First match against St Farnan’s PP
On Friday 7th October, ASCN ladies football team travelled to St Farnan’s Post Primary on their first round of the Leinster Championship. Ms Earner’s side suffered defeat to St Farnan’s Senior team the week before so they knew the challenge that lay ahead.
An encouraging first half
ASCN started brightly creating two good chances in the first five minutes but were unlucky to put them on the scoreboard with Abbie Dignam shooting narrowly wide. Continuous pressure proved fruitful after 6 minutes when Dignam finally scored her first point of the day. St Farnan’s responded quickly with a quick kick out to no11 and she sliced through Ardscoil to get their first point.
Kacie Taylor was swiftly moved to centre back to stop St Farnan’s attacking threat. A massive kick out from super goalie Mary Kate Maher was collected in the middle of the field from the hard-working Rona Scanlon and she move the ball swiftly to Abbie Dignam who made no mistake and put her first goal in St Farnan’s net. St Farnan’s did not dwell too long however and they worked the ball well out of their defence to find #11 who soloed into the scoring zone and found number 14 who booted to the Clara net. The first half was played at a high intensity with Ava Dunne covering huge amount of ground. Abbie Dignam added a further goal and two points to put distance between the sides but it was St Farnan’s who finished stronger, slotting six points in the last 15 minutes. Ava Dunne had the last say of the first half putting a well deserved point over the bar.
A tight second half
The second-half was a much more cagey affair with both defences coming out on top for the first 10 minutes. Thankfully Abbie Dignam still had her shooting boots on and converted a further 1.03 in the second-half. St Farnan’s replied with another point quickly after 10 minutes. Clara’s defence stood strong and continuously broke down St Farnan’s attack. Keelan Dalton and Ruby Cosgrove worked tirelessly throughout. Rona Scanlon took a chance and booted a 21 yard free to the net. Abbie Dignam added another point on the 48th minute to put six points between the sides. St Farnan’s were relentless and never gave up. A long ball was played into St Farnan’s full forward line and gathered by their full forward. A dubious decision was then made by the referee to allow a goal that was thrown to the back of the net. Three points remained the difference for the last five minutes. Ms Earner deployed Ali Connolly to snuff out St Farnan’s attacks. It was a very exciting and tense last few minutes but Clara held out to take the win.
Player of the match Abbie Dignam who scored a total of 2.05.
Article by Ms Earner
