Ladies Footballers, Bright start to the league
The three Dublin Seniors worked hard throughout with Niamh McEvoy working hard around the middle, Nicole Owens making strong runs at centre forward and Sinead Aherne taking on several defenders at full forward, thus creating space for the other forwards, with all three giving and taking passes to bring their team mates into the game. Syls opened the scoring with a well taken point from Emma Sullivan followed by points from Nicole and Sinead (free) However, the Clanns raised their game and responded with scores of their own including a fortuitous goal when the full forward got her hands on a high ball that appeared to be going wide and diverted it into the net. The rest of the first half was a scrappy affair with Syls wasting a number of good chances including a narrowly missed goal attempt by Nicole who had brought the ball towards goal with a strong run up the middle followed by some interpassing with other forwards and a well placed shot at goal that brought a superb save from the Clanns keeper. Clanna Gael led at half time by the only goal of the half, 1-6 to 0-6.
Syls raised their game in the second half and pulled ahead to lead by 6 points half way through the half while holding the Clanns almost scoreless. Niamh led the charge early on with a well taken goal from close range that she stroked under the advancing keeper. However, the Clanns seemed to get themselves back into the game with a fortuitous goal. This just spurred Sylvester’s into more productive action and they dominated the rest of the game.
The score of the game came from a run by 16 years old Kate Sullivan to the last line of the Clann’s defence, Nicole making a perfectly timed run into space in front of goal, Kate giving the perfectly timed and placed pass and Nicole finishing to the net. The Dublin trio produced a score of almost equal merit when Sinead, taking a free that was just outside her scoring range, gave a well placed pass to Niamh who had ghosted into the full forward line, she transferred to the incoming Nicole who effortlessly popped the ball over the bar. Shortly after that, Sinead showed her class by collecting a wayward kickout from the Clanns keeper and lobbing the ball over the keepers head with a perfectly weighted kick that landed on the goal line and bounced into the empty net. Not to be outdone, Nicole repeated this feat a few minutes later to kill off the game as a contest.
Also worthy of mention was the return of Michelle Walls and the seemingly ageless Carol Hickey to active service with the Seniors and the performance of the youngest player on the pitch, Kate Sullivan, who made a significant contribution and showed signs of greater things to come. However, it must be said that this was a whole team effort with everyone, including the subs who came on, making huge contributions to this victory, hopefully the first of many.
Scorers for St. Sylvester's were: Nicole Owens 3-4, Sinead Aherne 1-3, Niamh McEvoy 1-3, Danielle Lawless, 0-1, Emma Sullivan 0-1.