Celbridge U16 Ladies off to winning start

Celbridge U16 Ladies football team got their Division 2 league campaign off to a flying start with an impressive win over a talented Carbury side. The first quarter of this game was very evenly balanced with both teams trading scores.  Eventually Maria Keating and Laura Stirblyte began to dominate possession at midfield and this along with the ball winning skills of the half-backs Eve Wallace and Caitlin Thomas was the platform for Celbridge to take control of this game.  In the last 15 minutes of the half a combination of strong running, accurate passing and great support play saw Celbridge’s forward line score (4-6) with Leah Murphy and Rachel O’Reilly each getting a brace of goals.  At the same time Celbridge’s resolute defending and a great goalkeeping performance from Ciara Gallagher kept Carbury scoreless for the last quarter and the half finished with the home team well ahead by 5-9 to 2-1.   

Although Carbury continued to battle hard in the second half Celbridge remained in control of the game.  Their skilful forward line, led superbly by Niamh Mortell and Rachel O’Reilly, was a constant threat and scored some fine points and goals with the result that Celbridge ran out winners by 9-12 to 3-6.  This was a very good game of football, with a high level of skill and commitment on display from both teams.   To their credit this talented Carbury side kept going right to the end but in the end it wasn’t to be their day. 

Although it can be a bit of a cliché this was the ultimately a great team performance from Celbridge as every player from 1 to 16 give it a hundred per cent from start to finish. 

So well done to the Celbridge players and to the Mentors – Tommy, Paul, Darren and Nicola.  Keep up the good work and all the best for the next game against Two Mile House.

Final Score: Celbridge 9-12 :  3-6 Carbury

Celbridge Scorers: Leah Murphy (3-1); Aideen Stack (0-1): Rachel O’ Reilly (3-3) Maria Keating (0-2); Niamh Mortell (1-3); Vivienne Lee  (1-0); Megan Quinn (0-1); Anna Peoples (1-0)