BURREN UNDER 16 LADIES V BRYANSFORD
BURREN V BRYANSFORD
The
Burren Under 16 ladies travelled to St
Patrick’s Park Newcastle on Sunday last
to play in the league semi final against
the hosts Bryansford. It was an early
start for the girls with throw in
scheduled for half twelve, but not for
the first time this year, the referee
failed to show leaving both teams in
limbo with their respective warm ups
completed.
After
much negotiation between the sides it
was agreed that Shauna Campbell would
officiate the game. But the half hour
delay didn’t suit the St Mary’s girls at
all. They started very slowly and had
two goals past them in as many minutes
and with the Bryansford midfield in
complete control they tagged on another
5 points before Burren could get out of
their own half. When they eventually
did though, it was a disappointing wide
from Catherine Mc Govern which opened
their account of shots on target. From
the resulting kick out though, Burren
gained possession and Emily Brown split
the posts with ease. The Bryansford
ploy from their kick outs was causing
Burren all kinds of difficulties and
they broke down the field to score
another goal.
Burren
responded with a 5 minute period of
dominance to score 1-02 with a goal and
point coming from the out of sorts
Siofra Murdock and the other point
coming from the ever alert Emily Brown.
Bryansford were not done yet and hit the
last three scores of the half (1-02) to
leave Burren with a mountain to climb in
the second half.
A few
stern words were delivered to the girls
at half time and to their credit they
responded in the best way possible – by
playing football the way we all know
they can. The twin towers in midfield
Caroline Mc Kay and Mairead Trainor took
complete control in the second period
with Mairead expanding huge amounts of
energy with her runs up and down the
park and Caroline getting to grips with
the taller of the four girls, indeed
capping off a fine performance with a
second half goal. At the back they were
also gaining more control of their
respective markers with Laura Kelly
setting the example for the rest to
follow. Her work rate was immense and
this spurred on Kelly O’Hare, Cara and
Shannon Murdock with the latter also
showing how it should be done in the
second half. Her never say die attitude
and will to win vital ball from the
opposition belied her small frame – but
as we all know its “not the size of the
dog in the fight, but the size of the
fight in the dog” as the old saying
goes.
Up front
Courtney, Niamh and Emily were all at
last gaining the edge on their markers
and starting to attack the ball first
time and retaining possession every
time. This in turn led to more
possession for the terrible twins on
which they thrived. Siofra scored a
lethal goal and two points with
Catherine chipping in with a point of
her own. Other chances were presented
but sadly not taken.
Bryansford, for all their efforts in the
second half just couldn’t live with the
intensity of the Burren girls play and
scored a mere three times in the whole
half.
In the
end nerves, the delay, a poor first
half, missed chances, and showing way
too much respect to the opposition led
to the downfall of the team. They left
too much work to do in the second half
and with the searing heat it just wasn’t
possible for them.
Congratulations to the girls for getting
this far and we look forward to the
championship in 4 weeks (against the
same opposition) with renewed optimism
after your second half display. Anyone
who has followed the team and was
present on Sunday will know that the
girls didn’t show their true potential
and with the right amount of work and
commitment during training for the next
few weeks they will put this result
behind them and indeed go one better in
the championship.
MELISSA MC MAHON
CAOIMHE MURDOCK MARESE
HOLLYWOOD SHANNON MURDOCK
CARA MURDOCK LAURA
KELLY KELLY
O’HARE
CAROLINE MC KAY (1 - 0)
MAIREAD TRAINOR
COURTNEY LINDEN SIOFRA
MURDOCK NIAMH MC GRATH
(2 –
3)
KERRI MC GOVERN CATHERINE
EMILY BROWN
MC
GOVERN
(0 –
2)
(0-1)
SUBS USED
KIRSTY
DOWNEY FOR MARESE HOLLYWOOD, AMY BARRY
FOR KERRI MC GOVERN
FINAL SCORE
BURREN 3
– 06 BRYANSFORD 5 – 09
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
LAURA
KELLY
SHANNON MURDOCK
