Victory as sweet as Candy’ for Brennan and Ballyglass
Eve Malone, left, and Emily Vahey receive the Mayo U19 Cup from John Noonan, representing the sponsors Hayes Mechanical & Engineering. Picture: Deirdre Ryan
Kate Brennan’s hat-trick proved crucial as Ballyglass were crowned Mayo Under 19 Girls Cup winners on Sunday after beating Manulla by the odd goal in five.
It took Brennan less than a minute to make her mark as she ran onto a perfectly weighted Sari Vahey pass and managed to bundle the ball past Manulla goalkeeper Kate Guilfoyle.
The early breakthrough settled the Candystripes and with Hannah Pecak and Aoife McHugh catching the eye in midfield, they began to move the ball with plenty of purpose.
An ambitious shot from distance by Katie Corcoran flashed narrowly over Guilfoyle’s crossbar but it wasn’t long until Ballyglass did double their advantage. Pecak spotted the run of Brennan just inside the halfway line and the latter unleashed a long-range effort that flew all the way to the net. 2-0 to Ballyglass with only fifteen minutes played.
The Red and White nearly made it three-nil nine minutes later but Brennan’s chipped effort didn’t drop in time.
Manulla’s best chance at pulling a goal back in the first-half came in the 37th minute when a fiercely struck shot from substitute Grace O’Malley just cleared the bar. And yet the girls in blue were fortunate not to concede again on the stroke of half-time when the ever-dangerous Brennan brought the very best out of Guilfoyle whose excellent save kept the score at 2-0.
Kate Brennan, however, wasn’t to be denied her hat-trick, which she completed in the 58th minute, racing onto a pass from Pecak and calmly slotting home.
This game had a couple of twists to come though, the first arriving only two minutes later when Manulla reduced their arrears courtesy of an excellent goal by the hardworking Nicole Ryan. And Johnny Hennelly's side were to halve the deficit on 87 minutes as Sophie O’Donnell fired home from a tight angle to set-up a grandstand finish.
There was yet more drama to come except not in the form of a Manulla equaliser, as time would run out on them – but not before Ballyglass sub Maria Keane smacked a shot against the crossbar from close range in added time.
Ballyglass: L Gaynard, E Joyce, E Malone, K Gibbons, I Delaney, E Keane, H Pecak, A McHugh, S Vahey, K Brennan, K Corcoran. Subs used: H Donovan, M Keane, E Vahey, E Burke, T Keane.
Manulla: K Guilfoyle, G Hennelly, A O’Malley, S Heaney, E Cass, A Cunningham, N Ryan, C Gilmartin, Z Tolan, A Dunne, S O’Donnell.
Subs used: G O’Malley, C Cronin, E Hallinan, L English.
REF: P O’Brien Gleeson
