Skryne 4 – 22
Dunboyne 1 – 6
Skryne continued on with their U19 League campaign when they took on Dunboyne in Father McManus Park the Skryne home ground on Thursday evening 1st November. This game was played in bitterly cold conditions with an icy North East wind blowing down through the Skryne home ground and winter letting us knows it had arrived.
Match referee Mick Ryan from Dunsany got the game underway at 8pm and the home side were straight into the action when corner forward Eimear Clarke had the ball in the Dunboyne net on the 1st minute which proved to be an indicator of things to come.
The Tara side were on the scoreboard again a minute later when Saoirse McGrath linked up with Melanie Kirwan who sent the ball over the bar to stretch the home sides lead.
Skryne were on top at this early stage and they added to their tally on the 4th minute when full forward Ruth Moore split the Dunboyne uprights, followed a minute later with another Melanie Kirwan point for the home side.
The Tara side next missed two point scoring opportunities before Melanie Kirwan again sent one over the bar when she took a well directed pass from the advancing half forward Saoirse McGrath to open up quite a gap at this early stage in the game.
The spectators were huddled in groups trying to escape the clutches of winter’s icy grip when the home supporters saw half forward Eimear O’Brien tag on another point on the 9th minute to inject a bit of warmth into their evening.
Dunboyne were finding it difficult to get into the game with the Skryne rear guard not making things easy in particular full back Aoife Swan and corner back Ashling Kellegher.
The 10th minute saw another example of good link up play from the Tara side with Saoirse McGrath and Ruth Moore linking up to set up Niamh O’Brien for a well taken point from play leaving her side 1 – 6 to 0 – 0 ahead.
Skryne were now totally in control when half forward Eimear O’Brien rattled the Dunboyne net to leave the visitors with a huge gap to bridge on the 11th minute. The same minute saw another move involving Ruth Moore and Saoirse McGrath with Saoirse taking the point this time.
Skryne half forward Eimear O’Brien was back on the scoreboard on the 12th minute with another well taken point from play followed by two points from play this time coming from the boot of the ever accurate Melanie Kirwan to send her side well on their way.
The 14th minute saw Dunboyne register their first score when they had a well taken point from play to put a slight dent on the Tara side lead. The home side responded with another Eimear O’Brien point to restore their margin on the 17th minute.
Dunboyne struck for another point on the 19th minute this time from a free kick to which the Tara side responded with a Melanie Kiirwan goal to maintain their momentum.
This game started with each side lining out thirteen players and this was reduced to twelve on the 22nd minute when Dunboyne lost a player to injury to which Skryne had to respond by taking off half forward Eimear Clarke.
The Tara side were determined to keep up the pressure on their opponents and this they did when Melanie Kirwan struck for a point on the 22nd minute followed minutes later by another point for the home side this time from the boot of Eimear O’Brien.
Dunboyne were still in the fight when they struck two points from play in the 28th minute to which Skryne responded with a Cody Swan goal on the 29th minute.
The scoring for the opening half was closed out by Elizabeth Morlande who struck an excellent point from play on the 30th minute to leave the scores at the break:
Skryne 4 – 14. Dunboyne 0 – 4
The second half started with Skryne guarding a very significant lead and they added to this on the 31st minute when Elizabeth Morlande struck a point from play after taking a pass from Ruth Moore in the full forward line.
Dunboyne added a point on the 32nd minute and Skryne again responded with points from Eimear O’Brien and Ruth Moore on the 34th minute to keep their opponents pegged back.
The visitors were back on the scoreboard on the 35th minute with another excellent point from play but again the Tara side responded with points from Elizabeth Morlande and Ruth Moore to deny Dunboyne any hopes of a comeback.
In all fairness to the Dunboyne side they were not prepared to throw in the towel but unfortunately saw their next three attempts go wide of the posts. The 43rd minute saw a change of fortunes when they had the ball in the Skryne net to put a slight dent in the lead.
The final scores of the game came from Skryne in the form of points from Cody Swan, Ruth More and Catriona Keoghan to leave the Tara side convincing winners.
Skryne team – Roisin Gryson; Ashling Kellegher, Aoife Swan; Niamh Monaghan, Deidre Kennedy, Megan O’Brien;
Niamh O’Brien{0 – 1}, Catriona Keoghan{{0 – 1}; Saoirse McGrath{0 – 1}, Melanie Kirwan{1 – 6}, Eimear O’Brien{1 – 5};
Ruth Moore{0 – 4}, Eimear Clarke {1 – 0}.Subs – Elizabeth Morlande{0 – 3}, for Saoirse McGrath, Cody Swan {1 – 1}.
