Blues through to Munster semi-finals

Newmarket 2-10 Éire Óg Cork 2-4

THE quarter-final of the junior ladies’ football Munster club championship was played in Ballyagran last Saturday under a bright sky but with strong winds.
Newmarket chose to play uphill against the wind in the first half. Éire Óg put Newmarkets backs under great pressure from the off. The girls in blue, most of all Jane O’Leary, worked extremely hard and kept the scoring chance of Éire Óg to a minimal. Éire Óg’s corner-forward and their top scorer, Eimear Scally, always looked dangerous and sure enough, it was Eimear who found a way though Newmarket’s defence to score a great goal.
The Newmarket girls, however, rallied and with strong runs from the McInerney sisters, Aimee and Sarah, along with the very hard-working Chloe Morey in midfield, Newmarket kept the score down and at half-time were only behind by two points on a scoreline of 1- 3 to 0 – 4. In the second half, the Newmarket forwards came into their own and it was now the turn of the Éire Óg defence to be under pressure. The turning point came midway through the second half with an unstoppable shot from Chloe Morey and Newmarket’s first goal.
The second of Newmarket’s goals came from centre-forward and captain Carol O’Leary. The Éire Óg goalkeeper had been taking short kick-outs but this time, Carol was ready and dispossessed the full-back and beat Emma O’Brien in the Éire Óg goal with a cheeky lob that sent the Blues on the winning way. Throughout, Newmarket played great football but a special mention has to go to Jane O’Leary, Iris Kaiser, Chloe Morey and Róisín McMahon, who were outstanding. Newmarket can now look forward to a semi-final against Limerick champions, Fr Casey’s on Saturday, October 2.

Newmarket: Áine Lawlor; Carol Kaiser, Iris Kaiser, Stephanie Halpin; Sarah McInerney, Róisín McMahon, Aimee McInerney; Jenny Kelly (0-1), Chloe Morey (1-2); Jane O’Leary, Carol O’Leary (1-0), Áine O’Brien (0-1), Claire Arthur, Ruth Kaiser (0-2), Niki Kaiser (0-4).