LADIES CPL SILVER SEMI-FINALS
Knockninny 1-2 Ederney 2-19
WHEN Knockninny, playing against the wind, struck for a 10th minute goal to wipe out an early Ederney two point lead, it seemed that this Teemore contest was going to be a close enough affair.
But crucially, an understrength home side were unable to capitalise on their timely goal boost, only adding two more points before the break by which stage the visitors had surged into a 2-7 to 1-2 lead.
Restart wind advantage proved to be no benefit at all to Knockninny who found themselves pinned into their own half for lengthy spells as the winners points tally continued to mount without reply.
Ederney were much slicker and sharper but initially they were slow to get going though registering two early points before being hit by a Molly Quinlan goal.
That did trigger a vigorous Ederney response, propelled by goals from Briege Walsh and Ellie Carrigan.
They each registered points too along with Rihanna McElhill, Sadhbh McAleer, Arlene Daly and Katie Teague.
The home response was limited to singles apiece by Quinlan and Naoise McKiernan.
It rapidly got worse for Knockninny as the second half unfolded, Carrigan pointing after 90 seconds to get the Ederney ball rolling again.
Katie Teague then really caught fire, rattling over a quartet of points inside as many minutes, each a neatly taken score at the end of of crisp passing movements.
Niamh Gallagher and Walsh with a clever side foot effort then added singles apiece before Ederney almost grabbed a third goal. First goalkeeper Oonagh Murray doing well to block a close range Carrigan effort followed by Teague shooting against the post.
Another Carrigan point made it 2-15 by the three quarters stage with a concluding quartet being added via Eva Donnelly, Sarah Britton, Teague and young sub, Saoirse McMenamin.
In a winners defence which capably dealt with sporadic home attacks, goalkeeper Aine Walsh handled well behind a solid fullback trio of Caitlin Moss, Emma Byrne and Niamh O’Harte.
For Knockninny, Molly Quinlan, Maria McBarron, Ellen McCaffrey and Naoise McKiernan were to the forefront of what was a very disappointing display.
Enniskillen 3-12 Roslea 1-7
THOUGH Enniskillen were fully deserving winners, the final score doesn’t at all reflect what was a competitive enough Brewster Park game with the young Roslea girls enjoying a really strong first half.
In essence, the Gaels girls just had too much in terms of experience, strength and scoring prowess for the visitors.
However, it was really only after half-time that they really began to exert commanding authority.
The Roslea effort was led by Blaithin McAleer who was simply outstanding in this, her first game back for the club.
She had strong assistance from Kaela Toye and Hannah Murphy in defence along with Aimee Keenan’s surging runs along the wing.
Their scoring thrust was headed by Katie Elliott (0-5), with Nuala Beggan the goal scorer, Cassie Brady and Blaithin McAleer notching points apiece.