Our u10 girls also played Railway/Cappoquin yesterday and an excellent hour of football was on show in a very tight game with the girls putting the training to work.

What a performance, and finally a result to match. This has been a long time coming. It was an outstanding exhibition of team play from the very first minute to the very last. Ellie and Eimear bossed the middle of the park. Kayla, Leah, Sophie and Ella kept their shape and limited Cappoquin to very few chances on goal. The defense had learned a lot of lessons from the Villa match – I would love to have a second go at Villa based on this performance. On the few occasions that Cappoquin did get through, Mia was alert and snuffed them out. Mia’s kick-outs have also improved and they provided a springboard for many attacks. Luiseach and Molly worked tirelessly on the wings, pushing forward at every opportunity while tracking back to help out the full backs when the need arose. Up front Emily and Ella put on a show. In the first half they hit the woodwork 3 times in addition to the 3 goals.
We started brightly and were ahead after 5 minutes through a goal from Emily Blackmore. Three minutes later we were 2 up again through Emily after a delightful pass from Ellie Corcoran. On 15 minutes Emily hit the bar, only to hit the post 5 minutes later. Cappoquin had a period of pressure to which the defence was defiant. Emily scored her hat-trick a few minutes before the break, again after latching on to a through ball from Ellie. Ella Brennan hit the post a minute later. The half finished with a period of sustained Cappoquin pressure. They had a narrow miss as well as two corners and were showing signs that they will be a force to be reckoned with in time to come.
The second half started as the first one ended with a corner to Cappoquin. A few minutes later Luiseach played Emily in but the resulting shot went narrowly. The game was put to bed by Emily after a long run from midfield following an excellent pass from Ella Brennan. Ella finally got her her just rewards when she scored from outside of the box. Even though Cappoquin’s heads were down at this stage they still kept battling and our defence had to work non-stop to keep them out. On 50 minutes Luiseach scored her first ever goal and it was one that was richly deserved. 5 minutes later Emily ran straight through the middle to notch up her 5th goal and Ella Brennan rounded off the scoring a minute later. Kate McGrath and Grace Ramasawmy replaced Ellie Corcoran and Emily Blackmore with about 10 minutes remaining and the team kept playing as they had throughout; as a team. This team has always had an excellent work ethic and a willingness to push to the very end. All they lacked was the belief that they could do it; a belief that the coaches have always had. Cappoquin can take a lot of positives from the game, if not the result. We know what it is like to be on the receiving end of such scorelines and it is clear that they have a core group of talented players who will get better and stronger over the next year or two, and who will be able to bring along the other girls to a level that they could not imagine at the moment.

A trip to Williamstown today for an Fai cup game and a step up in class against 1A side
St Joseph’s for this young side .
We hit the ground running in this encounter and the midfield flew into tackles with savage intensity to dominate the early part of the game .
A through ball from Ben Fitzpatrick split the home defence and the cunning Jack Ryan ghosted in behind both centre backs to finish brilliantly high into the net .
Our intense work rate continued for the remainder of the half and the home side found it difficult to settle into any sort of rhythm to cause us any problems .
We went in at half time a goal up and possibly should’ve been further ahead only for a brilliant block by a defender and a few half chances missed.
The home side had the better of the exchanges in the early part of the second half but the young lads dug in and defended and pressed the opposition superbly all over the field .
At this stage a cup upset looked on the cards as St Joseph’s started to empty the bench in an attempt to get back on level terms .
The equaliser came after 65 mins when a mix up in defence allowed a st Joseph’s midfielder with the easiest of finishes.
We got on top again and dominated possession for a spell and forced the opposition into conceding numerous corners and frees around the edge of the box .
Unfortunately when one of our attacks broke down the home side swept up the field and 3 passes later the ball nestled in our goal.
A few changes to get fresh legs on failed to yield the desired effect and the third St Joseph’s goal arrived from the penalty spot after the ref seemed to see a foul on someone.
Decent performance by the lads but a dissapointing result for their efforts on the day .
Hopefully performances like today against better opposition will give these young lads the confidence and belief to keep improving.
Well done to all involved 👏👏