Girls’ joy cut short in thriller
DROGHEDA GIRLS DUNBOYNE 3 3
A BRILLIANT goal by Joy Kelly, 34 years to the day since her uncle Gary bagged his first at Marley’s Lane, wasn’t enough to secure all three points for a depleted Drogheda Girls Under-14 team on Sunday.
After a comfortable victory in their opening game, Drogheda Girls were again at home, this time welcoming Dunboyne, and on seven minutes striker Grace Martin bagged her third goal of the season after a well timed throughball from Abigail Kierans-Fitzpatrick to give them a perfect start.
Dunboyne also enjoyed early chances and keeper Jade Murphy was on hand to make very good stops in some early one-on-one situations.
Drogheda moved the ball well through the middle of the park, particularly through Kierans-Fitzpatrick and Megan Murray, and on the quarter-hour mark the Boynesiders were unlucky not to go 2-0 up when Murray again played a defence-splitting pass into the run of winger Kelly who forced the away keeper into a stunning save.
Soon after, left-winger Ciara McRoary saw her shot flash across the face of the goal and go just wide after a clever pass from Amy Clarke as the Drogs started to gain the upper hand.
The next chance fell to Martin who found herself free after a great move involving Zoey English and Kierans-Fitzpatrick, only to scuff her shot slightly and fire narrowly wide.
Just before half-time, defender Lyndsey Horan broke up play brilliantly on the edge of her own box, exchanges passes with Romy McAvinia and squared to fellow defender Alisha Ajisafe who then dribbled 80 yards, beating five or six players before coolly finishing in the bottom corner to make it 2-0 at the break.
The second half was an entirely different affair as Dunboyne changed their tactics, and not long after the restart they halved the deficit with a speculative effort from outside the box after a free kick was deflected.
English went close from a Niamh O’Hart pass, her shot flying over the bar, and Kelly was also unlucky as her powerful run down the right was followed by a low, rasping shot that forced the visiting keeper into another fine save.
Down on numbers for the day, the home side started to falter as their opponents stepped up their intensity and, after a first half littered with stops for foul throws the Meath side got the rub of the green when another suspicious throw-in was let go and eventually resulted in an equalising goal for their number 9 despite Horan’s brilliant effort to track back.
Drogheda responded well and left-back Amy Clarke, who had a starring role in the previous game, was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. With the home side looking weary in the final minutes, Dunboyne piled on the pressure and had a number of further chances.
However, it was Drogheda who were rewarded after a good tackle on the edge of her own box from Ajisafe. They worked the ball upfield where a clever flick-on by McAvinia saw Kelly win a 50/50 ball with the Dunboyne goalkeeper and hit the back of the net from 25 yards out to put Drogheda 3-2 up.
There was one final twist, though, when a clearance went straight to a Dunboyne player and she fired home the equaliser past keeper Murphy.
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