Louth’s stars of the future shine in blitzes
LOUTH Ladies have deservedly grabbed the headlines following their All-Ireland triumph on Sunday, but there’s a great crop of young players coming through also judging by the exploits of the county’s Under-12s.
Two Louth teams were entered into each of the two Leinster Under-12 blitzes held during the summer, both of which were staged at the Portlaoise GAA grounds in Rathleague, and that meant a 5.30am start for many of the girls involved to make the team bus on time.
The second of those blitzes took place recently, with the red team graded in Division 2 where they had some tough assignments against Offaly, Meath, Laois and Wicklow. However, the girls played excellent football throughout and managed to beat Laois and draw two of their other games, with just one defeat.
On an adjoining pitch, Louth’s white team were placed in Division 4 and they convincingly won their opening three matches against Carlow, Wicklow Gold and Wicklow White in some style. both sides tallying wides.
St Kevins looked to be getting things somewhat under control with a point nine minutes into the half but St Brides were making a determined effort to claw their way back with a fantastic display of skill and agility in their forward line generating two points in quick succession one of which came from a free about 20m to the
With the other team in the group, Kilkenny, also boasting a 100% record, the last group game was played as the final and it was the Wee County girls who triumphed on a 2-1 to 1-1 scoreline in a tight and tense decider.
It was a second success of the summer for the Division 4 white team as they also won the cup in front of the St Kevins posts. With the sides even, it was game one, but St. Kevins brought out their ‘A’ game and made the best of the time left with accurate shooting to take two quick points between forty five and fifty minutes whilst St Brides put multiple chances wide.
The last ten minutes saw St Kevins make multiple drives forward and with the first blitz with a record of four wins from four, scoring 21 goals and conceding none!
Around 60 players were originally put forward by their clubs for Louth trials hosted by the St Kevin’s club earlier in the summer, following which the difficult decision was made to whittle the numbers down and create two their mid field and half forwards beginning to shine they took another point with three minutes to go.
At the final whistle, the score board read St Kevins 2-6, St Brides 0-9.
The player of the match title went to St Kevins’ Sarah Mulroy whilst St Kevins Aoife Gregory and Roisin Maguire also impressed the judges as did St Brides county teams.
The panel, kindly sponsored by Hollywood Developments, were then put through their places at training in Stabannon every Saturday morning, coached by the enthusiastic team of Clodagh McClean, Claire Byrne and Christopher Mackin.
But the highlight of the summer for the girls was pulling on the Louth jersey for the first time in those Leinster blitzes and they certainly did the county proud. LOUTH RED: Alice Kearns, Lindsay Taaffe, Chloe Boyle, Caoimhe Carolan, Laoise Chanda, Amy Murray, Anna McAuley, Keelan Bewley, Rachel Owens, Sarah Lynch, Eimear Callaghan, Darcey Devlin, Grace Stafford, Molly Pepper, Ciara Boyle, Lucy Taaffe, Emma Goodman, Tara O’Connor, Aibhe Savage, Isabelle Matthews, Kate Roe.
LOUTH WHITE: Aine Sheedy, Ava Briscoe, Billie Mynes, Ciara Quigley, Ella Kieran, Erin Finnegan, Jasmine Neacy, Hannah Rice, Jennifer Freeman, Maggie Holland, Mai-anh Crawford, Mia Clarke, Millie Cleary, Moya Corrigan, Mya Hanlon, Nicole Fitzgerald, Shannyn Daly, Shauna Farrell, Shayla Hollywood, Shona Cavaroli, Shona Murray, Zara Sweeney. Absent: Erin Roe, Kate O’Molloy, Martina Kirk, Saoirse Daly. COACHES: Clodagh McClean, Claire Byrne, Christopher Mackin.