Swinford pay heavy price for missed chances
The Swinford U19 girls pictured before their Connacht Cup final against Salthill Devon. Picture: Connacht Football Association
What a difference missing a few guilt-edged chances can make.
The Swinford U19 girls trailed 2-0 to Salthill Devon coming into the second half of the Connacht U19 Girls Cup Final at the grounds of Mervue United on Saturday afternoon. Three minutes later, they could well have been level or even ahead but spurned the three excellent chances they had. A six-minute flurry of goals saw Salthill extend the lead to 5-0 and put the game beyond doubt.
Manager Michael Devaney said after the match that it could have been a different game had one of those efforts gone in.
“We were 2-0 behind and knew we had to come out with a spirited sort of attack and we had three golden chances and didn’t take any of them. They responded with three goals and we didn’t have the firepower on the day to catch them.”
Salthill were perhaps favourites coming into this game but even when they broke the deadlock on the half hour mark, Swinford looked a match for them in the early stages.
Captain Emily Rowley was best for Swinford in the opening minutes at centre back, using her pace to prevent the Salthill girls from finding a route in behind the defence and Hazel Harrington looked sharp at left back too. Izzy Murtagh and Beth Roache were enjoying a good midfield battle with Abbey Kavanagh and Daisy O’Connell as well and it was a game very much up in the air. Kavanagh’s free kick on 17 minutes had been the best chance of the game but Tara Kilroy in the Swinford net was equal to it.
Eabha Costello finally got in behind Rowley and toe-poked home from an O’Connell pass with 30 minutes gone at Fahy’s Field. Two minutes later, Costello turned provider as roving left back Isabel Fahey curled in an effort from a wide angle.
Early in the second half, Hazel Harrington sent a free kick deep into Devon territory. Beth Roache got a touch from point blank range but Francis Hardy got down to make the save. 60 seconds later, Kaitlynn Jordan robbed Brooke Madden of possession and fired towards goal but Hardy was equal to it again. Finally, Harrington’s resulting corner found the head of Roache who again found the gloves of Francis Hardy.
Salthill sub Ailbhe McNeill came on to cause chaos, turning in Daisy O’Connell’s cross with 59 minutes played to make it 3-0. O’Connell then sent in a scorcher from distance to make it 4-0. McNeill struck the fifth on the 63 minute mark. After some pinball in the Swinford box, she got the decisive strike to extend the Salthill lead even further.
The game petered out from there with no real chances of note in the final 25 minutes. It was a valiant effort from Swinford, who just lacked composure in the final third at the start of the second half.
