Sun 14th May 2006. – Ladies Senior Reserve League.
St James[ Aldergrove] 3 – 4 ;St Brigids 3-8.
“A Game of Two Halves…. and Seven Minutes….and a hill”.
Battling performance;never say die attitude;defiance in the face of onslaught.All these sporting cliches and more could be used to describe this spirited display [I know,another hackneyed phrase ,but it was just one of those games] from the bare minimum 15 St Brigids Ladies who travelled over the mountain and down into Crumlin on Sunday evening to join battle with the assembled masses of St James.And as the light began to fade on this dank Loughside evening they left to travel home again having just held on to a 4 point lead and were glad no more injury time was added on.
Playing with the hill in the first half proved to be advantageous as the Blue and Golds opened up a 4 point lead .With Anna McKeever at its base and Ellen Scott at its tip,the midfield diamond pushed forward repeatedly and through the tireless running and effective kicking of Ciara Loughran, who by the half’s end had put over 3 points,pressed home the advantage.When a penalty was awarded and Ruth Prenter stepped up to the mark [Gentle Reader,You will just have to accept that stereotypical phrases are the “order of the day”]and the incline of the pitch may have aided her in giving her punt slightly more momentum than she initially did.The accuracy of the spot kick and force exerted were enough and Ruth took the salutes from her teammates as she celebrated another goal to add to her season’s tally.The home side found it difficult to break out despite the mighty endeavours of Nicola Kennedy and Ciara Mc Court .Nicola did put one over the bar before half time but these two girls would be the rallying point for a second half revival with the hill’s assistance.Nevertheless mention should be made of Caoimhe Shepherd who scored 3 points and Catherine Mc Aulay who got her team off to their scoring ways.She ,by the end of play, would be top scorer for the day and for the season.
Half Time : 0 – 1 to 1 – 7.
As conditions worsened St James came out and using the home knowledge played down hill to great effect.They pegged St Brigids back into their own half and it was their turn to find it hard to break out of defence.Had it not been for Catherine Mc Aulay’s 2 goals in this half and the ability of their forward line to hold up the ball when they did get it up front there would have been a different outcome to this encounter.St James scored 3 quick goals and added 3 points to take their final account to 3 – 4.Whilst St Brigids added a further point from a free it was their resilience at the back and especially the display of Aoibhe Mc Cann in the half – back line that was most of note.She took a ball at full pelt on the face only to literally turn the other cheek and take another hit to the head.Her skill and determination were an example to all.Nerves were tingling as the game entered added time and even though some onlookers[i.e.your correspondent] thought the referee was a little over generous ,the 37 minute half ended as the home side launched another attack down field.
St Brigids Ladies kept their 100% record against the various Aldergrove teams but as Wellington said of Waterloo,it was ” a close run thing”.
