CCFL Review

Ballymackey FC

Ballymackey Women welcomed Mullingar Athletic Swans to Ballinree for their final home Combined Counties Football League Women’s Premier Division fixture on Sunday.

The home side started brightly but were repeatedly denied by an inspired Mullingar goalkeeper, who produced a string of excellent saves. Allison McDonnell, Christine O’Keefe, Aoibhín Delaney and Karen Hogan (twice) all came close as Ballymackey dominated the early stages.

Despite the pressure, it was the Swans who took the lead with a superb strike from distance, taking a 1-0 advantage into the half-time break.

The second half followed a similar pattern with Ballymackey pushing hard for an equaliser. Their persistence paid off when in-form winger Allison McDonnell drove to the right endline and, instead of crossing, cleverly cut the ball back to Aoibhín Delaney, who fired home a brilliant strike off the left hand upright.

Ballymackey continued to press for a winner, with Ava O’Rourke and Norah Larkin both going close, but the sides ultimately had to settle for a share of the spoils.

There were plenty of positives for the home side, who took the opportunity to rotate their starting line-up and experiment with positional changes as well as getting good game time into their full allocation of subs. There was a senior debut for U16 player Aoibhín Delaney, while Nicole Ryan provided valuable leadership to a youthful backline. Christine O’Keefe put in a tireless shift in attack, and stylish defender Isabella Meehan earned player of the match honours.

Killavilla United

Junior A: Killavilla United progressed to the semi-final of the Michael Dolan Cup following a 4-1 away win over Abbeyleix on Sunday with the goals coming from Ruairí Murphy, Ben Lynch, Micky Ryan and Johnny Corboy.

Junior ‘B’: Killavilla seconds were also in quarter final action in the Oliver Ward Cup when they defeated St Michael's Athletic on penalties.

The sides were scoreless after regulation time and 1-1 after extra time with Jamie Boland the hero in extra time with a late equaliser that forced penalties. Goalkeeper Luke Seacy produced an outstanding performance, saving two penalties as the lads held their nerve to win the shootout 3-2.