Winning start for under-15 squad

From this group, a squad has been chosen to compete in an Ulster league which kicked off on Sunday when Ballymena faced Ballyclare and came away with an impressive 4–1 win.

With strong tactics from the Ballymena side, the central midfield of Lauren Kennedy and Jessica Duncan worked hard to put the ball constantly into the D hoping for it to land on Amy Logan or Alison Marshall’s stick. Ballymena didn’t have to wait long until they were 2-0 up thanks to two wonder strikes in the bottom corner of the goal by Amy Logan, giving the goalkeeper no chance of saving.

Being 2-0 up meant Ballymena began to take life a bit easy, and a great pass from Ballyclare allowed them to get back into the game despite the efforts of centre back Jenny Sutherland and goalkeeper Claire Donald.

With the second half came more consistency with Sweeper Zoe Dickson pushing up forwards, meaning any hope of a Ballyclare break was squashed immediately.

Duncan ended up with a fantastic goal when the goalkeeper rebounded the ball to the top of the circle allowing Duncan to hit it sweetly into the bottom corner.

The last goal in the game came from great aggression within the ‘D’ with the Ballyclare goalkeeper making save after save after save. Ballymena were not letting the ball escape and this desire allowed the ball to fall to Rihanna Campbell who cleverly pushed the ball onto a Ballyclare stick allowing it to roll into goal.

These young players can’t wait now until their next match this Sunday against Grosvenor and will be dreaming already of reaching the finals in April.

Ballymena: Claire Donald (GK), Zoe Dickson, Megan Rea, Sarah Cundell, Jenny Sutherland (Acting Cpt), Lauren Kennedy, Jessica Duncan, Carla Smyth, Rihanna Campbell, Amy Logan, Alison Marshall, Erin Browne, Wendy Paul, Nicola Best.