Youghal United AFC

Report: Richard Sheehan

Youghal Utd. 4 Douglas Hall 2

May 26, 2009

The Youghal girls lined out against Douglas Hall in a must win game, on the final day of the under 16 Cork schoolgirls league. Youghal needed a win to clinch their very first league title. Tension was high just before kickoff, with a large turnout supporting the Youghal girls. Youghal started off the better and had most of the play for the first 10 minutes or so, but it was the Douglas Hall girls that got the breakthrough when a ball over the Youghal defence was taken by Laura Shine of Douglas Hall, to finish to the top right hand corner of the Youghal goal. This had the effect of settling the Youghal team and they started to play some good football, but were aware of the threat from another breakaway goal. It was only a matter of time before the Youghal goal came, this came from the boot of Gemma Lyons who scored the equaliser and sent Youghal on their first step towards the League title. Play continued with some good football from both sides and Youghal got a penalty when one of the Douglas Hall girls handled the ball inside the box. Up stepped Lisa O’Sullivan and she calmly put the ball past the Hall keeper to make it 2 to 1 at half time.

The second half started with the Youghal girls sensing they could go on and win it, but the Douglas girls had other ideas, and made them fight for it all the way. Youghal were the next to score when Lisa O’Sullivan scrambled the ball past the Douglas Hall keeper to give them a comfortable 3 to 1 lead. This comfort zone lasted for all of 3 minutes when a good move from Douglas Hall saw Laura Shine score for the visitors, and raise the tension again. Both teams battled for the next score and Youghal were rewarded when Lisa O’Sullivan got the breakthrough to make it 4 to 2.

With about 8 minutes left Douglas hall made a break through the now tiring Youghal defence to go one on one with Shannon Crowley in the Youghal goal, where Shannon made the save of the day to deny the score, and she was called into action almost immediately when the clearance came straight back in, and looked like a sure score but Shannon Crowley somehow got her hands to the shot and turned the ball past the Youghal post. At this stage both teams had given their all and it was the Youghal girls that hung on, with the aid of their supporters, to clinch victory and their first schoolgirls league title for the club. Well done to all the Youghal girls, and well done to Douglas Hall for a thrilling final game to the season.

Report: Richard Sheehan

Youghal United 3 – 2 Bandon

This game started at a very high pace in the sunshine of Youghal with plenty of tough football being played by both teams. It was the Bandon girls that started the better with the aid of the low autumn sun to their backs.

Bandon broke the deadlock with a great pass that split the Youghal defence, where the Bandon player gathered the ball half way inside the Youghal half and left the defence for dead. She then shot from the edge of the box and curled a blistering shot past the Youghal goalie giving her no chance.

This gave Bandon great heart and they piled on the pressure and this pressure eventually paid off when they won a penalty 10 minutes before the break. Up stepped Becky Barrett of Bandon to show strong nerves in front of the large Youghal support to slot the ball past the Youghal keeper to give the Bandon girls a 2 – 0 lead.

Bandon looked comfortable at this stage but the Youghal girls kept working hard and this hard work paid off a few minutes before half time when Gemma Lyons broke through the Bandon defence to pull one back to make it 2 – 1 at half time.

The second half started with Youghal making a tactical change going 3-4-3 and looking for the win. They started the half well with Lisa O’Sullivan getting into some very good shooting positions only to see her efforts go wide and one hit the post. However on 20 minutes the Youghal pressure paid off when Lisa O’Sullivan took a shot that had a slight deflection to go past the helpless Bandon keeper to make it 2 all.

After this both teams were battling for the win and when Gemma Lyons won the ball inside the Bandon box she was taken down from behind and the referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty. Up stepped Lisa O’ Sullivan to score what was to prove to be the winner with 10 minutes to go. The Youghal girls had to battle hard to survive the late pressure from a gallant Bandon team to hold on for a deserved win.

Best for Youghal were Lisa O’Sullivan, Aisling Coleman, Kate Sheehan and Bianne Roche. But this was truly a great team effort to turn around a very tough battle.