| U13 Girls Football 14 Mar |
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| Written by Harry O'Crowley |
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U13 Girls Football Div 1
If there was ever a doubt that Girls football is nothing more than a sideshow, those doubts would have been absolutely dispelled had you witnessed the home U13 clash between Naomh Olaf & St Brigids on Sunday 14th March. All the ingredients for a great match were there - passion, intensity, skill and commitment together with an underlining but nonetheless keen rivalry between the two teams.
The context to the game perhaps needs some explaining. St Brigids won last years league without losing a game and in the process defeated our girls comprehensively. There was some expectation that whereas Olafs would be at home this time the gulf in class was insurmountable. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Brigids got off to a blistering start and within minutes had put 2-01 on the scoreboard before our girls had hardly warmed up. However, in an unbelievable six minute period of play of the highest order the Naomh Olaf girls scored an unanswered 3-01. The goals came from Giordain, Katie and from Shannon with cheeky flick on - the mark of a great forward. At half time the visitors lead 4-02 - 3-02. They upped the ante in the second half as their class, in particular that of their sublime centre half forward Aoibhín, became evident. However, quality tackling and blocking from the Olafs girls in both attack and defense and a majestic performance by Katie at midfield, made life very difficult for their Blanchardstown counterparts. A display of superb points taking settled the overall result but not before Chloe O'C and Stacy found the net again for the home team.
Although disappointed not to have won our girls should take great pride from the endeavour they showed in the match. St Brigids have not conceded as much as 5-05 since they started at u10 and to be as close as they were at the end will now have other 'big' teams looking over their shoulders at this ever improving Naomh Olafs panel.
Game Team: Leanne Cannon, Sadhbh Maher, Róisín MacLoughlin, Éilis Murphy, Stefanie Deasy, Niamh Donnelly, Sadie Lanigan, Giordain Brewer, Katie Grimes, Shannon McDonagh, Stacy McNulty, Hayleigh Gunning, Niamh Brennan, Kate Murray, Chloe O'Cealaigh, Niamh Lakes, Amy McGrath, Aoife O'Rourke, Chloe O'Reilly, Claire O'Connor and Carolyn McGuirk |
