Colemanstown U19 Girls 2 – 1 Barna na Forbacha
Our U19 Girls clocked another great league win today away to Barna na Forbacha. The girls arrived in Barna with just the bare bones of a team as Barna togged with 9 players. Colemanstown from the start took advantage of the space around the pitch with many gaps due to Barnas diminished numbers. There was a lot of joined up passing football from the Colemanstown gals. Eabha Neary in midfield was acting as play maker and set Niamh Kennedy on a darting run down the left flank and Kennedy showed a lot of skill to outsmart her marker before she unleashed an amazing strike, which with the help of the goalkeepers fingertips the ball hit off the oppositions upright, then rolled back across the goal and hit the other post before coming back out into the field of play. The onlookers couldn’t understand how the ball didnt find the net as the hosts cleared their lines. However, we only had to wait another 10 mins for the breakthrough. Some super play from Eabha Neary again set Niamh Kennedy on the run and Niamh’s through ball found Eabha Rohan who was running at full pace into the penalty area and finished the ball into the bottom corner to put Colemanstown 1-0 up. Play settled down somewhat approaching half time but Colemanstown had the majority of the play. The hosts packed the Colemanstown defence and made it difficult for the Colemanstown girls to break through but darting runs from Niamh Kennedy and Leah Moran meant Barna had to be alert and stay on their toes. Another breakthrough on the stroke of halftime originated with Lucy Kenny finding Eabha Rohan who ran straight at the defence and with her superb pace, she found herself 1-on-1 with the keeper and let fly a powerful kick into the roof of the net to great celebrations all round. Colemanstown Girls 2-0 up at halftime.
The 2nd half started in the same vein with the Colemanstown ladies trying to break through a Barna wall using their speed & quick one touch football but the Barna keeper was also on fire stopping some great efforts from Leah Moran and Lucy Kenny while Eabha Rohan was a whisker away from almost getting herself a hatrick. Sinead Rohan then took a knock in midfield and had to retire for the last 10 mins. At this stage, the girls were tiring so it was 9v10 for the last 10 mins. Barna started to get more joy with the ball around midfield and started putting some good forward moves together but Libby Kennedy was like a stone wall at centre back – reputed not to be her favourite position but she did a great job today denying lots of goal scoring chances. On 85mins the Colemanstown backline finally buckled and the Barna striker got through to score although Nina Bujak got her hand to the shot but there was just too much power on the ball to keep it out. 2-1 to Colemanstown with 5 mins to go & Barna had the bit between their teeth as the team with 9 players were pressing hard for the equaliser. The heroics of Libby Kennedy’s last minute tackle stopped the striker making it 2 -all. With 2 mins to play Nina Bujak was called into action again to make another fine stop in injury time but Barna kept coming and Keva Hynes had to be on her game in the last few minutes aswell to keep Barna at bay. The game finished with Colemanstown commanding possession with Leah Moran breaking into the box as the ref blew the final whistle. Colemanstown players celebrated their 2nd win in a row in style hugging and jumping. Well done girls on a fine result. U19s next play Corrib Celtic on Dec 10th in a cup tie while the next league game is at home to Barna na Forbacha where we hope for more of the same. Match report by Philip Dee.
Squad: Nina Bujak, Saoirse Moran, Keva Hynes, Libby Kennedy, Sina Schwitalla, Lucy Kenny, Sinead Rohan, Eabha Neary, Niamh Kennedy, Leah Moran, Eabha Rohan.