Suncroft U14 Girls Reached The All Ireland Feile Quarter Finals
Suncroft U14 girls qualified to represent their club and their county in the Feile B All Ireland series back in April. The finals were held last weekend and the Suncroft girls played some fantastic football in their three qualifying games, against Wexfords Crossabeg / Ballymurn, Limericks Mungret St. Pauls and Waterfords Blackwater, and scored 9 goals and 22 points on their way to reaching the All Ireland quarter final.
Unfortunately for the Suncroft girls they drew the New York, the hot favourites and the eventual competition winners in the quarter final.
A goal hungry New York were too strong for the Suncroft girls. A panel of only 18 players was too small for 4 games in two days and despite a monster effort by the full Suncroft panel the 24 player New York state panel was too fresh. New York defended in packs and attacked with speed and had a, 3:01 to 0:03, seven point lead at half time. Suncroft fought hard in the second half and had closed the gap but a late point followed by a goal just on the final whistle gave New York an eight point winning margin at the end 4:03 (15) to 1:04 (7). Eve Kehoe's goal for Suncroft would be a serious contender for score of the year. A long strong solo run from her own half back line and beating seven or eight players on her way to burying the ball in New York's net.
Eight points is a good margin but when you consider the format for 2015 where the New York panel is made up from all the clubs in the state and where they were put in B rather than A they were bound to be very very strong. New York hammered all the other teams that they met (Ballinasloe (Galway) by 17 points -3:09 v 0:01, Bunclody (Wexford) by 18 points - 4:09 v 1:00, Bray Emmets by 21 points – 4:09 v 0:00, Banner (Ennis) by 23 points in the semifinal – 8:02 to 0:03 and Mungret St Pauls (Limerick) by 25 points in the final – 7:08 v 1:01) and it was only Suncroft gave them a good challenge.
Congratulations to New York and a brilliant performance by the Suncroft girls and their coaches.
The Suncroft girls did themselves, their club and their county proud and on Monday when the New York girls left on their plane, according to the scoreboards, Suncroft are certainly one of, if not the, best in the country.
Team: Risa Ennis, Caoimhe Doyle, Ciara Fennelly, Niamh Toft, Tara Sutton, Eve Kehoe, Mary Enright, Megan Troy, Aliya Jordan, Aine Troy, Aisling Connolly, Amy Browne, Aislinn Dooley, Caoimhe Gilroy, Eden Hurley, Ceile Hand, Michelle Kenny, Jane Magee and Jennifer Harte. Mentors; Karen Ennis, Becca Johnson.