Castle United 4 Charleville AFC 2
(Scorers Minihane & O’Riordan)
Charleville AFC U17 enjoyed their first outing in the Limerick Women and Schoolgirls League (LWSSL) away to Castle United. The good crowd in attendance were entertained by a fiercely contested and entertaining game of football which went the way of the home team with a 4-2 result
Castle United were very dominant in the opening exchanges and it took our girls a while to find their feet. After going behind twice in the half we managed to grow into the game. Our first goal came from a great run down the left wing by Claire Power and her pass was ably guided to the net by our striker Sarah Minihane. We levelled the scoring with fine interplay between centre midfield duo Aoife McNamara and Ciara ORiordan with Ciara scoring a super goal to the corner of the net. Ciara and Aoife put in a huge effort in midfield and were very competitive against a very strong Castle United midfield unit. Maintaining The 2-2 score line at the break was owed in no small part to an excellent defensive performance by our goalkeeper Ellen Meehan, our backline of Roisin, Kahlen, Danielle, Leah and Ellen Cronin and holding midfielder Abbie OShea who showed great composure and worked tirelessly throughout. One of our younger players Danielle Finucane was a stand out player in defence on the night, along with Ellen Cronin who showed all her experience in making key tackles including fine headed clearances. Sarah Minihane had a big task up front on her own but that didnt hold her back and she had a super game.
The second half was end to end and evenly contested with the oppositions counter attacks the difference with 2 well taken goal. We had many driving runs into the Castle defence with a highlight of the half seeing Claire hitting the post after another driving run. Emelia and Cayleigh had an excellent 2nd half and their runs down the wing were a thorn in the side of the Castle defence. Special mention to Ellen Meehan who played in goals for the first time and did an amazing job.
It was a fantastic game to watch with great skills on display by both teams. Our girls put in a huge effort and just came up against a stronger side on the day. We’ll have learnt a lot from our season opener and we have no doubt If the girls keep playing like this they have a great season ahead of them. Well done all!
If any girls born in 2004, 2005, 2006 are interested in joining our squad you are more than welcome to come along to our training session on Friday evening at 7pm in Moatville or contact Sean Manning on 0866001430 for further details
