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U16B LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL Castlemartyr 04-09. Castlelyons 04-05 As our championship journey has ended we now turn our attention to the league campaign and no harder test could we have hoped for than an encounter with a very strong Castlelyons team. Due to the torrential rain in the later part of the week the match scheduled to be played in Castlemartyr was moved to the Camogie Grounds, Castle Road instead, with a throw in time of 2.00 pm, Saturday afternoon. Thankfully by the time of throw in, the weather had improved although there was a stiff breeze blowing. Castlelyons got of to a flyer and before we knew it they had scored 01-01 within the first 2 minutes. Soon our girls settled and got a handle on the game. Although Castlelyons continued on the offensive our defence began to work as a unit and linked up well with our midfielders. They began to stretch their legs and it wasn't long before we were peppering the opponents goal. Only the excellent skill and shot stopping abilities of Castlelyons goalkeeper kept us scoreless until the ninth minute when Lilly Hayes Nally opened our account with a fine point. Most of the play for the remainder of the first half was in our opponents half. We racked up numerous wides which was due purely to the quality of Castlelyons defence. We didn't score again until the 21st minute when Zara Bowles converted a free. But then the flood gates opened and we added 04-01 in the last 10 minutes with goals from Lilly, and Zara and a point from Aimee Morgan and only conceded a single point although Chloe Lane, in goals, had to make a fine save late in the closing stages to leave the half time score 04-03 to 01-02. Obviously we knew that Castlelyons would come at us with all guns blazing in the second half and we weren't proved wrong. Our girls stood up to the challenge and there were some royal battles going on all over the pitch with neither side willing to give way. We traded scores with Lilly, Sadhbh Beausang and Aimee raising the white flag either side of a brace of points from Castlelyons. With 10 minutes to play fresh legs were introduced. The tide started to turn slightly in Castlelyons favor as they increased the pressure and their efforts were rewarded when they added 02-01 to their tally without reply. We still had plenty in the tank and added a further 3 points, one from a free, one from a 45 and one from play. This gave us a 7 point cushion but we knew that a game isn't won until the final whistle blows. Ever dangerous, Castlelyons went on the attack once again, won a free close in and were awarded a 20m free. With only one thing on her mind the free taker rifled the ball to the back of the net. But as Chloe prepared for the puck out the referee called for the ball and blew the final whistle. It was a tough test against a tough opposition and a hard won match. Well done to everyone. The reward for the win is a semifinal meeting against Aghada on Wednesday December 5th in Rostellan at 7.00 pm.
