Skryne travelled to the home ground of RoundTowerson the edge of Kells town on Wednesday evening 6th July and in the process added a further win in their bid for Championship honours this season. Having accounted for Balivor on the previous Sunday in brilliant sunshine the contrast weather wise could hardly have been starker. This was a wet and blustery summer evening making it difficult to play good football. However, it is said good footballers can handle any conditions and this is exactly what the Skryne Ladies did proving they are a quality side.
Skryne were determined to lay a marker down for their opponent’s right from the start and they certainly did when they struck five points from play by the 6th minute without reply. The Skryne sharpshooters were Melanie Kirwan, Kayleigh Farrell, Michelle Whelan and Coleen Jordan. Michelle was on the scoreboard again within minutes when the ball was fed to her in front of goal. Michelle rounded the advancingRoundTower keeper to finish the ball to the back of her net. This score was followed minutes later with a point from half forward Ruth Moore. The Skryne machine was now in full swing when Coleen Jordan the Skryne number eight sent a rocket to the back of the opposition net to leave her side in a commanding position by the mid way stage.
Round Tower were now in all sorts of trouble finding it impossible to penetrate the Skryne Fort Knox style defence. The full back line of Rachael Whelan, Niamh Lynch and Deidre Kennedy were dogged in their determination not to surrender any ground to their opponents. Skryne were now playing an open fast type football finding each other with great accuracy despite the inclement weather. The half forward combination of Ruth Moore, Saoirse McGrath and Melanie Kirwan were playing their usual high pressure game added to with intelligent distribution of the ball. Skryne added further misery to their opponents evening when they struck four further points from play before the break coming from the boots of Eimear Finnerty, Kayleigh Farrell and Coleen Jordan to leave the scores at the break:
Skryne 2 – 10. Round Tower 0 – 0.
Skryne started the second half determined not to let their opponents back in the game. However, it has to be said we lost our shape to some degree and were guilty of some errant shooting. By the eight minute of the second half Skryne hit three wides. Skryne started this half with two substitutions, Laura Bowens coming on for Niamh Lynch in the full back position and Eimear Clarke replacing the injured Anita O’Sullivan in the corner forward slot. Order was soon restored when Coleen Jordan added a further point to her tally when she struck a point from play in the 9th minute of the half. The Skryne half back trio of Una Morley, Gillian O’Sullivan and Mary Bennet were first out to every ball and in the process setting up attack after attack on their opposite rearguard. Michelle Whelan put the game beyond doubt a minute later when she rattled the back of the Round Tower net to claim her second goal of the evening. Round Tower finally got on the scoreboard on the 11th minute of the half when they scored what was to prove their only score of the evening in the form of a point. The blues were determined to inflict further blues on their opponents with two points coming from Mary Bennet who came up from the back line to join in the turkey shoot. Eimear Clarke and Eimear Finnerty finished the tally for the evening with a point each leaving Skryne runaway winners on the final scoreline:
Skryne 3 – 16. Round Tower 0 – 1.
Team –Roisin Gryson; Rachael Whelan, Niamh Lynch, Deidre Kennedy; Mary Bennet{0-2},Gillian O’Sullivan, Una Morley; Eimear Finnerty{0-3}, Coleen Jordan{1-4}; Saoirse McGrath, Ruth Moore{0-1}, Melanie Kirwan{0-1}; Anita O’Sullivan, Michelle Whelan{2-1}, Kayleigh Farell{0-3}; Subs – Laura Bowans for Niamh Lynch, Eimear Clarke{0-1} for Anita O’Sullivan.
