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The Down Girls U14
team gave a great performance at the All Ireland U14
Blitz on Saturday. Playing in the heat in Mullingar,
the girls faced an uphill challenge to qualify for
their section semi finals with draws against
Waterford, Sligo, Cork B and Wicklow. However the
young Down team were to cause a few surprises with
their performances on the day. Their first
opponents were Sligo, who were overcome with eight
points to spare following a spate of goals from
Tullylish player Charlotte O’Neill and Saval’s
Natashya Lennon. Wicklow provided a tougher test
with only a few points between the teams at half
time. The introduction of Downpatrick’s Cara
Cunningham as a third midfielder provided extra
presence though as the Down forwards took their
scores with style, with Burren player Siofra Murdoch
lethal from the twenty-yard line. The only blip of
the qualifiers was a slender defeat to a physical
Cork B side but the good work of previous games left
Down with the task of defeating Waterford to reach
the semi finals. Waterford were simply outclassed
in all areas of the field with Sileen McDonald
rushing from a family wedding to give a captain’s
performance.
Playing in their
second semi final in two years the girls faced
Roscommon. With legs tiring at the end of a long
day, they found themselves four points down at half
time. Their determination though saw them come out
firing in the second half with a trio of goals from
Natashya Lennon who gave a superb solo performances,
beating five players to score the second of the
three. With minutes to go, Down found themselves up
by a point, but a last minute goal and point by
Roscommon saw them snatch victory to book their
place in the final. The Down girls can be very
proud of their performance in a game that could have
gone either way, and that led the Roscommon manager
to comment “I haven’t seen football like that in a
long, long time”. The girls will hope to continue
their good form into the Ulster B Championship final
on June 17th. Down panel: Aisling Cole,
Nicole O’Connor, Charlotte O’Neill, Cathy Short,
Cassie Moane, Lizzy Carr, Amy Barry, Catherine
Murray, Niamh McGuinness, Cara Cunningham, Momhuirne
Lennon, Laura McClement, Amy Kelly, Kate Nolan,
Shannon Coghlan, Emily Brown, Laura Jane Heiher,
Natashya Lennon, Eimear Kane, Ciara McGuire, Aine
McCurry, Rachel Curran, Tara Laverty, Sileen
McDonald, Alannah Connery, Eadoin Early, Siofra
Murdoch, Gemma Toner, Eimear McGeough, Siobhan
Polly, |
