Skryne U19 girls saw their 2011 championship campaign come to an end at the hands of Moylagh in their home ground on Sunday 13th November in what proved to be a thrilling encounter. Skryne travelled to this quarter final fixture as defending championship but unfortunately come up short on the day. The weather conditions were pretty good with the pitch in good condition and with a moderate breeze in evidence.
Skryne had the wind at their backs in the opening half and launched the first two attacks on the opposition goalmouth but unfortunately both attempts went wide of the uprights. Moylagh registered the first score of the game when they had a point from a free kick in the 3rd minute. They added to this a minute later with a point from play and a goal followed shortly afterwards. Skryne looked to be in bit of bother at this stage but centrefield player Emma Fitzpatrick steadied the ship when she took a well taken point from play in the 6th minute. We had to wait until the 12th minute before we saw our next score which came from the boot of Skryne full forward Ruth More when she struck a point from play. This was followed by a point from half forward Melanie Kirwan and Melanie added further to the Skryne tally when she found the back of the Moylagh net in the 14th minute. Ruth Moore was back on the scoreboard again with a point to leave Skryne two points ahead by the midway stage of the half.
Moylagh restored their lead in the 18th minute when they had a goal against the run of play to edge them ahead by a point. This lead was to prove short lived when Kayleigh Farrell found the target to restore parity between the sides on the 20th minute. Skryne were now playing with a renewed sense of purpose when Eimear Clarke Skryne corner forward took a pass from Saoirse McGrath and rounded her marker to finish to the back of the net. Skryne dominated the final minutes of the half with Kayleigh adding on another point and Catriona Keoghan adding on a goal. The final scores of the half came from Skryne half forward Saoirse McGrath when she tagged on a point from play and Moylagh taking a point of their own to leave the scores at the break
Skryne 3 – 7. Moylagh 2 – 3.
The second half started with Skryne playing against the wind and with a seven point lead. There were some changes to the Skryne line up for this half with Emma Fitzpatrick taking up position in goal instead of Kristal Schurink and Megan O’Brien coming into the corner forward position. Moylagh had a point from play within the 1st minute but this was responded to almost immediately when Skryne full forward Ruth Moore had a well taken point from play. Moylagh had another point in the 4th minute to which Skryne corner forward Megan O’Brien responded with a goal to leave her side with a comfortable lead.
When things looked to be going well for the Tara girls they appeared to drift totally out of the game and the next twelve minutes saw Moylagh score almost at will. By the 17th minute of the half the scores were level: Skryne: 4 – 8. Moylagh 3 – 11. The 21st minute saw Skryne go back in front with a Catriona Keoghan point from play. The exchanges were intense throughout the field before Skryne stretched their lead in the dying minutes when Kayleigh Farrell added on another point to put her side two points to the good. Leading up to this score Catriopna Keoghan had to leave the field due to a blood injury and this appeared to affect the composure of the Skryne girls. Moylagh then launched an attack on the Skryne goal and had the ball in the back of the net on the 28th minute to put them one point ahead. Skryne had the opportunity to level matters but saw two attempts go wide of the uprights. The game was killed off when Moylagh found the back of the Skryne net one minute into injury time to cruelly snatch the game away from the Skryne girls. This left the scores at the final whistle:
Skryne 4 – 10. Moylagh 5 – 11
Team – Kristal Schurink; Una Morley, Roisin Gryson, Sophie Halpin; Rachael Hanley, Deirdre Kennedy, Margret Fox; Emma Fitzpatrick{0 – 1}, Catriona Keoghan{1 – 1}; Kayleigh Farrell{0 – 3}, Melanie Kirwan{1 – 1}, Saoirse McGrath{ 0 – 1}, Niamh O’Brien, Ruth Moore{0 – 3}, Eimear Clarke{ 1 – 0}. Subs – Megan O’Brien {1 – 0} for Kristal Schurink.
