Well done to our Junior Ladies Football Team who beat Pobailscoil Bheanntrai today. Many thanks to their coaches, Ms. Ella Ryan, Ms. Niamh Lordan and Mr. Chris O Brien and the TY Sport Admin Mentors for their support.
On the 22nd November 2019, Skibbereen Community School and Coláiste Phobail Bheanntraí played each other in the second match of the season for our Junior Ladies Team. Played in the grounds of Coláiste Phobail Bheanntraí, the match began at 11.45am.
The ball was thrown in, with Skibbereen winning it and immediately passing the ball up the pitch into the forwards. After a positive start, the girls used the ball wisely, with Keelin Murphy scoring the first point of the match in a matter of minutes. With two more scores following from both Alaia O’ Sullivan and Keelin Murphy this brought the score up to 0-3 to 0-0 in favour of SCS. The ball was kept in play around the center field for a few minutes with the Skibbereen defense doing an excellent job of keeping the ball away from the goal, until Bantry were able to force a gap in the defense and score their first point of the game.
However, this would be the last score for Bantry for quite a while as the Skibbereen girls forged ahead, with scores coming from Áine McCarthy (1-0), Eilis Bohane (1-1), Maureen Keating (1-1), Niamh O’Sullivan (0-1) and Alaia O’Sullivan (0-1). This gave Skibbereen a strong lead of 15 points, with the scoreboard totaling at 3-7 to 0-1. With 10 minutes left until half time Bantry were awarded a free. Although the free itself did not bring any score, it paved the way for the team to score their first goal of the game after winning Skibbereen’s kickout bringing the score to 3-7 to 1-1. The morale of the Bantry side seemed to be boosted after this score with them managing many attempts at goal, although they were all saved with much ease by the Skibbereen goalkeeper Ciara Dennehy.
Skibbereen managed to put another goal (Aoibhinn O’Connell) and three more points (Maureen Keating & Keelin Murphy) onto the scoreboard before half time. Bantry scored another point just before the referee blew the whistle, making the half time score 4-10 to 3-3.
Skibbereen were playing with the disadvantage of the sun in the second half, which gave the Bantry side an opportunity to try and level the score after a first half that involved Skibbereen having the most possession and using this wisely to build up as much of a lead as they could. The match restarted with a lot of fight coming from Bantry to try and put some scores on the board for their side. However, this proved difficult, with the Skibbereen girls displaying brilliant teamwork and skill. Niamh O'Sullivan scored the first point of the second half; however, this was closely followed by a goal from Bantry. The Skibbereen team made their first substitution of the game, with Elaine O’Donovan going on for Leah Fitzgerald in full back.
The goalkeeper for the Bantry side saved three goal attempts by Skibbereen, and the ball was quickly brought down the field where Ciara Dennehy did an excellent dive for the ball, saving a goal attempt from Bantry. More substitutions were made with Claire O’Mahony coming on for Keelin Murphy. Bantry began to make a comeback it seemed, scoring two goals in quick succession of each other. However, their efforts were futile as they had left it far too late to overtake the much stronger Skibbereen side.
The last substitutions came on for Skibbereen after a point from Maureen Keating, with Aoife Buckley replacing Áine McCarthy, Chloe O’Mahony replacing Aislinn O’Donovan, Sarah Connolly
replacing Maureen Keating, Ashleigh Hardy coming on for Niamh O’Sullivan and Foyin Aba replacing Eleanor Keating. Skibbereen placed another 2 goals (Claire O’Mahony & Aoibhinn O’Connell) and 2 more points (Eilis Bohane & Claire O’Mahony) on the scoreboard before the referee blew the final whistle bringing the game to an end, with a full-time score of 7-13 to 3-3.
Panel: 1. Ciara Dennehy, 2. Leah Carey, 3. Leah Fitzgerald,4. Eleanor Keating 5. Aislinn O’Donovan, 6. Amy Mckennedy, 7. Aoife Hurley, 8. Keelin Murphy (0-4), 9. Mary Whooley, 10. Áine McCarthy (1-0), 11. Niamh O’Sullivan (1-1), 12. Maureen Keating (1-2), 13. Aoibhinn O’ Connell (2-0), 14. Eilis Bohane (1-3), 15. Alaia O’Sullivan (0-2). Substitutes: 17. Ashleigh Hardy, 18. Aoife Buckley, 19. Sarah Connolly, 20. Claire O’Mahony (1-1), 21. Elaine O’Donovan, 22. Chloe O’Mahony, 23. Foyin Aba.
Match Report by Orla O Donovan