On Saturday 23rd August, St Brigid’s Minor girls took to the field in Ballyhale, to play in the semi finals, their opposition were the formidable Rower, who had recently been crowned league champions after they beat Paulstown in the Minor League final in July.
The weather was kind, no rain or breeze, and the game got underway. There were a few positional changes for the players from the start due to a few players being away on holidays, and this might explain in part their slow start to the game.
The first half was dominated by the opposition, and Brigid’s were simply unable to get a foothold during this period. Try as they might to stem the onslaught the first half ended on a scoreline of 3 points to 11, in favour of The Rower, it was probably a fair reflection of the dominance they had, 3 of their first half points coming from frees.
Some players were moved into different positions towards the end of the first half, and from the start of the second half Brigid’s made their intentions known in no uncertain terms, when they put two goals past the Rower keeper.
The buzz that followed reverberated throughout the team, and it seemed all the girls realised it was ‘game on’. From here it was the league champions that were on the back foot, and the struggle was now theirs.
In the end, the damage inflicted in the first half proved too much, Brigid’s were within one point of The Rower towards the fourth quarter, but their fantastic comeback fell short, and they bowed out to a deficit of five points, even though they out-scored their opponents in the second half. The final scoreline in favour of The Rower was 3-6 to 2-14.
It was a wonderful game, but it is also an unforgiving game, and if there was a lesson learnt in this, it was an old one, and that is in a game of two halves, you need to perform in both, to take home the spoils.
1) Niamh O’Connor 2) Kayleigh Nolan 3) Caoimhe Murphy 4) Therese Purcell 5) Claire Kelly 6) Ciara Murphy (c) 1-1, 7) Aisling Kelly, 8) Maggie Delaney, 9) Ann Doheny 0-2, 10) Rebecca O’Neill, 11) Eadaoin Murphy 0-2, 12) Lena Butler, 13) Anna Robinson, 14) Eimear Keoghan 0-1, 15) Siún Corcoran 2-0
Subs 16) Celine O’Dwyer, 17) Amy O’Brien
Report by Denis Nolan