Dublin Ladies JFC ‘B’ Group B

Daire Walsh

Naomh Olaf 5-8 Ballyboughal 4-9

LAURA CORBALLY struck a stoppage-time goal at Páirc Uí Bhriain last Wednesday evening to give Naomh Olaf a dramatic victory against Ballyboughal in Group B of the Dublin Junior ‘B’ Ladies’ Football Championship.

In their second game of this year’s competition, the Sandyford side looked set to fall short in a goal-laden affair when a Molly Carthy three-pointer offered Ballyboughal a four-point cushion in the 53rd minute.

An Aoife Maher major subsequently sparked Olaf into life, but the visitors remained in the driving seat at the end of normal time.

However, that was the cue for Corbally to rattle the opposition net and secure maximum points for Seán Farrell’s charges.

Due to the uneven number of teams in the group (five), this was Ballyboughal’s first game of the 2021 championship.

EAGER

They will be seeking to build on this performance tomorrow evening when they face St Brendan’s on their home patch. Naomh Olaf lost out to the Grangegorman outfit seven days earlier and were, therefore, eager to avoid a second consecutive reversal.

They may have conceded an early point to Caroline Brennan, but the hosts eventually settled into the proceedings.

A speculative Grace Lannigan shot dropped into the back of the net on three minutes, and a blistering run by centre half-back Julie Grimes released Chloe Kelly McDonald for another goal moments later.

Naomh Olaf also posted several wides during the first quarter, however, opening the door for Ballyboughal to force themselves into the reckoning.

After Carthy had converted a close-range free, marauding defender Aimee Lawless provided the spadework for Laura Kennedy’s excellent green flag finish on the stroke of 15 minutes.

Midfielder Sarah Willis also added a point to leave the teams on level terms (2-0 to 1-3) at the first water break. Naomh Olaf settled back into their groove with an outstanding, individual goal from Ciara Murphy before Carthy expertly slotted home a 28th-minute penalty at the opposite end.

juncture

It had been an incident-packed opening period up to this juncture, and it carried on in that vein until the half-time whistle. Points courtesy of Ciara Murphy and Hannah O’Kelly (two) had Olaf within sight of an interval lead, but Ballyboughal had other ideas.

Supplementing another Brennan single, Lawless squeezed a shot into the bottom left-hand corner to present Lar Lynch’s troops with a slender 3-4 to 3-3 buffer moving into the second half.

Ballyboughal increased this gap on the resumption thanks to unanswered points from Carthy (free) and Brennan, albeit these scores only arrived after 11 minutes of scoreless action.

Olaf’s continued to generate clear-cut chances as the play progressed and finally hit a purple patch on either side of the third-quarter mark. Substitute Orla McDonald, Chloe Kelly McDonald and O’Kelly all found the target, in quick succession, to leave the sides inseparable.

edged

The Southsiders briefly edged ahead with a pointed free by Kelly McDonald, only for Ballyboughal to strike back through Carthy. The latter’s 1-1 salvo threw down the gauntlet to Naomh Olaf, and they responded with a Maher goal just as the clock reached 56 minutes.

Replacements Katie Flynn and Orla McDonald traded points to keep Naomh Olaf in arrears by the bare minimum (4-9 to 4-8).

Rather than settling for a share of the spoils, the home side worked Corbally into a goal-scoring position in the 64th minute and she duly obliged with an ice-cool strike past keeper Sally Farrell that puts Naomh Olaf back in the mix for a place in the Junior ‘B’ knock-out rounds.

SCORERS – Naomh Olaf: C Kelly McDonald 1-2 (0-1pen, 0-1f), C Murphy 1-1, G Lannigan, A Maher, L Corbally 1-0 each, H O’Kelly 0-3, O McDonald 0-2. Ballyboughal: M Carthy 2-4 (1-0pen, 0-3f), A Lawless, L Kennedy 1-0 each, C Brennan 0-3, S Willis, K Flynn 0-1 each.

NAOMH OLAF: J Moore; Y Gallagher, G Shanahan, N Lakes; G Crotty, J Grimes, C Donnelly; S Lannigan, G Lannigan; H O’Kelly, A Maher, L Corbally; C Murphy, C Kelly McDonald, N Donnelly. Subs: O McDonald for Crotty (27), L Byrne for O’Kelly (57), R McDonald for Gallagher (60).

BALLYBOUGHAL: S Farrell; J Kellegher, M Gannon, S Arthurs; L Fagan, S O’Keefe, A Lawless; S Willis, A Hennessy; C Brennan, L Kennedy, N O’Brien; C Spencer, M Carthy, N Counihan. SUB: K Flynn for Kellegher (9).

MENTORS – Naomh Olaf: Seán Farrell, Robert Hollingsworth, Lee Waters, Martin Byrne. Ballyboughal: Lar Lynch, Lisa McConnell.

REFEREE: Pat Murphy (Thomas Davis).

WIDES – Naomh Olaf: 14 (7+7). Ballyboughal: 2 (0+2).

CONDITIONS: Windy with occasional spells of rain.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Molly Carthy (Ballyboughal).