Senior Ladies:
Junior C Championship Round 4
Ballymacelligott 2:17
Kerins O’Rahillys 1:01
Another win on Wednesday 24th of August puts Ballymac on top of the league with 4 wins from 4 and into the final!!
The Round 4 win was played behind closed doors in a very wet and windy Healy Park, yet it saw Ballymac play some of their best football yet. Even without some key players, due to injury, the team excelled in all areas of the pitch.
Kate O’Connor got the team off to the dream start with a goal and point. It must be said that one of strongest assets as players is the ability to control the opposition kick outs. Heaping pressure on their defensive saw players like Lisa Curran, Eve Creedon and Ellie McElligott take some exceptional scores with Therese Keane dangerous in full forward. Without one of our star forwards, an injured Cora Savage, these girls really stood up and took some lovely frees.
On the wings, Mary Anne Fleming and Áine Rice scooped up free ball and both got some great points in return.
When Kerins O’Rahillys did break from their kick outs Ballymac were well able for them. Captain Úna Kerins was strong in centre back and was backed up fiercely by Roisin Long and Millie Luck. Aisling O’Connell gave them the confidence to go and make darting runs up the pitch, when needed.
Although the ball was slow making its way past the Ballymac centre back line but when it did come the full back line of Cait Rice, Niamh Rahilly and Sinéad McKeown and the experienced Robyn White in goals were strong.
We had 5 girls who didn’t start, but all made a big impact when they came on. Holly Geary with a well taken goal, Michaela Murphy on the wing with punishing runs, Caoimhe Carroll in defence with a great presence. Young Grainne Galvin played super and Lorna Daly always an option for the ball.
Wishing all our injured players a speedy recovery; Cora Savage, Emma Sweeney, Veronica O’Donnell and Emily O’Brien.
Massive thanks is extended to Fionnán Fitzgerald, Pa White, Sean and Kerry Hennessy who provided a live stream of the game on the Ballymacelligott GAA Facebook page, ensuring all those who couldn’t attend could enjoy the game from the comfort of their own homes. We really do appreciate your time and effort, especially on a bad night.
U16 Girls :
Round 4 of Division one of the Rose Hotel County League
Ballymacelligott 0:08
Southern Gaels 5:11
Lining up at home versus the reigning County Champions of both U12 and U14 with this age group, the Ballymac Ladies were really up against it tonight. Minus selector Anthony Griffin and his two daughters Shonagh and Rachel with Eimear Curran also out, the task became harder. But what a turn out for the ladies, with a panel of 23 for the game, the ladies really took this game to a star studded Southern Gaels boasting numerous Kerry players at U14 and U16 levels. Despite Southern Gaels racing into a 1-3 lead after the first 11 mins, we started to settle well and got our first point from a Ciara Palmer free, quickly followed by a point from play by Roisin Rahilly and another free from Ciara Palmer. This left the score at 1-3 to 0-3 at the water break, with Anna Collins very unlucky with a great goal chance. In the next quarter SG put up 2-3 to two points for Ballymac from Anna Collins and Ciara Palmer. But yet again two good goal chances went a begging.
Into the second half and we began making changes to get as much game time as possible for the team and the physicality of the SG ladies was beginning to tell. However, we fought right to the end, with a further three points from Anna Collins and two from Ella Quirke one from play and one from a free. We put up a great performance and again our ladies did a huge amount of great defending and moving the ball up the field. In the end the difference was how clinical SG were in front of the posts winning out on a score line of 5-11 to 0-8, however we had six really good goal chance’s that we failed to convert, two of them leading directly to two SG goals at the other end where we were punished for not taking our chances and getting turned over.
Kerry Hennessy, overworked in goal for us, made a number of good saves, with the full back line being led superbly by Lorna Daly and another towering performance by Grainne Galvin ably assisted by Abbey Leahy, Maura Culloty, Ciara Kerins and Sarah Mason in turn, Allyssa Leen O’Shea rock solid at centre back with support from Cathy Palmer, surging runs from Kate Collins and hard work from Laura Kelly. Our midfielders Roisin Rahilly and Keelin Enright got through a trojan amount of work and kept going until the end. Ella Quirke and Ciara Palmer put in their best performances of the year so far and we’re huge thorns in SG’s side, while Rachel Creedon and Emma Daly did a lot of running and interconnecting the play. The inside line of Jill Quirke, Anna Collins, Emma Leen, Charlotte Geary, Niamh Lynch and Roisin Raggett worked hard to close down the SG defense and link up with the rest of our forwards.
Onto next Wednesday night when we welcome a very strong Austin Stacks side to Ballymacelligott. Great performance ladies, we are very proud of you.
U14 Girls
Round 4 of Division One of the Trophyworld County League
Ballymacelligott 5:09
Cromane 3:09
Our u14 Girls returned to winning ways on Sunday evening last when they had a good victory over Cromane in Glenbeigh in Round 4 of Division One of the Trophyworld County League.
Exchanges were tight in the first quarter but a Laura Sugrue goal before the water break saw us lead on a 1-3 to 0-3 scoreline.
We proceeded to dominate the rest of the half and goals from Laura Sugrue and Orla O Connor gave us a 3-5 to 0-3 halftime lead.
By the end of the third quarter we had further extended our advantage 4-8 to 0-5 with Kate Collins raising the green flag.
However the home side came storming into the game and added 2-3 to leave just 6 points between the sides midway through the final quarter.
A Rachel Griffin goal helped ease the Ballymac nerves and while Cromane goaled from a penalty with the last kick of the game our Girls deservedly held out for victory on a 5-9 to 3-9 scoreline.
Overall this was an outstanding team performance with every Girl putting in a massive effort to ensure victory.
Next weekend sees us on the road yet again, this time Beaufort provide the opposition on Sunday next.