Ref halts match early with Saints in control
U-15 FOOTBALL, LADIES IFC AND JCFC
CLANN NA GAELS ST NICHOLAS 0-10 4-7
to raise a green flag on either occasion; drilling wide first before firing straight at Siobhan Figgis with her second opportunity.
Clodagh Kelly got then visitors off the mark after eight minutes when Samantha Mill’s run wasn’t tracked and she teed up the corner forward.
O’Toole notched two more points either side of an effort from the unmarkable Jill Fadian but the Saints would bag the first of their four majors in the 12th minute.
Rachel Murtagh caught the ball sweetly and her lay-off to Kelly opened things up and she fired past Katie Walsh to give her side the lead for the first time.
A second goal followed seven minutes later; Lisa Lawlor claimed possession and powered through a few soft tackles before finding the bottom corner.
Nicholas were handed a point when Walsh was guilty of cursing her kick-out and McNulty awarded a close-range free that Lawlor dispatched – that was her side’s only pointed free of the evening.
Clann na Gael were their own worst enemy at times with Rebecca Drew and Katie Greene both spurning shooting chances in the 23rd minute that they would probably convert more often than not.
Laura O’Toole stuck over her side’s first score in 10 minutes on 24 minutes – a fine solo effort from Greene accounted for their fourth white flag.
A lead of four points at the interval would have pleased St. Nicholas but they widened that with two late scores; a powerful point from Fadian who followed it up a minute later by leaving her marker for dead and finding the back of the net.
There was no letting up in the second period by the Donard and Dunlavin ladies. With 10 seconds of the second half elapsed, Laura Miley cut one over the crossbar.
Sophie Curran replied for the Gaels two minutes later and the hosts almost had a goal but Figgis did well to block from Laura Shanahan.
It was Walsh’s turn to impress next. A long ball to Fadian – a tactic that worked time and time again in the second period – was missed by Ciara Butler by a matter of centimetres to leave Fadian clean through but her firm strike was pushed over by Walsh.
Within two minutes, another long ball resulted in another white flag from the full-forward but when St. Nicholas went down to 14 for 10 minutes, the Gaels began to mount a comeback.
Laura O’Toole stuck four frees in a row over the bar and she so nearly had a goal when found by Rebecca Drew’s quick-thinking but her shot whistled wide.
Amongst the comeback, St. Nicholas could have killed things off when Fadian flicked the ball by Walsh but then side-footed wide when faced with an open goal.
The drama came to an end though when Rachel Murtagh’s rousing run up the middle saw her shot blocked at close-range. The referee deemed it to be a footblock, Gaels manager questioned the number of steps Murtagh had taken on her route to goal but Samantha Mills converted from the spot with what would be the last kick of the game.
Scorers - Clann na Gael: Laura O’Toole 0-7 (5F’s), Laura Shanahan 0-1, Sophie Curran 0-1, Katie Greene 0-1.
St. Nicholas scorers: Jill Fadian 1-4, Clodagh Kelly 1-1, Lisa Lawlor 1-1 (1F), Samantha Mills 1-0 (penalty), Laura Miley 0-1.
Katie Walsh; Tia Brady, Naomi Kiernan, Alanna Byrne; Paris Flynn, Shauna Kearns, Ciara Butler; Tara Costello, Katie Greene; Rebecca Drew, Laura O’Toole, Jamie Curran; Seoin Talbot, Laura Shanahan, Sophie Curran.
Siobhan Figgis; Marie Doyle, Samantha Mills, Aoife Sinnott; Anna Kelly, Aoife Grace, Yvonne Rouse; Katie-Ann O’Neill, Sarah Reid; Lisa Lawlor, Rachel Murtagh, Leane Kealy; Laura Miley, Jill Fadian, Clodagh Kelly.
Stephen McNulty