BRILLIANT BLESSO!
Quality stuff as Blues see off Tinahely to win U14 ‘A’ title
10-14 4-5
JESS BRENNAN and Kim Connors might not have finished on the winning side in the Wicklow LGFA Senior football final but together they have prepared a wonderfully talented under-14 team who powered to the ‘A’ county title with a convincing win over a brave Tinahely in Dunlavin last Saturday evening.
A superb 5-7 from the outstanding Aisling Brennan will catch the eye and deservedly so but this was a complete team effort from start to finish with tremendous showings from team captain Anna Carylon in goals, Ava Jorda Dempsey, Aoife Cullen, Erin McMahon, Leila Shannon, Aibhe King, Ciara Keane, Ava O’Driscoll and the classy Robyn Brennan who would finish with 2-3 for her efforts.
The scoreline does not flatter the Blessington girls but it doesn’t do any favours for a Tinahely side who were in this game until early in the second half when they bagged 1-1 to trail by 5-8 to 3-3 and found themselves playing 14 players for 10 minutes when Anna Carylon was yellow carded for a foot block that led the penalty that was scored by the impressive Aine Darcy.
The game was over as a contest within the next 15 minutes when Blessington added another 2-3 (goals from Ciara Keane and Aisling Brennan, and points from Brennan (2) and Leila Shannon) to make it 7-11 to 3-3 and no way back for Tinahely who would show great courage by never relenting in the struggle against a most formidable outfit.
The Blues started this game very strongly with a rapid 1-1, Aisling Brennan with a pointed free after two minutes and the goal from Robyn Brennan after excellent work from the dynamic duo of
Ciara Keane and Ava O’Driscoll.
Tinahely recovered well. Emma Keenan supplied Willow Jordan with a pass and the full-forward lashed home to the roof of the Blessington net.
But Tinahely were struggling around the middle third due to the really strong midfield pairing of Leila Shannon and Aibhe King, with King’s speed and skill causing John Keenan’s and Kevin Darcy’s side all sorts of problems at different stages of this encounter.
A Brennan free and a wicked score from Aibhe King left Blessington up by three but another Willow Jordan goal brought Tinahely right back into the game at 1-3 to 2-0 with eight minutes gone in a game that was flowing up and down the field.
Aibhe King then forced a turnover in the middle of the field and the ball was worked to Aisling Brennan who fired home past Niamh Whelan in the Tinahely goal.
Beautiful movement up the field by Blessington resulted in the very capable Robyn Brennan grabbing
their third major and although Willow Jordan struck back with a point, Aisling and Robyn Brennan extended Blessington’s lead out to 3-5 to 2-1 by the first water break.
Blessington came out flying after the break with Aibhe King bulging the net but only after Tinahely’s Ciara Connelly putting in a wicked block on her first effort.
This was a very strong spell for Blessington who proved themselves to be a quality outfit with their movement, handling, skill level and speed. Aisling Brennan was relentless, firing wide, hitting the side netting and registering another point after a storming run from Ava O’Driscoll.
Aine Darcy raised a white flag for Tinahely but Blessington stormed to the half-time break with a point from Robyn Brennan and another goal from the immensely talented Aisling Brennan to leave it 5-8 to 2-2.
The early 1-1 gave the decent Tinahely support plenty to cheer about because the game was still relatively there for the taking given the openness and ability in
both attacks.
Blessington put the boot down from here on in.
Driven on by a strong defence and dynamic midfield and very capable substitutes they powered on to the end with goals from Aisling Brennan (3), Ciara Keane and Ava O’Driscoll and points from Aisling Brennan (3, 1f), Leila Shannon (2), and Robyn Brennan.
This was a class performance by a class team and we’ll be hearing plenty from them in the future. BLESSINGTON: Anna Carylon; Niamh Brennan, Ava Jordan Dempsey, Roisin Doyle; Aoife Cullen, Erin McMahon, Ellis Reid; Leila Shannon (0-2), Aibhe King (11); Ciara Keane (1-1), Aisling Brennan (5-7, 3f), Ava O’Driscoll (1-0); Sophie O’Driscoll, Robyn Brennan (2-3), Katie Behan. Subs: Abigail O’Riordan for E Reid, Georgia Mai Keeley for S O’Driscoll, Asia Duggan for C Keane, Paige Mcdonald for R Doyle. TINAHELY: Niamh Whelan; Amy Clancy, Grace Mulhall, Hannah O’Neill; Emma Healy, Ciara Connelly, Chloe Sheehy; Ava O’Keeffe, Sarah Doyle (0-1); Olivia Shannon, Aine Darcy (2-3, 1p, 3f), Emma Keenan; Kathlynn Doyle, Willow Jordan (2-1), Jessica Murphy. Subs: Bea Clancy for A Clancy
REFEREE: Brian