Ballymackey Ladies left to wait for League glory to be confirmed

There was a large crowd in attendance on Sunday in Ballinree for the Combined Counties Football League Women’s division league title decider as Ballymackey hosted Willow Park.

As the table stood, a win for Ballymackey would secure the title and a win for the visitors would allow them to win the league in their one remaining match.

Ballymackey started brightly with Kate Cavanagh to the fore and Allison McDonnell causing trouble in attack. The home side had the best of the possession in the first half, but a good Willow side were dangerous on the counter and Ballymackey’s defence had to be at their best to limit sights on goal.

The best chance of the half fell to Joanne O’Brien who was deputising as captain for the injured Lisa Toohey, twenty yards out and she struck her shot off the crossbar, the ball rebounded off the back of the Willow net-minder but somehow went outside the upright and behind for a corner. The score was 0-0 at half time but Ballymackey were well pleased with their first half performance.

A great start to the second half saw Ballymackey have two great chances but both were spurned by wayward finishing and good goalkeeping. Willow had their best spell for the next fifteen minutes and Ballymackey rode their luck on a couple of occasions.

Ballymackey recomposed themselves and retook control of proceedings and patiently set about getting the crucial breakthrough goal. The Ballymackey front 3 were causing all sorts of bother for the Athlone sides defence and it was no surprise when Christine O’Keefe struck home with a great finish high to the net with seventeen minutes remaining.

Ballymackey continued to play on the front foot and doubled their lead on 82 minutes when Joanne O’Brien smashed home Kate Cavanagh’s corner delivery. Ballymackey managed the game out well from there with O’Keefe and Amber DeLewis going close to extending the home sides lead, but the score remained 2-0 at the final whistle.

It was a super performance by Ballymackey in a great game that was a fantastic advertisement for the Women’s game. There were outstanding performances all over the field with all twelve players who played rising to the occasion and delivering, sustaining a high tempo to the final whistle. Chloe Whyte had a storming game; Amber De Lewis terrorised the Willow defence and three players were yellow carded trying to stop her play. The player of the match was Christine O’Keefe who covered every blade of grass, working her socks off and still had the energy to be in the box to get four shots at goal.

Even though the table shows Ballymackey in a unassailable position at the top of the league, the trophy could not be presented on the day as a protest of a result between two other sides must be heard before the title can be awarded. Hopefully this matter is cleared up this week and the girls can celebrate their success.

The match concludes a super league campaign by Ballymackey and it’s a huge achievement to be sitting top of the table after fourteen rounds against some really top class opposition. The season is far from finished with an outing in the FAI Amateur Shield in Broadford, Limerick next week and a big Counties Cup semi-final at home to Bealnamulla also to come.

Squad: Darra Bourke, Nicole Ryan, Zoe Gratton, Emma Nolan, Shauna Egan, Chloe McAuliffe, Karen Hogan, Chloe Whyte, Lisa Toohey, Joanne O'Brien, Aoibhín Delaney, Kate Cavanagh, Thia McCarthy, Allison McDonnell, Amber DeLewis, Seonaid McGuigan, Sarah Quigley, Christine O'Keefe, Hazel Cawley, Ava O'Rourke.