Coláiste Cholmcille vs Thornhill
Match report by Fodhla Gallagher
On Friday the 14th of January, Coláiste Cholmcille and Thornhill’s under 16’s girl’s teams clashed in a play-off game hosted in Castlederg, Co. Tyrone.
Coláiste’s team was led by Jodie Meade, the team captain who also played as a midfielder alongside Ciara Larkin. As goalkeeper, we had Molly McMahon. In full forward we had Cadhla Dolan, Shauna McGloin and Ellie Brennan. Annie Keon, Orlaith Gallagher and Roisin Williams played as Coláiste Cholmcille’s half-forwards. Their half-backs were Andrea Moore, Orlaith O’Neill and Dairín Sweeney and finally, their full backs were Cara Davitt, Fódhla Sheerin, and Maria Barron. On the bench ready to step in if needed were Hannah McGuinness, Caoimhe Eves, Heidi McGloin, Sara Begley, Zakia Shyabao, Emma Gilmartin and Emer McDevitt. The teams two coaches were Ms. Coleman and Ms. Cooney who supported the girls and gave good strategies on how to get past Thornhill’s defense and prevent their forwards from scoring.
At 11:30am, the match got underway with Coláiste Cholmcille winning the throw in and gaining possession of the ball first. Within only a minute, Coláiste Cholmcille were up by three points after Cadhla Dolan scored the opening goal of the game but the victory was short lived as Thornhill struck back with a goal of their own, leveling the score once more. Thornhill lengthened their lead with a point but Coláiste Cholmcille retaliated with a point also, making the score even.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for Coláiste as Thornhill continued to strengthen their lead with a series of points and goals. By half-time, the score was 5-06, 1-01 to Thornhill.
The second half got underway and Coláiste Cholmcille, determined to come back from the unfortunate first half, scored a goal three minutes in. Thornhill continued to score but Coláiste Cholmcille fought back harder than they had in the first half, stopping as many goals and points from Thornhill as they could. In particular, Fódhla Sheerin, a full-back for Coláiste Cholmcille played excellently and took on Thornhill’s forwards, winning the ball back into the hands of Coláiste more than once allowing the team to score a further goal and point.
Unfortunately at the end of the match, Thornhill walked away the winners and Coláiste Cholmcille were knocked out of the play-offs. The final score of the match was 7-12, 3-02 to Thornhill.
Despite the loss, Coláiste Cholmcille played their best and worked as a team to somewhat pull it back in the end and it is certain that they will play their best, as they always do, in their next match, whenever that may be.