DUBLIN LGFA CUP DIV 2B

Daire Walsh

BALLINTEER ST JOHN’S 3-14

TEMPLEOGUE SYNGE STREET 2-16

REBECCA Fitzpatrick struck a point deep into stoppage-time at Dolphin Park last Wednesday evening to give Ballinteer St John’s victory over Templeogue Synge Street (TSS) in a thoroughly entertaining Dublin LGFA Adult Cup Division 2B clash.

Having found themselves in arrears for large stretches of the contest, Ballinteer squeezed in front during the closing stages through a Niamh Sweeney penalty.

TSS subsequently regained the ascendancy, before Katie Fearon and Fitzpatrick fired over back-to-back points to secure the spoils for the visitors.

Outside of their scorer-in-chief Sweeney (1-4), Fearon and Róisín Nic Uileagóid aided the St John’s cause by contributing 1-2 apiece.

Ciara Cassidy bagged three points for TSS, but the home side had the game’s standout performer in Kelli Taite.

Stationed at full-forward, she amassed a superb tally of 2-9 with all bar one point coming from play.

Both sides were missing a number of players for this game – Dublin senior star Orlagh Nolan a notable absentee from a Ballinteer perspective.

TSS may not have any active inter-county footballer within their ranks, but several of their squad come from good stock.

Twins Laura and Niamh Leacy are nieces of the late, great Anton O’Toole and lined up in the full-back line.

Centre-forward Niamh O’Gara is a younger sister of former Sky Blues ace Eoghan, while her fellow attacker Jennifer O’Dell is the sibling of Dublin’s new kid on the block Lorcan O’Dell.

Injury unfortunately brought Jennifer’s day to an end on seven minutes, but Taite had already set out her stall by this point.

A 1-2 haul from the number 14 had TSS in the ascendancy, with three points from opposite number Sweeney keeping Ballinteer in contention.

Scores from O’Gara and Saoirse Murphy pushed ‘Synger’ further in front, before their southside rivals hit top gear.

Thanks to unanswered points by Orla Glancy (two), Niamh Leahy and Róisín Nic Uileagóid, Ballinteer were back on level terms in the 20th minute.

Taite subsequently reasserted TSS’s authority with her second goal, only for Nic Uileagóid’s emphatic finish to once again cancel out their lead.

Nonetheless, ‘Synger’ continued to exude confidence and with Rebekah Kamvar and Taite splitting the posts, they brought a 2-6 to 1-7 buffer into the interval.

It had been end-to-end fare during the opening period and it carried on in the same vein on the resumption.

Taite (two) and Cassidy added points for TSS in the early stages of the second half, but Sadhbh Nic Uileagóid, Fearon and Róisín Nic Uileagóid did likewise for their opponents.

After Bonnie Leitch added her name to the ‘Synger’ scoresheet, Sadhbh Nic Uileagóid and Sweeney combined to reduce Ballinteer’s deficit to the bare minimum.

Although further scores from Taite and Cassidy kept TSS in the driving seat, things changed in the 49th minute when Fearon’s speculative effort found the net.

The dynamic duo of Taite and Cassidy once again came up trumps for the hosts, in advance of Sweeney firing past Sophie Quinn from the spot on 56 minutes.

There was still plenty of time left for either side to win it of course and Taite maintained her cutting edge. A brace of identical points from the TSS sharpshooter – she gathered possession at a right-hand angle before carrying the ball into a central area and shooting between the uprights – gave her side a slender advantage in time added on.

Ballinteer were determined to have the final say, however, with Fearon and Fitzpatrick doing the needful off patient attacks.

Match file

Scorers – Ballinteer St John’s: N Sweeney 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-1f); K Fearon, R Nic Uileagóid 1-2 each; S Nic Uileagóid, O Glancy 0-2 each, N Leahy, R Fitzpatrick 0-1 each. Templeogue Synge Street: K Taite 2-9 (0-1f); C Cassidy 0-3; S Murphy, R Kamvar, N O’Gara, B Leitch 0-1 each.

BALLINTEER ST JOHN’S: N Casey; F O’Regan, R Kiernan, H Barr; N Mooney, C O’Brien, R Nolan; N Leahy, C Brennan; K Fearon, S Nic Uileagóid, O Glancy; R Nic Uileagóid, N Sweeney, R Fitzpatrick.

TEMPLEOGUE SYNGE STREET: S Quinn; L Leacy, N Leacy, C Bell; L Hayes, A Hughes, E Hughes; S Murphy, L Cahill; R Kamvar, N O’Gara, J O’Dell; B Leitch, K Taite, C Cassidy. Subs: A O’Byrne Hadjami for O’Dell (7), S Cooney for Kamvar (h-t), Kamvar for O’Gara (42), O’Gara for Cooney (60).

MENTORS – Ballinteer St John’s: Eamonn Naughton, Alan Garvin, Paul Leahy. Templeogue Synge Street: Barry Quinn, Paul Hudson, Gabrielle Ruane.

REFEREE: Pat Murphy (Thomas Davis).

WIDES – Ballinteer St John’s: 8 (4+4). Templeogue Synge Street: 9 (6+3).

CONDITIONS: Warm and bright throughout.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Kelli Taite (Templeogue Synge Street)