Last Sunday our U15 girls lined out in their first ever competitive game against Barna/ Furbo ‘B’. With a total of 10 goals, 2 penalties and 2 shots hitting the crossbar it certainly wasn’t for the faint hearted.
Before the kickoff Colemanstown girls anticipated the announcement of this year’s Captain and Vice Captain as voted by their teammates in the lead up to the game. The announcement was made and our captain for the 2021/2022 season is Niamh Kennedy with her right hand woman Edel Egan as Vice Captain.
The girls lined out and the nerves were present in what was a tough encounter in the U15 Championship. Our girls started strong and with sisters Clodagh and Aoife Jordan covering the wings we were sure to have plenty of pin point accurate through balls all day. A fantastic run by Keva Hynes who gave a clean pass to Niamh Kennedy who in turn fed a fantastic ball to Aoife Jordan’s feet was just denied by a fantastic Barna keeper who certainly was to thank for keeping a cleansheet for Barna for the first 25 minutes of the game. While our opponents keeper was on fire, the defensive line of Annalise Doran, Lucy Roberts, Saoirse Moran and Ally Nutley were on their toes all day as Barna were irking for a goal. Their first goal came after just 10 minutes and was followed quickly by a 2nd! Colemanstown girls were not giving up with Lily Mannion and Libby Kennedy working non-stop to break the line in attempts to get that ball into the net. The following play by the Colemanstown ladies was something to behold with pinpoint accurate passing from the backline, right through midfield to the feet of Aoife Jordan as she ran at an angle at the goal and slotted it past the keeper. The Barna girls went on a scoring rampage and made it 5-1 within a handful of minutes.
Alma Hynes made her competitive debut and boy did she make an impact. She wasn’t 30 seconds on the pitch when she got the ball to her feet only to be denied by the defence but was perfectly positioned when the rebounded shot landed at her feet and she slotted it home to make it 5-2. Barna were quick to respond and made it 6-2 by half time.
Half time came and time to refuel with some water and jaffa cakes and the girls agreed they had more in their tanks. The girls went on and from the tip off they showed they weren’t going down without a fight. The girls instantly fed a through ball from tip off to the feet of Saoirse Moran involving Keva Hynes to Libby Kennedy only to be denied by the upright. The ohh’s from the crowd just showed the power of the shot. The Barna girls were quick on the rebound and ran the length of the pitch only to strike the side netting. Colemanstown’s girls fed the ball up the pitch from Lucy Roberts to Clodagh Jordan to sister Aoife . Aoife with her buckets of confidence took her shot from the edge of the circle only for it to skim over the crossbar. Our girls were truly digging deep for that next goal. Another great ball from Annalise Doran in the backline landed to the feet of Aoife Jordan and with another magnificent shot she was once again denied by the upright. All the girls could do is laugh together about it as it seemed to be the theme of the game. Barna got rewarded with a penalty and Edel Egan guessed the direction right but it wasn’t to be stopped! From the tip off our girls went on the attack and Captain Niamh Kennedy got taken down in the box and a penalty was awarded to Colemanstown. Niamh stepped up cool as a breeze and slotted it to the top corner. It ended 7-3 and these girls can be immensely proud after a tough first outing with 4 of the panel missing on the day.
Goal scorers: Aoife Jordan, Alma Hynes, Niamh Kennedy (penalty)
Captain: Niamh Kennedy; Vice Captain: Edel Egan
Cert awards: Saoirse Moran – for defensive efforts and hardwork
Alma Hynes – for hardwork and goalscoring
Match report by Laura Parker