Skryne & Rathfeigh were crowned Meath champions 2017 today at Community Games U14 Ladies Gaelic Football.
The Meath finals were played in lovely conditions in Ratoath, in a knock-out style format. And as always at these events, the parish turned up in force. Base camp was set-up for this away trip for what we hoped would be a long day but knew that this was really down to our girls and how the games went. 8 teams entered into the event this year, which meant the day was to start with quarter finals.
Skryne played Dunboyne in their quarter final match, who have got the better of our girls in the last few outings – including last year’s U14 community games final and also the Meath Feile finals this year. But not today, where the Skryne girls led from the start and won their first match of the day on a scoreline of 2-3 to 1-3. It was a superb game of football and a tough contest, which is normal when you come up against a team of Dunboyne’s calibre.
The semi-final saw our girls face Dunshaughlin/Culmullen, where a strong start saw the Skryne girls win through 4-6 to 0-2 and progress to the final, where our neighbours Kentstown/Beauparc awaited us.
The final was a real local derby, seeing friends and school pals and indeed former team mates in both soccer and gaelic face up to one another. Same could be said for the sidelines J. Referee was Dunsany’s Micky Ryan, which just added to the local feel of the contest.
2 very well matched teams, with Skryne edging it in the first half 2-1 to 0-2. Hard work and staunch defending from both sides in the 2nd half saw both teams only manage 2 points each, leaving the final scoreline at 2-3 to 0-4.
Many of these Skryne/Rathfeigh girls were part of the All Ireland winning U12s in 2016. Many of the older girls were part of the team that were U14 runners up in Meath last year. Put those 2 sets of players together and it is not all that surprising that they came out on top today.
Skryne/Rathfeigh now progress to the next stage of the Leinster qualifiers were they will face the champions of Longford later in May. We wish them well and know they will be well supported as always.
Skryne/Rathfeigh Team: Caragh Conway, Isabella Pentony, Ciara Smyth, Molly Fitzpatrick, Katie Ryan, Steffi Finegan, Samantha Clarke, Ellie Murphy, Lisa Browne, Roisin McManus, Naoise Canavan, Niamh Cahill, Ciara Cowley, Naoise Smyth, Rachael Loftus & Ava Purcell.
Coaches: Declan Smyth, Elizabeth Morland, Mick O’Dowd, Terri Cahill, Madonna Purcell & Brendan Canavan
