Report by Jackie Delahunty
There was great excitement at the Family Fun Day for the U8 girls who took part in the camogie tournament alongside the U8 boys.
25 girls showed up before 12 o’clock to don the St Brigid’s jersey and march behind the Ballycallan Fife and Drum band, watched by their proud parents and supporters.
With such a large group, we had two teams, a white team and a blue team.
The white team played against O’Loughlin’s in the first match. From the whistle, the hard working midfielders, Grace, Kate, Mollie and Sophia drove the ball up to the forwards, Emma, Ella, Nicola and Ruby who tried hard to score against the very strong O’Loughlin’s defenders who sent the ball out and down the field. Only for the great efforts of our own defence line of Emily, Siobhan, Charlotte and Ruth as well as goalie Sarah, we would have been down after 10 minutes. Then a ball came from midfield and was worked past the post by Emma Marnell, leaving the score at 1-0! Unfortunately, O Loughlins regrouped and within minutes had pulled one back. In the second half both teams worked hard but the scoreline remained 1 goal each, a fair result.
Meanwhile the blue team were playing a very strong Callan outfit who scored early twice in the game, despite great defending from Mollie, Chloe, Mollie and Lia. The girls kept trying hard and got their reward when Katie directed a brilliant pass from Annie into the goal. Ciara was having a great game in goal, pulling off save after save. In the second half, the midfielders, Joanne, Rosin and Isabella worked tirelessly and this resulted in Katie finishing another ball to the net. However, Callan proved too strong on the day and won the game.
The teams then switched.The white team knew they were facing strong opposition and despite scoring first via the tenacious Grace Delahunty, Callan soon equalised and pulled ahead. The blue team won their game against O Loughlins thanks to goals from Ciara and Katie.
It was a great display of camogie from the girls and it is obvious that the U8 girls will thrive at U10 level next year, they are all ready for the transition. The younger girls will be back again next year and will be a force to be reckoned with.