Boardsmill 1-12 Ballivor 2-9

A tight, tense and competitive Junior B Final saw local rivals Boardsmill and Ballivor end all square in Bective on Saturday evening. Ballivor scored first through Lauren McMahon but Boardsmill responded with the next 4 points through Caroline Quinn and Paula Dorian. In truth Boardsmill should have been further ahead having opted to take points when 2 clear cut goal chances presented themselves. Ballivor were not so goal shy and Andrea Ward took full advantage grabbing 2.1 between the 16th and 20th minutes. Her first goal was hotly disputed by Boardsmill after Ward appeared to use her boot to flick the ball from the hands of keeper Aoife Murray. The young Boardsmill outfit rallied and grabbed the next 3 scores through Quinn (2) and Dorian. The first half had been characterised by long periods of Boardsmill possession and wastefulness in front of goal while Ballivor proved much more clinical up front with Sinead Burke and Andrea Ward leading their attack. Lisa Foley was also very influential throughout that period and Ballivor closed out the half on top with points from Chloe Farrell and 2 from Burke. There were 4 points between the sides at the break.

Whatever luck Ballivor had for Wards first goal, Boardsmill got the rub of the green in the first minute of the second period when Lauren McMahon was harshly adjudged to have over carried the ball in the Boardsmill square. On another day a penalty might have been given. Quinn got the first point for Boardsmill while Chloe McMahon and Burke (2) extended Ballivor's lead to 6 points with 39 minutes gone. The Gods seemed to be smiling on Ballivor at this stage as Boardsmill lost the influential Sinead McLoughlin to a yellow card for a pull on Ward's jersey. Despite hemming the Boardsmill team inside their own 45 for the next 5 minutes Ballivor couldn't score and Quinn reduced the deficit grabbing another point from a break out on 48 minutes. Both teams upped the ante at this stage with every ball contested to the maximum. Kim Garrigan and Niamh O Sullivan both saw yellow on 59 minutes. Ballivor had lost Lauren McMahon to what appeared to be a serious knee injury and both teams wish her well for a speedy recovery. Incident followed incident with Boardsmill's Maeve Murray who had been influential throughout coming of worst when sandwiched between Foley and the hard working Hannah McKeown. McKeown collected a yellow and Ballivor then lost  another player to a  yellow 2 minutes later. With Sinead McLoughlin returning from her 10 minute sin bin, the momentum and numerical advantage swung in Boardsmill's favour. McLoughlin swapped positions with Caoimhe Bird who was excellent at full back for the remainder of the game but McLoughlin dictated the final 10 minutes. Referee Peter McDonagh indicated a minimum of 4 minutes injury time and was justified in playing till the 66th minute. Those hectic closing minutes saw Quinn grab 1.02 in a blistering spell before Dorian slotted what Boardsmill thought was the winning point on 35 minutes. Not to be outdone, Ballivor countered and Sinead Burke grabbed the equalizer from a 30 metre free in the dying seconds of the game. Honours even at the end with both teams ruing their mistakes and missed opportunities.

Boardsmill were best served by Sinead McLoughlin, Maeve Murray, Rachel Troy and Caroline Quinn. They were well supported by Paula Dorian, while Toni Hannon and Niamh Newman worked hard for their teams cause.

Ballivor were best served by Sinead Burke and Lisa Foley while Laura Grant carried willingly all day and full back Rachel Browne did well throughout.

Boardsmill: Aoife Murray, Hannah Kealey, Sinead McLoughlin, Niamh McEvoy, Sarah Dowling, Kim Garrigan, Hannah Tuite, Rachel Troy, Caoimhe Bird, Paula Dorian (0.4), Maeve Murray (C), Toni Hannon, Niamh Newman, Caroline Quinn (1.08), Alannah Hannon.

Ballivor: Carol Nevin, Ciara Kelly, Rachel Browne, Serena Ryan, Chloe Farrell (0.1), Lisa Foley, Louise Smith, Hannah McKeown, Leah Kelly, Laura Grant, Lauren McMahon (0.1), Chloe McMahon (0.1), Sinead Burke (0.5), Andrea Ward (2.1), Niamh O Sullivan.

Tweet

Most Read Stories