Our U14 Girls team took to the field this evening to take on Ballyduff .
Missing a few players and also missing Master Tacticians Miguel and Padraig ,
Sheila Goulding and Catherine Blackmore and a panel of 12 determined young ladies took to the pitch in search of their first points of the season .
Mooncoin started the game very well and pressed forward at every opportunity with Kayleigh Smith and Eve Dunphy putting the Ballyduff defenders to the test . Eimear Quinn and Ella Brennan fought hard in the middle of the field for every ball sending balls down the wings . Our first goal came from a cleverly placed throw in from Ciara O Keeffe who found the Foot of Emily Blackmore who travelled diagonally with the ball making sure to position herself to slot the ball to the back of the net . 1 Nil Mooncoin . The game was frantic for the next ten minutes with Mooncoin trying to take a hold of the game . Katie Tolan , Ella Bailey , Ellie Corcoran and Sophie Scahill defended and shut down every ball that came their way . Which seemed to be working well, until a Ballyduff player broke onto a through ball and made no mistake putting it to the net . 1 All . Mia Ponce De Leon pulled off some fantastic saves between the sticks this evening. Half time came with the teams in deadlock . It was all still there to be played for . A quick drink and some words of encouragement on the sidelines the girls headed back in for the second half . Georgia Grant replaces Kayleigh Smith in the middle of the field , and made her presence known . There was chances to be had on both sides in the second half with the keepers on both teams coming to the rescue on more than one occasion . Midway through the second half Ella Brennan passed the ball to Ciara O Keeffe who got her foot under it and sent the ball up the field . Emily Blackmore happened upon the ball beating 2 defenders before looking up to see the Ballyduff keeper coming off her line . Emily took another two steps before chipping the ball over the head of the keeper and to the back of the net, 2-1 Mooncoin . Tiredness by this stage was creeping in , but the girls kept plugging away and encouraging each other doing the very best they could . Ballyduff played a lovely ball down the line and a great cross in from the sideline was finished to the goal only narrowly beating Mia. 2 All . Eve Dunphy came close to grabbing the winner this evening and was a constant thorn in the side of Ballyduff defence . The last ten mins saw both teams scramble to get the win and take all three points , but a draw was the outcome . Our girls never gave up this evening , their heads never dropped and their steely determination saw them get the point that they so desperately wanted and without a doubt deserved . Great result and performance by all.