Donaghmore Ashbourne Vs Oldcastle - Sunday 8th March 2009

Venue        Killegland West
Time        4:25 PM
Referee:    Michael Ryan

HT        Donaghmore/ Ashbourne 5 – 2    Oldcastle    2 – 2
FT        Donaghmore/Ashbourne  8 – 16    Oldcastle    2 – 2

Team: Ciara Dixon, Grainne Field, Shauna Hutton, Aoife O’ Rourke, Anna Reidy, Maire O’ Shaughnessy, Catriona O’ Shaughnessy (1,8) , Hayley Lawton (3,5) , Mary-Kate Benville (0,2), Jenny Moran, Ailish Moran (1,0), Kyna O’ Connor (0,1 ) ,Sarah Curran, Karen Menton, Rachael Fenton (2,0) . Subs Aideen Kenny, Hayley Jenkinson ( 1,0), Aisling Doherty, Elaine Finnegan, Alison Leahy, Sarah McEvoy.

The often-delayed ( for various reasons ) U-19 Ladies’ Quarter Final Vs Oldcastle took place on windy, Cold, and at the the end, snowy afternoon. The match was scheduled to start at 4:00, but actually started at 4:25 as some players had difficulties finding the pitch.

Oldcastle started the first half playing with quite a stiff wind, the first minute saw the Oldcastle midfield get the ball, which looped in behind our defence, and was  knocked into the net, goal  Oldcastle. This was followed inside a few moments by a point, but the ball didn’t get out of our half, coming back in to our goal mouth. The scramble to get the ball out unfortunately resulting in our conceding a penalty, which was duly put in the net, leaving Donaghmore Ashbourne 2 1 down after 10 minutes.

Donaghmore / Ashbourne had started to get the measure both of the prevailing conditions and of their opponents, but the penalty galvanised the girls, the defence sending the ball into midfield, where Jenny, Mary- Kate and Catriona were starting to weave their way through the opposition, feeding the ball up to Hayley Lawton who calmly slotted the ball into the net – goal Donaghmore/ Ashbourne. A goalmouth tussle at the Oldcastle end and Hayley doubled her goal tally when she converted the resulting penalty.

Oldcastle won the kick out, worked the ball forward and scored their second point. This was the trigger  where the Donaghmore/ Ashbourne girls really got into gear – Ciara, Sarah, Karen, Grainne, Shauna and Aoife repelled all attempts to get the ball into threatening positions – Aoife  and Maire with the ability either to distribute the ball forward, or to work it forward themselves . Any time the ball rained into our half, a Donaghmore defender was ready to pounce, and send it back upfield.

Whenever Catriona, Mary-Kate, Jenny or Anna got the ball, they kept possession, feeding it up the wings to Ailish and Kyna who kept the ball in play most effectively, sending it  in to Hayley or Rachael. Catriona was able to work her way into the box, nimbly evading oncoming tackles and showing gritty determination in going forward, and was rewarded for her efforts by scoring her first goal. Not be be outdone, Rachel hit the back of the net, which was followed by two points, one each for Hayley and Mary-Kate. The Donaghmore/Ashbourne first half was rounded off by a goal from Ailish .

We started the second half with the wind, but the temperature had dropped and there were some spots of rain. We started as we meant to continue, with Hayley putting one over the bar, and the subsequent kick out was won by Donaghmore, a small pattern emerged – Don/Ash winning the kickout, scoring, then winning the kickout again. Catriona notched up two points, Kyna one point, and Rachel a goal, before a slight lull in the proceedings where we recorded brace of wides. Normal service was then resumed, with Catriona bagging a further two points, Mark –Kate one, and one for Hayley.  Alison came on for Rachael, but the dynamic of the team stayed unchanged, with Alison harrying the Oldcastle back line instead. Hayley and Catriona continued vying for scores, with Catriona putting up 3 points to Hayley’s goal and two points.  We then had a double substitution, with Hayley Jenkinson coming on for Ailish, and Aideen for Shauna. Hayley J’s lurking on the edge of the box paid off when she scored our eighth goal. At this stage in the game, sleet was coming down with a vengeance, and no-one was upset when the referee blew up the match.

We will be meeting St Michael’s in the Semi-Final, Date and Venue to be advised.

A Scoreboard to Remember!