An excellent performance saw Rathmore Ladies G.A.A take the Rose Hotel U16 Division 1 County title with a 4-14 to 1-11 victory over a spirited Castleisland Desmonds side at Fitzgerald Stadium last Thursday.
The scene couldn’t have been finer on a night that was perfect for football as both teams lined up behind the Killorglin Pipe Band before the game and paraded before the crowd.
Rathmore’s Susan Cahill had the ball in the back of the net after a mere 20 seconds and this set the tone for a dominant first half display. With Mary Collins flying at midfield and Maura O’Keeffe, Aoife Nagle and Cahill sparkling in the forwards, the excellent Danielle O’Leary struck for Rathmore’s second goal of the game on the 21 minute mark. Desmonds Jessie Cahill and Gemma Kearney were showing stout resistance in defence while Emma O’Regan was deadly accurate in this period scoring all of Desmonds 6 points. Half time score Rathmore 2-7 Desmonds 0-6.
Rathmore continued to dominate in the second half of the game and added early scores from O’Leary,Collins and Lily O’Brien. Desmonds continued to hang in there though and after Kearney and Sheehan added points, Grace Cahill struck for a very good goal. Rathmore’s Lauren O’Leary then pulled off an excellent save and from this point on her side took a very firm grip on proceedings. Mary Collins scored the goal that her fine display deserved, and Maura O’Keeffe,Maggie Buckley,Norma Leader and Collins again, shot over the bar. O’Regan added a brace of points for Desmonds but Aoife Nagle struck for her sides 4th goal to seal a well deserved victory.
Well done to both sides for a very sporting contest. For Desmonds it was the first time that this group of players competed at Division 1 level so they should be very proud of their efforts.
Rathmore proved that they are the kingpins of U16 ladies fiootball in the county and there is no doubt that if there was a Munster and National competition in the grade that they would go a long way towards winning those competitions as well.
Rathmore scorers;Aoife Nagle 1-3, Mary Collins 1-2, Maura O’Keeffe 0-5, Danielle O;Leary 1-1 (1f), Susan Cahill 1 goal, Maggie Buckley 0-1,Norma Leader 0-1,Lily O’Brien 0-1.
Desmonds scorers;Emma O’Regan 0-9 (5f), Grace Cahill 1 goal, Gemma Kearney 0-1, Aine Sheehan 0-1
