Skryne U19 girl’s and supporters travelled to the far flung reaches of County Meath to take on Ballinabrackey in their home ground on Sunday 30th October and came away with a convincing victory. This game was another stepping stone in pursuit of Skryne’s U19 championship hopes for 2011 and the defending champions showed they meant business right from the very start. Skryne were without the sevices of a number of key players so a number of recruits from the younger age groups were drafted into the action for this game.
The scoring opened up in the 1st minute when Skryne corner forward Sarah Halpin had the ball in the back of the opposition net. Sarah is in fact a member of theU14 panel and was drafted into the corner forward slot in the absence of the injured Kayleigh Farell. Skryne were playing with the wind at their back and were on the scoreboard again when Niamh O’Brien had a point from play followed with a goal from half forward Melanie Kirwan. Niamh Monaghan Skryne half back then hit two points from play to put her side into a commanding lead by the 6thminute of the half.
Skryne were now working well throughout the field and they heaped further misery on the opposition when Skryne half forward Saoirse McGrath added a further pointto her sides tally followed by a point from full forward Kristal Schurink. Kristal is a new signing for Skryne all the way from Holland but she showed she was well able to get to grips with our native game. We were now into the 9th minute of the game and Skryne had built up a lead of 2 – 5 to 0 -0. Ballinabrackey were in all sorts of bother and by this stage had managed only one attempt on the Skryne goal which went wide of the uprights. Saoirse McGrath added another point from play this time left footed to add to the Skryne tally. The 12th minute saw Kristal Schurink add on another point from play to show her first effort was not just beginners luck. The dynamic Skryne centrefield player Catriona Keoghan had the ball between the opposition uprights on the 13th minute and she followed this with a well taken goal minutes later. This game as a contest was to all intents and purposes over by the mid way stage of the opening half and the gulf in class between the sides was all too evident.
The Skryne rear guard were putting in a solid performance with Roisin Gryson sprung from her usual goalkeeping position for this game putting in a strong performance in the full back position. Her replacement in goal Ruth Murphy was putting in a confident performance between the posts and dealt with anything coming her way with great composure Rachael Hanley and Sophie Halpin corner backs were dogged in their determination to prevent any breach into their territory. The half back line of Margret Fox, Deidre Kennedy and Niamh Monaghan along with defending the Skryne goal line was also instrumental in setting up a number of the Skryne scores. We were now into the 18th minute and the blueswere not yet done when half forward Melanie Kirwan added a further point followed by a Saoirse McGrath point also from play.
Balinabrackey now reeling from the Skryne onslaught somehow summoned up the energy to hit back with a goal in the 23rd minute to put a minor dent into the Skryne lead. The scoring in the opening half was completed by Skryne’s Catriona Keoghan when she took a well taken point from play. Skryne had built up a commanding lead despite hitting ten wides in the opening half to leave the scores at the break:
Skryne 3-11. Ballinabrackey 1 – 0.
The second half started with Skryne playing into the wind and also playing uphill so they were not expecting things so easy in this half. This half proved to be a much tamer affair on the scoring front and we had to wait until the 10th minute before we
saw our first score of this half. This came about when Roisin Gryson the Skryne full back was hauled down on her way through to goal. After much urging from the sideline Roisin took on the free kick and saw her effort sail between the opposition uprights to add on to the Skryne lead. By this stage of the half Skryne had struck three wides so better use of the ball might have proved advantageous. We were again errant in our shooting and struck a further four wides before centre forward Ruth Moore converted a free kick to score a point in the 19th minute. Niamh O’Brien was next up when she had a point to finish the Skryne scoring of this game. The final scores were hit by Ballinabrackey in the dying minutes when they had two point’s from play to leave the final scorline:
Skryne 3 – 14. Ballinabrackey 1-2.
Team: – Ruth Murphy; Rachael Hanley, Roisin Gryson { 0 – 1}, Sophie Halpin, Margret Fox, Deirdre Kennedy,
Niamh Monaghan{0 – 2}; Catriona Keoghan[1 – 2}, Niamh O’Brien{0 – 2}; Melanie Kirwan {1 – 1}, Ruth Moore {0 – 1},
Saoirse McGrath {0 – 3}; Eimear Clarke, Kristal Schurink{0 – 2}, Sarah Halpin{1 – 0}
