By Emma Stone

What was a hot but sticky sunny afternoon in Kinnegad where Our Lady’s  Bower Athlone took on the Dublin champions Castleknock in the U14B Leinster final.   This was a game Our Lady’s Bower was going to treasure, with a chance of lifting the Leinster cup. With 5 of this team having played with the U16 Leinster champions from last year this gave vast experience throughout the team. With both teams ready to start word came through that the referee was running late by 30mins. At this time team coach Deirdre took her side to the sideline where they put their feet up. Now the game began with the ball thrown in between Our Lady’s Bower centre field Emily Henshaw and Aoibhin Joyce  and Castleknock but it was Castleknock who won the ball and got off to a better start putting up a 7 point lead in the first 10 mins. It was not all Castleknock from the kick out; Cathy Mc Gettigan cleared a superb ball to Orla Mc Getrick who found Michelle King only to be denied a great score by the Castleknock goalie. This gave the team a great boost and the next score came from Orla O’ Neill with a great point from play. Now it was the Our Lady’s Bower back line that stepped up a gear with Jane Henshaw,  Catty Mc Gettigan, Marian Gildea  Niamh Geoghegan,  Sarah Tracey and Laura Dowling  working tirelessly to supply the forward with some ball. Captain Orla O’ Neill received an awesome pass from E. Henshaw and with Orla making no mistakes set up M. King for a stunning goal. Now it was the Bower’s show down with points from O. Mc Getrick, Emma Johnson and Lauren Kennedy.  It was even again but not for long; Castleknock center half forward took off on a solo run and scored a  vital goal. It was here where duo centre field Emily Henshaw and Aoibhin Joyce  stepped up a gear to supply great ball to O. O’Neill, O’Mc Getrick and E. Johnson who in turn popped them over the bar. This brought the half time score to 2-6  to 1-7 in Castleknock’s favour.

It must have been a good team talk by coach Deirdre Slevin as the Bower came out of the traps all guns blazing. It was J. Henshaw that set up O O’Neill to rattle to top corner of the net with a fantastic goal. N. Collision won possession from the kick out and with a superb solo run set up L. Kennedy to reach M. King to send home  a cracker of a goal. This was the Bower’s first time to take the lead and at a crucial time in the game. While things were looking good for the Bower it was all about to change as Castleknock returned 1-5 unanswered scores.  This reduces the Bower’s 4 point lead to 4points down.  It was end to end football but it was the individual performance and sheer team spirit that came through in the Bower girls.  Aisling Flynn started off by putting a stop to Castleknock  goal scoring with some fantastic saves and pushing another over the bar.  The defence closed up shop to optimal effect, with a superb full back line N. Geoghegan, L. Dowling and S. Tracey, while J. Henshaw, Cathy Mc Gettigan and Marian Kildea in the half back as equally effective. The last 4 minutes of the game was just astonishing when centre field E. Henshaw and A. Joyce taking control to supply the forward line N. Collision E. Johnson O. Mc Getrick,  O. O’Neill M. King, L. Kennedy with Nicole, Orla, Michelle and Emma(free) levelling the game. The victory was delivered when Emma  Johnson’s high ball deceived the Castleknock keeper to enter the net but it was L. Dowling down the other end that cleared the line of the last kick of the game. It was game set and match while the provincial honours going to Our Lady’s Bower in what was a thrilling final.

Team: A. Flynn, N. Geoghegan, L. Dowling, S. Tracey, M. Kildea, J. Henshaw, C. Mc Gettigan, E. Henshaw, A. Joyce, O. Mc Getrick(0-2), O. O’Neill(1-3), C. Curran, E. Johnson(1-3, 0-2frees), M. King(2-1), N. Collison(0-1). C. Weever, P. Grennan, P. Keane, C. O’Neill, A. Mas. L. Kennedy(0-1), A. Donoghue,  J. Howard, N. Brennan, A. Howard, S. Kelly, H. Raftery, E. Flynn

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