The opening league game for our under 16 Ladies saw them lose by 5 points in a hard fought encounter with St James’ Aldergrove. On a heavy pitch, our girls started slowly as they worked to get out of the blocks as the home team opened proceedings with two quick scores. St Brigid’s came back at them strongly with a couple of goals from Caitlin Mooney who was given a free running role which suited her style of play.
The game swung each direction with Aldergrove working the ball hard through the centre of the park while St Brigid’s had the advantage on the wings with some super work from our two young cornerbacks Niamh O’Kane and Anna Carburry feeding the midfield.
As the game progressed, it was clear that very little protection was being given to our midfield and front row as time and again, fouls appeared to go unpunished. Despite this, our young frontline of Sorcha McGarvey and Rebecca Doyle persistently rode the storm and continued to pepper the goal line with shots, interspersed with great exchange play with Meabh Blayney.
St Brigid’s finished strongly, but the physicality of the opposition and the limited turnout of the squad (where we’re you 16’s?), proved to be too big a task as the host club hung on for a good win. Thanks for your after match hospitality St James’.
Lessons learned? Too many Under 16 squad players are not showing for trainjng or matches and this manifests itself on match day! Our ladies need to be prepared to ‘toughen up’ as we face teams who are willing to lean on us. Although there were many fine performances from our older girls today, it cannot be left to our younger 14s to make up the majority of the squad.
It’s the start of a long season and today we saw the shoots of something good. Let’s up the tempo for our next match and deliver on what today promised!
