High drama in Arklow
IT was edge of the seat drama in Ballymoney as AGB senior ladies struggled to contain the ladies from Bray in the Senior Championship second round game recently.
It was tit for tat throughout the 60 minutes with both sides wasting opportunities and taking equal share of the points in both halves.
Jessie McElheron opened the scoring in the third minute of play with a well-taken point and then Alanah Conroy from Bray rattled the AGB net in the fifth minute as Linda Dempsey conceded her first goal in the championship to date. But this was a cracker of a shot from the on form Conroy who was super for Bray throughout the entire game.
Áine O’Reilly pointed for AGB in the seventh minute and Jessie McElheron scored the first of AGB’s two goals for the contest in the tenth minute. A point from Sarah Cunningham extended the Arklow lead in the thirteenth minute but this was wiped by an own goal at the Arklow end which kept the Bray threat very much alive.
Arklow kept their heads and points from Jessie Hurley and Áine O’Reilly left the AGB tally at 1-5 for the half, all from play. It was level at the break, 1-5 to 2-2, as Bray also added a second point to their tally from the boot of no. 10 Lauren Rowe.
In the second half it was more of the same with the home side probably making the most unforced errors. Two points from Bray’s Lauren Rowe were matched by two points from Sarah Cunningham for AGB. Bray opened up a lead with three pointed frees as the hard-working Arklow defence went into overdrive. Crucial blocks from Arklow’s Róisín O’Reilly thwarted the Bray attack on several occasions while at the opposite end the forwards continued to attack the Bray back line.
Two further points brought Arklow back to within a point of the opposition and a late goal, which to be fair had been on the cards several times throughout the game, finally put AGB two points ahead. A free for Bray left the narrowest of margins between the sides but time ran out for the visitors and despite their best efforts, AGB took all three points for the second time in this competition.
Best for Bray were Alannah Conroy, Mikaela Shelly, Aoife Gillen, Lauren Rowe and no. 11 Aisling Ó hAnnaidh. There were also promising displays from Bray’s Jane Butler and Molly Hunt. There were very strong performances from AGB’s Róisín O’Reilly, Niamh Arthur, Sarah Cunningham, Eimear Kelly, Sarah Garnett, Orla Byrne (replacing Rachael Byrne at full back) and Jessie McElheron.
AGB: Linda Dempsey, Sarah Garnett, Rachael Byrne, Emma Furlong, Áine Byrne, Annie Conroy, Eimear Kelly, Niamh Arthur, Steph Martin, Jessica Hurley (0-1), Jessie McElheron (1-1), Róisín O’Reilly, Sarah Cunningham (1-5), Sarah Kendrick, Áine O’Reilly(0-3) Subs: Orla Byrne for Rachael Byrne, Georgina Canavan for Sarah Kendrick, Ciara Forde for Róisín O’Reilly.
Bray Emmets: Éadaoin Lenihan, Sarah Longmore, Aisling McCabe, Jane Butler, Molly Hunt, Alannah Conroy (1-0), Una O’Grady, Mikaela Shelly, Aoife Gillen, Lauren Rowe (0-3), Aisling ní hAnnaidh (0-6), Grace O’Donovan, Síofra Heffernan, Juliet Fortune, Danika Goulding.