Colemanstown U19 Ladies 1 – 1 Oughterard
Our U19 Ladies kicked off their 2nd league game of the season away to Oughterard on Sunday evening. We had 14 players togged from a panel of 15 and a strong breeze was evident from the outset which captain Lucy Kenny chose to play with for the first half. However, it was the hosts who put it up to Colemanstown from the start going into every tackle 100%. They had most of the possession in the early stages and Colemanstown were chasing the game for much of the first half. 20 mins in saw the Oughterard midfield expose some gaps and Colemanstown were hit for a goal that may have been cleared but our defenders just failed to get the required conviction to hack the ball away from danger and the Oughterard striker got a foot to the ball ahead of our defence first to find the bottom corner. But our ladies were not into feeling sorry for themselves and pushed on with lots of midfield running from Lucy Kenny and Libby Kennedy and great attacking play from Niamh Kennedy while Saoirse Moran drove Colemanstown forward on many occasions. Finally Colemanstown got what they were looking & waiting for. On 30 mins Lucy Kenny broke forward and got taken down just outside the box. Up stepped young Libby Kennedy with a wonderful free kick which found the top of the net leaving the outstretched keeper stranded to make it 1-1 just before half time.
Half time came and so too did some changes. Annalise Doran had a great game but got injured with a bang to her knee. Sina Schwitalla took control of the left back area, acclimatising well to her role, as she cleared plenty of ball and made some thwarting runs down the pitch. Leah Moran was introduced up front and also created many runs at goal in the second half but the Oughterard defence were on top of their game. Eabha Neary made her debut for Colemanstown following her transfer from Craughwell and blended in nicely as she held up the ball well and fed Leah Moran for her darting runs.
It was far from all Oughterard’s way in the second half as Colemanstown won many 50/50 tackles which buoyed up the team and originated in plenty of attacks down either side of the pitch and only for some amazing saves from the Oughterard custodian, the score may have been so much more different. In the end both teams were happy with the effort and a share of the spoils was probably the fairest result. A 1-1 draw sees us bag our first point of the season. The ladies host Colga girls in their next outing on Oct 15th. Match report by Philip Dee.
Squad: Nina Bujak, Shauna Hynes, Lucy Roberts, Keva Hynes, Annalise Doran, Niamh Kennedy, Lucy Kenny, Libby Kennedy, Saoirse Moran, Eabha Rohan, Sinead Rohan, Leah Moran, Sina Schwitalla, Eabha Neary.