Seventh heaven for Ballymoney Seconds

Ballymoney 2ndX1 entertained Randalstown 2ndX1 at the Joey Dunlop Centre last Saturday on the first extremely cold day of the autumn.

The match began in a fast and furious fashion with both teams trying to break the deadlock. ‘Money put early pressure on the Randalstown defence and took the lead with a well taken goal from Nicola Sargent.

Randalstown came back into the game and pushed their players towards the home side’s goals but they were ably dealt by defenders Sarah Reid, Alex Halliday, Aine Kearney and Kate Ruddock.

Ballymoney’s goalkeeper Katie McKane produced a number of confident saves from shots created by Randalstown forwards. ‘Money settled down and produced a really good team performance with superb passing and two touch hockey at times between midfield and forwards.

Kathryn Minihan was next to score with a sharp sweep in the circle. A third goal really killed the game off the game after Karen Watson slotted the ball into the opposition’s goal making the score 3 nil to the home side.

In the second half Randalstown were becoming frustrated with the fast attacks from mid-fielders Laura McCurdy, Lauren Mullan, Catherine Knipe and Olivia Kearney who again linked well with the forwards in open play.

Ballymoney’s finishing was to perfection with further goals from Karen Watson, Kathryn Knipe and an amazing solo dribble and goal from Laura McCurdy in the bottom left hand corner of the goals.

‘Money’s defence was strong throughout the match, not allowing any dangerous forward play from Randalstown. Sarah Reid, Alex Halliday, Aine Kearney and Kate Ruddock were able to give easy passes from defence to midfield catching the Randalstown team out with fast counter-attacks.

‘Money’s forwards Jessica Moore, Karen Watson, Manon Eymere and Olivia Kearney were able to get high in the circle causing all sorts of problems for Randalstown’s keeper and defenders.

Overall the 2ndX1 produced an excellent team performance with numerous substitutions up front which kept the fast pace consistent throughout the match. Final score was an outstanding 7 nil to Ballymoney.

Many thanks to everyone who came to support and encourage the Ballymoney 2ndX1 team, Diane McNeill for umpiring and Diane Kirgan for her overall commitment and motivation in her coaching.

Thanks also to Diane’s daughter Megan for being the team mascot!

Ballymoney 2ndX1: Katie McKane, Aine Kearney, Olivia Kearney, Catherine Knipe, Lauren Mullan, Kathryn Minihan, Manon Eymere, Karen Watson, Alex Halliday, Nicola Sargent, Laura McCurdy, Sarah Reid, Jessica Moore and Kate Ruddock.