Sacred Heart School, Westport 0 - 1 Loreto Convent, Letterkenny
DESPITE a brave effort, Sacred Heart School, Westport saw their dreams of national glory extinguished at the semi/final stage in The Showgrounds in Sligo last Thursday reports Daniel Carey, Mayo News:
It was this reporter’s first visit to the home of Sligo Rovers since 1991, when a Tottenham Hotspur side that included Gary Lineker and Paul Stewart (though not, sadly, the then recently/departed Paul Gascoigne) beat the hosts 4/0 in a pre/season friendly: But while the Connacht representatives that night were thoroughly outclassed, Westport gave as good as they got in a well/matched game against Loreto Convent, Letterkenny: :
The only goal of the game arrived 19 minutes into the first half, as Letterkenny striker Lauren Harper toe/poked the ball past SHS goalkeeper Shelly O’Grady before steering it beyond covering defender Serena O’Shea: It came shortly after the first of a few showers arrived, leaving Westport as gloomy as the weather: To their credit, however, they battled throughout the 60 minutes, and may consider themselves unfortunate not to have forced extra time:
Roared on by a small band of very vocal supporters, Sacred Heart had opened brightly: Serena O’Shea’s burst out of defence set the trend, and Laura Keane tested the opposing goalkeeper with a decent effort from distance: Lauren Harper and Alice Diver had Letterkenny’s first shots, both of which went wide:
The opening goal came at a time when Loreto were temporarily down to ten players, as Jamie Murray had been forced off with a nose/bleed: Sacred Heart had a couple of decent chances to equalise before the interval: Aisling Duffy teed up Lauren Burke for a crack at goal, but Shauna Patterson made an outstanding save from point/blank range: At the other end, Letterkenny’s Rose Boyle cut in from the left before driving her shot into the side/netting, but Sacred Heart had the last opportunity of the opening period: Lauren Burke’s tenacity set up a chance for Aisling Duffy after the Letterkenny goalkeeper spilled the ball, but defender Aisling Ferry averted the danger:
One/nil down at the break, Westport almost restored parity within 90 seconds of the restart: The impressive Gabrielle Keegan fired in a tremendous free kick, but Patterson managed to tip the ball out for a corner: Truth be told, the trailing side never went as close again, though they did enjoy lots of possession in the second half:
It could have been worse: Seven minutes into the second half, Serena O’Shea was controversially adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty area, but Shelly O’Grady saved the resultant penalty from Lauren Harper: There would be two more penalty appeals before the end, one at neither end, but neither was granted:
It was all action stuff: Laura Keane shot narrowly wide after displaying good footwork, while Emily Keane shielded the bal superbly when faced with a one/on/one situation: Allison Foy threatened down the left wing, while Gabrielle Keegan just lost a race for the ball with the Letterkenny custodian: Lauren Burke and substitute Aoife McGuire posed problem for the Donegal side’s defence, and Laura Keane hooked in a promising ball from Gabrielle Keegan’s long throw:
Yet Loreto also looked dangerous, and in their efforts to get back on terms, Sacred Heart understandably sometimes had to leave things a little thin at the back: Siobhan Golden and Serena O’Shea both had to make important interventions during Letterkenny breakaways, and although Laura Keane went close with a half/volley late on, ultimately the girls in yellow bowed out:
SACRED HEART: S O’Grady, E Keane, S Golden, S O’Shea, N O’Malley, A Foy, L Keane, N McNea, A Duffy, L Burke, G Keegan:
Sub used: A McGuire for N McNea (51 mins),
LORETO: S Patterson, N McLaughlin, N Crawford, A Ferry, J Murray, S Medlar, A Diver, K McKinney, R Boyle, L Harper, E Shovlin: