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Senior Ladies win over Parnells in Dublin Senior Championship

Most enjoyable performance from our perspective. At half time we were calling it the Crossbar Challenge - I think Syls hit that bar or the post four times in the first half alone and Parnells hit it twice. Syls football was just brilliant, Nicole, Louise and Niamh knitting it all together, Kate Sullivan complementing Danny and Sinead up front, Anne Clarke hitting exquisite passes, Cliodhna Hammill a commanding fullback, Watch out for the next game, well worth watching. Mick sent a great report.

Syl’s Ladies lit up Broomfield on Wednesday night with a brilliant performance against 1st Division side Parnells. The final score was 4-25 to 1-4. Right from the start, Syls took the game to Parnells and repeatedly got themselves into scoring positions and got a few but, unbelievably, hit the woodwork 5 times in the first half. At least three of these involved what should have been a deadly running / passing combination of Sinead Aherne and Kate Sullivan except that the woodwork got in the way. Another such move resulted in Kate being taken down as she took her shot at goal and Sinead convincingly converted the resulting penalty. Meanwhile, Syls defence held Parnells in a tight grip, forcing them into errors and several wides. By half time, Syls had a commanding lead of 1-13 to 0-3.

Syls kept the pressure up in the second half and continued their scoring spree, and even managed to hit the woodwork once more. It took Parnells a whole 20 minutes to get a score in that second half and they managed just one more after that.

It is hard to pick out a player of the match with an all-round performance such as this. All six forwards worked hard playing for each other with good off the ball running, passing and support play. Nicole Owens got on a lot of ball, carried hard, made killer passes and scored freely herself. Sinead Aherne, as usual, made herself available repeatedly at full forward while, for a change on this occasion, her colleagues found her repeatedly with well-placed passes. All six forwards got on the scoresheet.

In defence, Cliodhna Hamill was a commanding full back, making several well timed interceptions, while young Aobh Hyland won some crucial balls at wing back. Niamh McEvoy was effective carrying the ball from defence into attack.

Performances like this don’t just happen. Great credit must go to the management team of Keith Murphy and Dave McEvoy. Ultimately, however, it is the girls on the field who must deliver the performance. They can be proud of their performance in this game.

Next up is the second round of the Championship, away to St. Brigid’s in two weeks time. With a performance like this one against Parnells, this young Syls team need have no fear of facing up to last year’s beaten finalists. There was very good support for our Senior Ladies in Broomfield for the Parnells game. It would be nice to see similar support at Russell Park on May 25th.

Syls scorers: Sinead Aherne 1-8, (2 frees, 1 penalty), Nicole Owens 1-8, Kate Sullivan 1-1, Dannielle Lawless 0-4, Lisa Murphy 0-3, Emma Sullivan 1-0, Niamh McEvoy 0-1.