Sunday 17 September found our U16 girls take the long journey to Carryduff for the second time in four days to play the U16 A Championship Semi-final.
The young blues got off to a great start scoring 1 goal and 2 points unanswered, playing some great football. In the next 15 minutes with Carryduff attacking relentlessly the girls defended heroically, with some great saves from our stand-in goal keeper for the day, U12 footballer, Aimee Kelly, we found ourselves going in at half time just 5 points down.
As in any other match these girls play, their ‘never give up attitude’ once again came to the fore from the very start of the second half. The ball was won from the throw in and Eanna Austin went on a great solo run down the field and slipped the ball to Caoimhe Shannon for a great goal which brought the sides closer with only 2 points in the difference. Five minutes later, a great break from Niamh Rice found Sara Daly on the 14 yard line who finished the ball with great accuracy into the back of the Carryduff net leaving the young blue ladies ahead by 1 point!
With our 6 younger U14 girls, starting the game for some senior players who could not attend on the day, beginning to tire, Carryduff emptied their bench, bringing on the fresh legs we didn’t have at our disposal. This advantage made all the difference as we only had 16 out of a possible 20 players to call on. Carryduff went on to score 3/4 without answer. The Warrenpoint girls fought right to the final whistle and scored 2 more points without conceding any more scores to this dominant Carryduff side.
U16 Manager, Ian Russell, and coach, Aisling Toman, would like to thank the U16, U18 girls and also the younger U14 girls that came on-board to ensure both teams were able to field this year. Not mentioning any names, what a wonderful effort you put in all year.
