Eadestown Minor Girls win Championship Final- Division 3

By Gerry Kavanagh

Eadestown minor girls headed for Ballymore on Saturday 23rd April to play St Laurences in the minor championship final .These two teams met in their qualifying group earlier in the competition and after a very good game a draw was a fair result. This final would prove to be a nail biting affair which went down to the final whistle.

St Laurences as usual played their defensive game and Eadestown found it hard to get scores in the opening ten minutes. St Laurences kicked the first two points, the first from a free. Eadestown settled and moved the ball at pace up the field in a good passing movement to find Leah Whyte who soloed twenty yards and scored a great goal. Leah Mooney then got possession and kicked a point to put Eadestown two points ahead. St Laurences were very accurate in front of goal and scored four points in a row. However after twenty minutes Eadestown won possession in defence and moved the ball quickly to find Fiona Fallon who neatly hit the back of the net. Amy Mahon the Ballymore girl then kicked a good point for Eadestown with Laurie McCarthy and Cora Dempsey gaining vital possession in attack. However St Laurences then scored three unanswered points to put them one point ahead in the final minutes of the first half. Grace Clifford then won possession and kicked an excellent point from thirty five yards out to leave the teams level at half time. Eadestown 2-3 St Laurences 0-9.

St Laurences scored the first point in the second half before Leah Mooney hit two great points for Eadestown. The game was very exciting at this stage with both teams playing great football. St Laurences then kicked a point from a free to leave the teams level again. With Caoimhe Jameson, Niamh Byrne, Jane Hennessy, Niamh Tuohy, Roisin O’Carroll and Shauna Gallagher playing well in defence Eadestown then played some of their best football in the third quarter. Grace Clifford, Leah Mooney and Sinead O’Carroll then scored a point a piece and Eadestown looked like they had the advantage. Roisin O’Carroll who played very well got injured at this stage and was replaced by Emma Sargent. However in true St Laurences fashion they came back at Eadestown and scored three points on the trot to level the game for the fourth time with three minutes left. It looked like the game was going to extra time when St Laurences won possession and after a good passing movement kicked what looked like now to be the winning point in injury time. From the Ruth Downey kick out Eadestown got possession and swiftly moved the ball down field to find Amy Mahon. Amy hit a hard low shot which found the back of the net to put Eadestown clear by two points. The Eadestown players and supporters were estatic and the final whistle was blown after the kick out. A good day for girls football in Eadestown.

This was a great team performance for Eadestown and great credit is due to both teams in the sporting manner in which the game was played. Best for Laurences were Ciara and Emma Wheeler and Clodagh Glynn.

Eadestown team: Ruth Downey, Caoimhe Jameson, Jane Hennessy, Roisin O’Carroll, Niamh Byrne, Niamh Tuohy, Shauna Gallagher, Grace Clifford, Leah Whyte, Amy Mahon, Sinead O’Carroll, Laurie Mc Carthy, Cora Dempsey, Leah Mooney, Fiona

Fallon. Subs: Shannon Browne, Rachel Lawlor, Emma Sargent.

Laurences team:

St. Laurences team – Rachelle Kane, Rachel Doyle, Louise Farrell, Sarah Henry, Yvonne Phelan, Aine Dunne, Emma Wheeler, Maria O Dwyer, Elaine Marron, Clodagh Glynn, Rebecca Loughman, Miah Phelan, Vanessa Dempsey, Ciara Wheeler, Niamh O Connor, Ciara Dunne, Jennifer Downey, Aoife Flynn & Cliodhna O Connor.