Double Success for Down Girls

The performance of the Down Girls underage teams this year continues
to bode well for the future of the game in the County. The Minor girls
celebrated their win in the Ulster B Championship with a presentation
night in Pairc Easler. On hand to present the medals were former Down
All Ireland winning captain and current Armagh manager Jacqui Clarke
and Damien O’Hare from sponsors, Around A Pound. The achievements
of the team were made all the more impressive by the fact that the
majority are still underage for next year.

The U14 team followed this success by doing the double in Ulster
on Saturday. Following on from their Ulster Blitz Shield win, the
girls overcame Tyrone B to secure the Ulster B Championship title
for the second successive year. In a tightly fought contest, Down
went down to an early goal in the first minute. However, once the
nerves settled, they came back into the game with goals from Siofra
Murdoch and Natashya Lennon and never looked back. Tyrone didn’t
give up and fought back to within three points with a penalty half
way through the second half but tenacious work in the back line
by Siobhan Polly, Gemma Toner and a captain’s performance in midfield
by ‘Finn player, Sileen McDonald left Down easy winners 7-9 to 5-6.
Player of the match went to Vice captain Natashya Lennon although
she had stiff competition from Burren’s Siofra Murdoch and Ciara
McGuire from Bredagh who gave an exhibition of half back play. Down
go on to meet either Sligo or Roscommon in the All Ireland Quarter
Finals at the start of August and having played both teams before
will be confident of progressing to the latter stages of the competition.

DOWN UNDER 14 TEAM

Kate Nolan, Siobhan Polly, Nicole O’Connor, Gemma Toner, Cathy Short,
Aine McCurry, Ciara McGuire, Sileen McDonald (c) Laura McClement,
Eimear Kane, Cara Cunningham, Natashya Lennon, Siofra Murdoch, Eimear
McGeough, Sarah Montgomery. Subs Aisling Cole, Cassie Moane, Amy
Barry, Niamh McGuinness, Momhuirne Lennon, Ashleigh Dinsmore, Shannon
Kelly, Emily Brown, Laura Jane Heiher, Rachel Curran, Tara Laverty,
Alannah Connery, Eadoin Early, Lizzy Carr, Catherine Murray, Charlotte
O’Neill