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Down’s first ever Under 12 Girls football team
made the long journey to St. Joseph’s GAA grounds Ennis, Co. Clare to compete in
the Inter County Ladies football tournament on Saturday 4th November
2006. The Down team were the only Ulster participants in the tournament and the
team was representative of a number of Clubs including Carryduff, Bosco, Bredagh,
Bryansford, Saul, Downpatrick and Saval.
The Down girls were drawn against Galway,
Kerry and hosts Co. Clare who they faced in their opening game. The mourne
girls started brightly with the early pressure they exerted being rewarded with
a point confidently taken by Aoife Sheridan (Bredagh). Shortly afterwards, Bosco
Newry’s Catriona Doran kept the momentum going with another well taken point for
the County. The Clare team responded with two points in quick succession but
Down took the lead again when they were awarded a penalty, superbly executed by
Catriona Doran. Down created several other opportunities through Niamh Tumelty (Bosco)
Orla McLogan ( Saval) and Caoimhe McKay (Bryansford) but in the dying seconds of
the half the team were dealt a cruel blow when the host team snatched a goal to
draw level. Their resolve was again tested in the second half as Clare
gradually dominated proceedings. Down defended admirably with superb
performances from ‘keeper Rachael Savage (Bryansford), defenders Orla Boyle (Downpatrick),
Rachel Goldsmith (Bredagh) and midfielder Ciara Crosbie (Carryduff).
Nonetheless Clare scored two further goals to claim victory. Final score Clare
3.03 Down 1.05.
Down’s next opponents were Galway.
They again competed extremely well with notable performances from Gemma Mullan (Bredagh),
Orla McKay (Carryduff) and Meghan Doherty (Carryduff). In the midfield Emma
Gray (Bosco) was everywhere while forwards Orla Holland (Saul) and Julia Hinds (Bredagh)
tried hard against a resilient defence. However
Galway’s
pre-tournament preparation paid dividends and they finished the game deserved
winners, 4.06 to 0.00. Finally Down faced Kerry in a more even match up and
while their determination was fantastic throughout the field, “the Kingdom”
held the upper hand as the game reached half time. In the second half,
performances from Rachael McEvoy (Saval) Aine Connelly (Downpatrick) Catherine
Hamilton (Saul) and Fiona McCauley (Carryduff) ensured the Kingdom didn’t have
everything their own way. Fiona McCauley (Carryduff) converted Down’s only score
with a fine strike between the posts. Final score 1.06 to 0.01.
In the first ever performance by a Down U12
team, the players can be very proud of their performances against what are some
of the strongest counties in the Ladies game. The young team performed well as
a unit and their experience should auger well for future development. The team
were warmly received by Co. Clare Ladies Chairman, James Lafferty, who thanked
them for making the journey and extended an invite to next year's tournament.
Special thanks to all the clubs for supporting the girl’s trip to Co Clare,
where.
County
Kerry were the eventual winners beating
Dublin in the final. |
