Our Under13 Girls took a trip out to Ballymun Kickhams’s all weather pitch on Sunday for round 2 of their Division 5 football league.

The home side were quick to score from the opening whistle while it took westmanstown a few minutes longer to get their bearings and begin to turn up the pressure.

The midfield pairing of Hannah OBrien and Niamh Hughes worked very effectively, battling for every ball. At times it felt like they were in two places at the same time, such was the rate of their sheer athleticism. 

From the midfielders high work rate, the forward lines were provided some superb passes and capitalised on as many as they could. Isabel McCabe stood out today with her determination and ability to burst through and around the kickhams back line only to have many of her efforts thwarted by the Kickhams keeper. The doggedness seemed infectious and, coming into the final minutes of the first half, Westmanstown found their hard fought first goal.

HT: Ballymun 2-0 Westmanstown 1-4

Half time gave the girls some time to catch their breath and for coaches to swap a few things around.

The second half opened with O’Brien taking the ball out of the air and peeling away from her mark, a well placed kick put the ball over the heads of several defenders and into the forward line and from there, it was over the bar. And from then on it was Westmanstown’s game. 

Kickhams did create plenty of opportunities in the second half but the majority of chances were quashed by the Westmanstown half back line of Brooke Robertson, Rachel Doyle and Annabelle Mooney; the near hand tackling and clever passing brought the advantage back to Westmanstown each time. 

There was three occasions where Kickhams got the ball through and were certainly goal-bound if it wasn’t for the back line of Victoria Harold, Aoife Idowu and Katie Foran, sometimes all it needs is a fingertip to a ball, these girls’ commitment to defending their goal, to keep Ballymun at bay and hold off the attack long enough to allow others to arrive and support was inspiring.

The last time these two sides met there were double digits in the points difference with Kickhams going home victorious. Since then, a lot of work and training (and fun) has gone into creating training plans to increase the team’s speed, agility and efficiency with the ball and today was an opportunity to see where we are. 

FT Ballymun 3-0 Westmanstown 3-10

Coaches would like to put in a special mention to Aditi Uppalapati (for tracking every ball and never giving up. S.T.O.P. 👏🏻👏🏻) and Aoife Doherty (for keeping her composure under pressure and kicking some superb points, you’re a great ambassador for your U12s teammates 👏🏻)

Well done girls, Gaels abú