Our U14 Camogie team lined out in Ballyagran last Saturday 22 April for the annual Feile qualifier tournament. It was a long day for the girls, who were in a group of 5 against Ballybrown, Blackrock-Effin, Kilmallock and Ballyagran-Newtownshandrum. First up were Ballybrown, and given that they beat us by 7 goals in the league, hopes were not high on our side. However we looked every bit as good as our opponents in the first half, with a Tara Nealon point putting us into a well deserved early lead. We were unlucky to trail 1-0 to 0-1 at half time. We lost momentum a bit in the second half, going under eventually 1-3 to 0-1, in a result that was still a huge improvement on where we were earlier in the year. Aisling McGuinness was down injured for several minutes of this match but showed great resilience to get up and play out the whole day, and we also had good performances here from Lucy Connolly and Caoimhe Nestor.
Next up were Ballyagran Newtownshandrum, and it was clear from early on that we were up against it here. However our back four were immense in this game. Ella Mason and Caoimhe Holmes hoovered up everything that came into their corners, nothing got past Jenny Ryan at full back and any stray shots that made their way goalwards were expertly handled in goals by Ella Page. Emma Fitzgerald and Rachel Lynch also showed very well in this match, and Grace O’Keeffe recovered from illness early on to take her place on the team for this match. However but we couldn’t supply the forwards and we eventually lost 0-7 to 0-0.
A short break then saw us face up against Kilmallock, which proved to be a very tight affair with defences on top. Aoife Ryan was unlucky with a shot on goal early on, while Saoirse Casey and Rachel Lynch were also showing very well at this stage. Kilmallock at one stage were threatening to take over in midfield but Leah Nolan put in a fantastic second half to cut off the supply to our opponents. Nontheless things were looking grim as we entered the last minute trailing 0-2 to 0-1, when we were awarded a free from an impossible looking angle out near the sideline. Impossible is nothing to Tara Nealon, however, who dropped it over the black spot to level the match. Kilmallock made one last attempt, but Jenny Ryan, our player of the tournament, was there to avert the danger. Anyone looking at their watch might have expected Jenny to clear the ball and await the full time whistle, but she had more on her mind than securing a draw. She drove upfield, scattering opponents in her wake, finally being brought short 40 yards from goal, where she got a pass into Amy O’Halloran. Amy knocked it into Ciara O’Keeffe, who had spent the match awaiting her chance. She took it with both hands, bursting the Kilmallock net with a superb shot that brought us a terrific 1-2 to 0-2 win.
For a finish, it was a tired team that took on Blackrock Effin. The Kilmallock win meant we were right back in the tournament challenging for one of the top spots, but we couldn’t get going in this match despite particularly strong efforts from Bronagh Byrne and Amy Connolly. We trailed 0-1 to 0-0 at half time, with our back 4 again bailing water all through the half and doing superbly, ably assisted by Ciara Brennan and Aela Gleason.
So while we lost more than we won, this squad is most definitely on the up and up. If any further proof of this were needed, the U14s were out again the following Tuesday in the championship against Croagh-Kilfinny, a team we beat with the last puck of the match in the U12 championship 2 years ago. There was no such drama this time, with our girls winning well. Thanks to all for their contribution to Feile. We have lost a couple of players this year and with Zoe Page and Ellie Mulqueen still out injured, we needed help from the younger players, so a big thank you to Saoirse Casey, Rachel Lynch, Ella Page, Emma Fitzgerald and Amy O’Halloran who came up from the Under 12 squad to help. Thanks also to Fudge who travelled from the U12 blitz in Effin earlier in the day to act as team mascotThe team for Feile was: Saoirse Casey, Aoife Ryan, Ciara O’Keeffe, Aisling McGuinness, Grace O’Keeffe, Zoe Page, Caoimhe Nestor, Amy O’Halloran, Ella Mason, Jenny Ryan, Caoimhe Holmes, Ciara Brennan, Leah Nolan, Bronagh Byrne, Amy Connolly, Tara Nealon, Emma Fitzgerald, Ella Page, Rachel Lynch, Lucy Connolly, Aela Gleeson.