Sunday, 14th December, 2014
Winning end to 2014
Our under 14 girls ended 2014 with a well-earned 5-1 victory over Enniskerry Town in this MGL 14A league match in Malahide Castle on Sunday afternoon. The squad was depleted owing to injuries, illness and unavailability. The 12 players on duty performed superbly throughout. Sophie returned to goals with Captain Issy McCarville in right back, Ali O’Keefe left full, Aly McGrath in central defence along with Kathy Spain who dropped back from her midfield role to deputize for the unavailable Zoe Ellingboe. In midfield, Ellie Forrester started on the left side with Thea Edwards on the right hand side while Naomi Flynn and Erika Browne occupied the central midfield positions. Ellen Daly and Eimear Crean were the attackers. Starting with the bare 11 (Andrea was participating in trials out in Ringsend and thanks to dad Kevin, they made it back to Malahide Castle during the first half to bolster the numbers – dedication at its very best).
In Control
The team continued from last week’s impressive second half performance against Wicklow Rovers with terrific flowing football. The passing, movement and indeed control was very good on a very slippery and sticky playing surface. After both teams exchanged a few early raids into opposition territory, Malahide began to dominate and deservedly took the lead after 10 minutes when a clearance from the visitors centre half fell to Naomi who let fly from 20 yards with a speculative effort that was too hot to handle for the home keeper. Malahide continued to pour forward with keeper Sophie shouting out encouragement from the back while she also cleaned up anything the opposition came forward with. Ali O’Keefe again dominated the visiting right winger and was strong in the tackle and distribution following on from her great performance last weekend. On the right side the Captain continues to impress with control and passing and it’s clear to see Issy’s confidence has come on incredibly well this season as she continues to deliver solid performances. Aly McGrath in the sweeping role made some timely interceptions and continues to read the game fantastically as well as win her fair share of tackles. Kathy Spain, who was in the unfamiliar position of centre-half put in a top rated performance. Katie’s enthusiasm, stamina and pace were excellent as she guarded the oppositions centre-forward very tightly.
In midfield, Naomi and Erika won possession time after time and used it brilliantly, feeding both Ellie and Thea who themselves caused havoc down left and right wings respectively while feeding Ellen and Eimear who worked hard to prevent the Enniskerry back four from clearing. Goal number two came after 15 minutes when a move starting from the back found Naomi who swept it wide to Thea who fired a superb cross in from the right wing that was met with the in rushing Ellie to fire home- a move straight from the training ground! Andrea joined the fray and was immediately involved in a great move which saw her through one on one with the keeper and she coolly slotted the ball home from 5 yards. 3-0 to Malahide. Unlike last week, United were taking advantage of the conditions and the breeze that was helping them in the first half. Shots rained in on the visiting goal from Ellen, Eimear, Thea, Erika and Naomi. One such effort from Erika evaded the keepers attempts to save it and a combination of the strike from Erika and the difficult conditions saw the ball squirm over the line to make it 4-0. Number 5 came on 25 minutes when Erika got her second after some great team work saw her through on goal and she fired home. Playing well and dominating, Malahide eased back and stopped passing which immediately saw the visitors coming back into the game and score a goal 5 minutes before the break. So 5-1 to United at half time but some work to be done from the coaches to get the team playing football again in the second half into a strong breeze.
Deserved Victory
With their ears ringing, the home team started the second half off passing the ball about beautifully. It’s clear to see training sessions paying dividends in how the girls are passing and controlling passes in game situations. Switching play and watching the great runs from Ellie, Thea, Eimear and Ellen so as to play them through into the space were all evident in the second half performance which was encouraging given the focus of these aspects every Tuesday at training. Naomi and Erika returned to winning possession and passing as prescribed by the coaches which led to Malahide again dominating and creating the majority of chances. Thea and Ellie made countless runs and crosses where Ellen, Andrea and Eimear worked the visiting defence continuously. Ali, Issy, and Katie marked their opponents tightly while Aly Mc covered any breaking balls.
Enniskerry were more in the game as they had a squad of 16 and were able to bring on fresh legs. A few shots were well saved by Sophie in the home goal as were several threatening crosses which Sophie handled brilliantly. Malahide were the better side in a more even second half and despite many chances could not add to the score. So a scoreless second half saw Malahide pick up a well-deserved 3 points to end the year positively. It’s fair to say that the performance over the last 3 weekends have not been rewarded but that was rectified yesterday with a great all round team effort where all 12 involved contributed superbly.
Tuesday night will see our last training session before the Christmas break so we hope to see everyone there. League resumes January 18th but the coaching team will be in touch before then with dates and times for re-commencement of training.
Happy Christmas to players and parents and here’s to a winning 2015!
Pictures below courtesy of Vincent McGrath.
