Louth 3-10 Longford 7-3
Louth U16s made the two hour journey to the Midlands, Killoe in Co.Longford for the 2nd round of this years Leinster B Championship and having lost the first round in the Sunny South East, Louth like Longford were looking to pick up three points.
With the toss being won by the Wee County and the option to play with the wind on their backs, Louth certainly started the brighter and within 7 minutes had hit the back of the net on two occasions,courtesy of two of the youngest players of the squad,Grace Stafford and Ciara Boyle. A third goal was scored by Grace Stafford but was alleged rather dubiously to be a square ball.Further points in the first quarter were tagged on by Lucy Sheridan,(1 point),Lucy White,(2 points)Ciara Boyle (1 point) and Mischa Rooney(1 point) to leave Louth breaking up for the first water break with a scoreline of 2-5 to Longford 1-1.
The second quarter saw Louth bag another goal scored by Sarah Lynch followed by a point from Lucy White and 3 points from Mischa Rooney, one being a free meaning a half time score of Louth 3-9 to Longford 4-2.
Realistically Louth with the wind behind them will rue numerous missed opportunities in the first half and needed to build up a bigger lead as Longford continued to chip away and pop in four goals, so at the 30 minute break Longford were by no means gone away and with the wind in their favour for the second half Louth had an uphill battle of containing the scores from the Midlanders.
The third quarter saw Longford bag a goal from a kickout and they pushed on further with another goal to leave Louth in the ominous position of playing catch up for the last quarter but with only two points in the difference it certainly wasn’t insurmountable. Having failed to score in the third quarter,Louth’s final score of the match came compliments of Mischa Rooney from a free, leaving the final score of Louth 3-10 to Longford’s 7-3.
On a normal day putting up a scoreline of 3 goals and 10 points on the scoreboard would see many a team win a match but the old cliche of goals win games certainly rings through on this occasion. The reality of the Wee County clocking up 13 scores versus 10 scores for Longford will emphasise going forward how important it is to put the ball under the bar instead of over the bar and hopefully on the 9th of April, the Wee county can reverse their loosing streak against Westmeath.
Best for Louth on the day was Eimear Callaghan at full back,Grace Stafford and Ciara Boyle in the forward line.
TEAM ON THE DAY: 1. Leah Hughes 2.Vanessa Brennan 3.Eimear Callaghan 4.Brigh Mc’Enteggart 5.Chloe Mc’Carragher 6.Anna Hickey 7.Orlaith Daly 8.Lucy White 9.Leah Cunningham 10.Eili Ryan 11.Ciara Boyle 12.Sarah Lynch 13.Grace Stafford 14.Mischa Rooney 15.Lucy Sheridan.
SUBS USED:Molly Whately for Vanessa Brennan,Hollie Stone for Orlaith Daly,Brooke Carroll for Ciara Boyle and Niamh Leonard for Lucy Sheridan.
Scorers: Mischa Rooney 5 points (2 point frees)
Lucy White 3 points
Lucy Sheridan 1 point
Ciara Boyle 1 goal and 1 point
Grace Stafford 1 goal
Sarah Lynch 1 goal
Back L-R
Molly Whately Geraldines
Ellen Callan Cooley Kickhams
Ciara Boyle Cooley Kickhams
Orlaith Daly Cooley Kickhams
Darcey Devlin Mattock Rangers
Grace Stafford Glen Emmets
Eimear Callaghan St.Marys
Leah Cunningham St.Kevins
Jeni Deegan Glen Emmets
Alice Kearns Mattock Rangers
Lucy White Cooley Kickhams
Chloe Mc’Carragher Cooley Kickhams
Mischa Rooney Hunterstown Rovers
Leah Hughes Geraldines
Anna Hickey Hunterstown Rovers
Niamh Leonard Wolfe Tones
Front L-R
Aine Murray Naomh Fionbarra
Brigh Mc’Enteggart Kilkerly Emmets
Yasmin Ibrahim Newtown Blues
Hollie Stone Newtown Blues
Eili Ryan Naomh Mairtin
Brooke Carroll Glen Emmets
Sarah Lynch Hunterstown Rovers
Vanessa Brennan St.Kevins
Lucy Sheridan St.Kevins
Nessa Norton Geraldines
Orla O’Neill Wolfe Tones
Report & Photo by Julie Fitzpatrick
