague who in turn shot straight over the bar – now that’s what we call direct football in the best traditions of the game.
Sister Acts McCanns and Montagues made a big contribution to this game with Aoife Montague dominating play in the second half. Aoife McCann has mastered the oft neglected skill of timely tackles and in doing so stopped many Moneyglass counter attacks. As team captain she led by example with her tremendous work rate.
Alice Keenan and Kate Finnegan were rock solid in defence. This was a great performance from Alice and she and Kate continue to improve with each game. Rose McKeogh bravely saw out the end of the game after suffering a painful injury in an accidental clash which ruled her out for the following day’s senior match. We wish her a speedy recovery.
It is a good omen for the future that the u14s played with such maturity and skill. Hannah Loughran scored a wonderful goal with an unstoppable shot against the best underage keeper in the county. Sarah Toner, Naomi Morris and Bronagh King showed great heart as did our very young goalkeeper Niamh Webb. Caitriona Montague and Niamh McCann scored great points from play as did Niamh McCann. These girls have great potential and are determined to work hard on their skills. Underages coaches Carleton and McGarry should be wary of more poaching by the u 16 mentors!
The team look forward to their next match and to the return of Anna Finnegan from her international duties with the NI soccer team! We still await the return of Kate McCormack, Maria Blaney and Lara Smith now that there basketball/netball season has drawn to a close.
St Brigid’s Ladies had their most succesful weekend in the history of the club winning at u12, u16 and senior. We will not get carried away though and there is much work to be done to get up to the level of the best teams in the county. However we will savour our success over the next few days and enjoy also the fantastic start the Senior Men have made to Division 1.
Finally a big thanks to Stephen McKeogh for referring the game so well.
Girls are reminded to watch the web for news of training and matches.
