UMBRO FAI SCHOOLS MINOR GIRLS NATIONAL SEMI FINAL
Sacred Heart School, Westport 0 - 1 Loreto Convent, Letterkenny
DESPITE a brave effort, Sacred Heart School, Westport saw their dreams of national glory extinguished at the semi-final stage in The Showgrounds in Sligo last Thursday reports Daniel Carey, Mayo News.
It was this reporter’s first visit to the home of Sligo Rovers since 1991, when a Tottenham Hotspur side that included Gary Lineker and Paul Stewart (though not, sadly, the then recently-departed Paul Gascoigne) beat the hosts 4-0 in a pre-season friendly. But while the Connacht representatives that night were thoroughly outclassed, Westport gave as good as they got in a well-matched game against Loreto Convent, Letterkenny. .
The only goal of the game arrived 19 minutes into the first half, as Letterkenny striker Lauren Harper toe-poked the ball past SHS goalkeeper Shelly O’Grady before steering it beyond covering defender Serena O’Shea. It came shortly after the first of a few showers arrived, leaving Westport as gloomy as the weather. To their credit, however, they battled throughout the 60 minutes, and may consider themselves unfortunate not to have forced extra time.
Roared on by a small band of very vocal supporters, Sacred Heart had opened brightly. Serena O’Shea’s burst out of defence set the trend, and Laura Keane tested the opposing goalkeeper with a decent effort from distance. Lauren Harper and Alice Diver had Letterkenny’s first shots, both of which went wide.
The opening goal came at a time when Loreto were temporarily down to ten players, as Jamie Murray had been forced off with a nose-bleed. Sacred Heart had a couple of decent chances to equalise before the interval. Aisling Duffy teed up Lauren Burke for a crack at goal, but Shauna Patterson made an outstanding save from point-blank range. At the other end, Letterkenny’s Rose Boyle cut in from the left before driving her shot into the side-netting, but Sacred Heart had the last opportunity of the opening period. Lauren Burke’s tenacity set up a chance for Aisling Duffy after the Letterkenny goalkeeper spilled the ball, but defender Aisling Ferry averted the danger.
One-nil down at the break, Westport almost restored parity within 90 seconds of the restart. The impressive Gabrielle Keegan fired in a tremendous free kick, but Patterson managed to tip the ball out for a corner. Truth be told, the trailing side never went as close again, though they did enjoy lots of possession in the second half.
It could have been worse. Seven minutes into the second half, Serena O’Shea was controversially adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty area, but Shelly O’Grady saved the resultant penalty from Lauren Harper. There would be two more penalty appeals before the end, one at neither end, but neither was granted.
It was all action stuff. Laura Keane shot narrowly wide after displaying good footwork, while Emily Keane shielded the bal superbly when faced with a one-on-one situation. Allison Foy threatened down the left wing, while Gabrielle Keegan just lost a race for the ball with the Letterkenny custodian. Lauren Burke and substitute Aoife McGuire posed problem for the Donegal side’s defence, and Laura Keane hooked in a promising ball from Gabrielle Keegan’s long throw.
Yet Loreto also looked dangerous, and in their efforts to get back on terms, Sacred Heart understandably sometimes had to leave things a little thin at the back. Siobhan Golden and Serena O’Shea both had to make important interventions during Letterkenny breakaways, and although Laura Keane went close with a half-volley late on, ultimately the girls in yellow bowed out.
SACRED HEART: S O’Grady, E Keane, S Golden, S O’Shea, N O’Malley, A Foy, L Keane, N McNea, A Duffy, L Burke, G Keegan.
Sub used: A McGuire for N McNea (51 mins),
LORETO: S Patterson, N McLaughlin, N Crawford, A Ferry, J Murray, S Medlar, A Diver, K McKinney, R Boyle, L Harper, E Shovlin.