U 16 Girls Too Strong for Davitts
Davitts 3-3 Sr Brigid’s 4-13
Twinbrook
26th April 2008
St Brigid’s u16 girls proved too strong for an ever improving Davitts at Twinbrook on Saturday afternoon. Aoibhe McCann and Ellen McGrath’s dominance at midfield was the key to this victory and they provided great ball to the forward line and in particular to Aoife Montague who scored an incredible 4-8 to propel Naomh Brid to two wins out of two in their league campaign. Tougher games are to follow but this team is entitled to enjoy the successful start to the season.
What pleased the coaches most about this game was the leadership shown by the experienced quintet of Katie McMullan, Rose McKeogh, McGrath and the elder McCann and Montague. These girls have risen through the ranks from u10,u12 and u14 to form the backbone of this team.
The good news is that more are following in their footsteps and the majority of this team is comprised of u14s and even the odd u12! Abigail Carleton fits into the latter category and she stepped in at the very last minute to enable St Brigid’s to field a team and she had a great game as well. Cliodhna McGrady fielded and distributed the ball superbly and linked up well with Alice Keenan and Paula Toner to break up a number of Davitts attacks while Rose McKeogh and Julia Boyle were very strong in the full back line. Sarah Toner could do nothing to prevent the Davitts goals and she was tigerish in defence when she changed places with Paula Toner to move outfield in the second half. Up front Niamh McCann, Aimee Duffy, Caitriona Montague, Emma Quinn and Carleton kept the home defence busy and showed great tactical awareness by making decoy runs to allow the players running through to take their scores. Let their be no misunderstanding – this was an all round team effort.
St Brigid’s played the first half with both the wind and gradient advantage and the home defence withstood a lot of pressure before Aoife Montague found her range with 4 points from play and a pointed free. However Davitts showed great committment to score two splendid goals on their rare incursions into the St Brigid’s half of the field. Montague replied with two goals of her own before McMullan finished off a fine solo run with a well taken point from play and McGrath showed she had her shooting boots on to score two sweet points just before Referee McKeogh whistled for half time.
Half Time: Davitts 2 –0 Naomh Brid 2 – 8
The coaches called a couple of changes at half time switching McMullan to full back and McKeogh to centre half back in anticipation of increased pressure from the home side in the second half. No cries from the fans of “ You don’t know what you’re doing” especially when Davitts showed their potential by winning the ball straight from the throw in and immediately bombarding the visitors goal. After what was a quiet first half by her standards, McMullan rose to the challenge, literally, and gave a great display at full back. McKeogh got a chance to show her speed and was first to the ball time and again to snuff out a number of attacks.
Aided by tenacious play from Sarah Toner, Boyle, Keenan and McGrady, the backs worked very hard to restrict Davitts to just 1 – 2 in the second half. Much to her disappointment, Paula Toner had little to do in goals after playing so well outfield in the first half.
Captain McCann was outstanding in the second half and showed her supreme fitness and skill by controlling the middle of the park. Her performance was all the more remarkable given that she suffered significant soft tissue damage to her right hand early in the game but bravely continued and the extent of the damage was only diagnosed later following a visit to casualty. Clever linkplay between McCann and McGrath, now an automatic choice on the senior team also, enabled the older Montague to find space aplenty to notch up another 2-3, scoring with both right and left feet, whilst the Captain also registered a point from play. McGrath and McCann are establishing a fine partnership at midfield and provide great support for each other. County Manager Brian Coyle is sure to take interest in their performances particularly since they were up against one of the u16 county midfielders.
An excellent second half performance from the young St Brigid’s forwards was very encouraging. Caitriona Montague was robbed when she thumped a shot off the cross bar and a short time later had the goalie beaten only for her goal bound shot to hit the upright. Niamh McCann, Duffy, Carleton and Quinn worked exceptionally hard and showed great awareness on the ball as well as working back any time the defence broke out.
Final score: Davitts 3-3 St Brigid’s 4-13
A great performance from St Brigid’s who did not have the luxury of making substitutions to ease tiring and injured limbs. The one disappointment was the failure of a signifiant number of players to turn up despite advising they would do so. We have long since given up on more parental support.
The Davitts coach, Paul McCorry, can take great heart from his side’s display. The scoreline does not reflect the talent in his side and the visitors are the first to acknowledge that their superior fitness was a factor in the margin of victory. However this Davitts team, if it sticks together, will be a force in the future.
This was a very sporting encounter and must have pleased the County Chair, Noirin McGoldrick, who is everpresent at Davitts matches and provides neverending support for her team and for ladies football in general throughout the county.
A big thanks to Stephen McKeogh for “volunteering” to referee. He ran 10 miles covering the play after having cycled 40 miles in the morning – the same number of miles as his age! [40 or 50?]
Thanks also to Michael Boyle for his support and his photography work – he is now our official photographer.
