It was a great weekend in Ballinakill, Rathdrum for the U14 girls of St Patricks Wicklow Town, who completed three in a row and will now go on to represent the county in this year’s National Feile.
The girls qualified for the semi finals against Group 1 runners up Bray Emmet’s after recording three wins in Group 2 on Saturday, with victories over Blessington, St. Nicholas and Eire Og . Playing against a strong breeze the Wicklow girls led 1-01 to 1pt at ht.
Bray started the second half strongly scoring the first two points but a second goal from Sinead McGettigan and one from Niamh McSorley plus three points from Saoirse O Reilly, who was playing her first game back after a hand injury, put the Pats team into the final with AGB who defeated Blessington in the other semi final.
The final was a game of two half’s with both defences coming out on top in the early exchanges. The first score of the game came from the boot of the excellent Saoirse O’ Reilly who was beginning to cause a few problems for the Arklow defenders.
Three missed scores from close in frees were punished as AGB scored a goal from distance. This was a start of a purple patch and a further point from Abi Doyle left three points in the game. Further drama AGB were awarded a penalty, but for a excellent save from county keeper Megan Dunne and Aine Cahill was on hand to clear the danger.
Pat’s girls were further saved but this time by the uprights and the bar and were fortunate not to be further behind at ht. In the second half both teams exchanged points early on and similar to the first half both defences were playing out of their skins.
With captain Aine Cahill driving on from centre half back, a point from Niamh Caffery started the comeback and with the game in its final minutes, two points from the player of the Feile Sinead McGettigan levelled the match. Move of the game, Lucy Dunne won a ball on the sideline passed onto Jessica Lyons who played into centre half forward McSorley, who in turn switched to Weronika Kuzio and the Pats midfielder kicked the leading point from 25 meters. A final point from McGettigan sealed a two point victory for the Wicklow Town girls.
