Donaghmore/ Ashbourne vs Boardsmill

Date:        23 March 2010
Venue:        Killegland West
Time:        8:00 PM
Referee:    Tom Lorton


HT    Donaghmore / Ashbourne    1-8    Boardsmill    0-1
FT    Donaghmore/ Ashbourne    3-11    Boardsmill    1-4

Team and Scorers

Ali Fitzgerald, Shauna Hutton, Niamh Mooney, Grainne Field, Jeannie Donnellly, Aoife O’ Rourke, Roisin Williams,  Jenny Moran (0,1), Maire O’ Shaughnessy, Catriona O’ Shaughnessy (0,3) , Mary-Kate Benville, Eva Mc Neilis (0,1), Hayley Lawton (1,3), Claire Flaherty (1,1), Aisling Doherty(1,1)

Subs Kyna O’ Connor for Jenny Moran, Caroline Brothwood for Hayley Lawton, Sophia Byrne (0,1) for Niamh Mooney

Senior Ladies kicked off their league campaign with a straightforward win against a youthful Boardsmill side on pitch one last night. We were ahead at half time by a good margin, despite several wides, but Boardsmill came back more into the game in the second half.  Our defence never rested on its laurels, and our forwards rained in ball to the opposition square, minimising the scoring opportunities for Boardsmill.  Well done to Caroline and Sophia, who made their debuts at Senior level last night !

Donaghmore / Ashbourne signalled their intent from the throw –in, with our midfield getting the ball to Mary- Kate whose effort was just wide. We had an intense period of Donaghmore pressure, with our first score a point from Catriona, a wide, then a great run from Jenny resulted in a Boardsmill defender diverting the ball over the line for a 45.  Jenny’s 45 was expertly directed to Catriona, who notched up our second point. We then had a flurry of wides, followed by a brilliant move between Aoife, Aisling and Claire, who stuck the ball in the back of the net for our first goal. The action briefly moved to our half, where our stout defence worked the ball back up to Hayley, who battled a cluster of defenders to put the ball over the bar for another fine score. Boardsmill won their kick-out, but we regained possession and Jenny scored a great point, kicked on the run. At this stage, the opposition managed to get the ball into our half, where we conceded a free, which was converted for Boardsmill’s  sole score of the half. We then had another point from Claire, but we lost our kick – out, and the opposition worked the ball into our square, where we conceded a 45. This came to nothing, however,  with our defence  feeding Maire and Catriona in midfield, up to Eva and then Aisling, who turned on a sixpence to send the ball over the bar at a seemingly impossible angle, for yet another point. We saw out the half with a further two points, one scored by Catriona on the run, the other an instinctive strike from Hayley to leave the score at half-time 1 – 8 to 0-1 to Donaghmore / Ashbourne.

After the break, Catriona won the throw –in, and went on an unstoppable solo run which brought her to the edge of the square, but the final shot on goal went wide. We then had another period of Donaghmore pressure, with a superb 1-2 between Claire and Hayley  resulting in a point for Hayley. We followed this up with another shot on goal which went just wide, when Kyna came on for Jenny. Boardsmill now had their best interval of play for the entire match,  where  Ali in goal ( despite just getting over injury ) had to make a couple of catches and saves as the opposition players piled forward. We conceded two unanswered points before Hayley  arrested their run by putting the ball in the back of the net for our second goal. Boardsmill got another point on the scoreboard before making wholesale changes, with new players coming on and others being re-deployed. We restricted ourselves to one change, with Caroline coming on for Hayley. We had a very good passage of play, with Aoife getting the ball to Caroline, then Kyna fired the ball in to Aisling from practically the end line,  who put it straight into the Boardsmill net for our third goal. Sophia came on for Niamh at this point. We conceded a free at the edge of our square, which was very quickly taken and ended up in the back of our net. This score briefly gave the opposition some hope, until Sophia cemented the result by scoring our eleventh point in the dying minutes of the game. Donaghmore / Ashbourne ran out worthy  winners with a scoreline of 3 – 11 to 1-4 at the final whistle.

Our defence of Shauna, Grainne, Niamh, Jeannie, Aoife, Roisin and Jenny were not only strong in defence, but distributed the ball very well to midfield, and were not averse to bring the ball upfield themselves if required. Maire and Catriona, with Mary- Kate and Eva, were full of running and appeared to be everywhere !  Hayley, Aisling and Claire did exactly what was required – score, and score again ! Kyna, Caroline and Sophia carried on the good work of the players they came on for ! Ali stood fast in goal, despite getting over injury. Ali Leahy was unfortunate to miss out , due to injury. Well done to all concerned !