Grenagh took the lead with an early point. The Passage girls had their work cut out for them as they were playing into a stiff breeze in the opening half of the game, but Passage dug deep, kept their heads high, and rebounded with an equaliser shortly after. Soon after, Passage scored, got their nose in front, battled hard and hung onto this lead right to the final whistle. The game itself provided great entertainment along with some heart stopping moments for the Passage supporters, who in fairness came out in great numbers to support the girls.
With only a few minutes remaining until the final whistle, Passage were in the lead by 4 hard earned points. But the players, mentors and supporters knew how dangerous Grenagh are when they are behind, as we learned from the previous game. Our fears came through when Grenagh scored a goal to leave a single point between the teams. In what seemed to be a never ending couple of minutes, the Passage ladies upped their work rate to stop Grenagh from getting an equalizer and snatching victory from them. Thankfully the final whistle went and the celebrations began.
Every single Passage player gave 110% during the final. Everyone was a star, and luckily for the officials there on the night that there wasn't a Player of the Match award as they honestly would have had to give out 27 of them. Every player was fantastic, right from Erin bravely saving a point blank shot on goal in the last 10 minutes of the game, the defence who shut Grenagh down on so many occasions, the midfield who worked up and down the pitch all night, the forward line scoring some fantastic points and goals, the girls who came on from the bench, and the girls who were ready to do battle on the night for the pride of Passage.
Well done to all of the girls involved in what is really a very young U16 team. You did yourselves and your club proud. Well done to Francis, Ciaran, Fabrice, and Karl - your hard work has paid off - now keep it going. Thanks also to Robbie Smythe of Cork County Board for attending and presenting the trophy to our U16 captain, Louise Walsh. A final thanks to Pizza Plus who delivered a large quantity of pizzas to the clubhouse for the girls to congratulate them on their win.
(PS - For all of the supporters - I hope your nails grow back soon. If you have a communion this week we could arrange something with our local beauticians if needed......)
Scorers for Passage: Emma Harrington 1-6, Amy O'Neill 1-0
Passage; Erin Dalton, Aoife O'Flynn, Niamh Santry, Deborah Keary, Ria O'Mahony, Grainne Quirke, Clionadh Dermody, Sophie Collins, Louise Walsh (Captain), Ellen O'Mahony, Emma Harrington, Clionadh Fahy, Kate O'Shea, Amy O'Neill, Brenda Murphy.
Subs;Orla Higgins for Aoife O'Flynn, Emma O'Sullivan for Brenda Murphy, Erin McEveney for Kate O'Shea.
Kelly McGranaghan, Sinead McCarthy, Danielle Burke, Emily Hurley, Claire Hyde, Roisin O'Callaghan, Sophie O'Donoughue, Laoise Heffernan, Kate Dorgan.
Final score Passage 2-6 to Grenagh 2-5
An Phasáiste Abú
