Ballymackey complete League and Cup double

Ballymackey Women completed a CCFL League and Cup double with a 3-1 win against great rivals Willow Park in the Cup Final in Frank O’Connell Park, Birr on Sunday.

A very sluggish start by Ballymackey was contrasted by a super energetic start by Willow Park. Ballymackey were living dangerously with several moments of indecision in the final third allowing Willow several sights of goal. Ballymackey were the authors of their own misfortune gifting the Athlone side the lead goal, firstly needlessly conceding a corner, and then conceding the goal from a ricocheted clearance.

Willow also saw a cross come shot land on top of the crossbar and a fingertip save from Darra Bourke go to safety off the upright.

Ballymackey equalised very much against the run of play with their first bit of quality build-up play. Aoibhín Delaney played a one-two with Christine O’Keefe and ghosted past the last line of Willow defence to finish cooly when one-on-one with the keeper.

By the time of the mid-half water break, Ballymackey were starting to look the livelier of the two sides and were now stretching their opponents. On 28 minutes, Lisa Toohey fed Kate Cavanagh in space thirty yards from goal wide on the right and Cavanagh played a booming cross to the back post which Joanne O’Brien met full on the volley to crash home the lead goal for Ballymackey.

A good last fifteen minutes of the half saw Ballymackey take confidence and a one goal lead to the break.

Ballymackey retained possession better in the second half, maintaining control of the game, but failed to take some good opportunities to put some distance between the sides leaving the game in the melting pot.

Willow pushed hard for the equaliser as the half progressed, but it was Ballymackey that had the better chances particularly when Willow had to throw caution to the wind in search of a goal.

Ballymackey did find the third insurance goal as the game entered added time when sub Thia McCarthy struck the back of the net at the back post after a goalmouth scramble.

This was a great performance by Ballymackey after a rocky start with all players contributing. There was some remarkable feats of endurance in very hot conditions from Chloe Whyte, Darra Bourke, Amber DeLewis and Thia McCarthy who had all played one hundred minutes of an U19 Cup final in similar conditions less than 24 hours earlier.

Despite a couple of major absentees with injury, including the hero of last season’s cup win Seonaid McGuigan who broke her collarbone in Saturday's final, it was the squad strength in depth that saw Ballymackey home with great impact by the finishers off the bench. Amber DeLewis, after her introduction, was the second half's most influential player, building on Allison McDonnells lively first half and Thia McCarthy scored a trademark late goal upon her introduction.

The League and Cup double is a fantastic achievement by Ballymackey in a very competitive League spanning three of Ireland's provinces. It took a massive effort in training and a huge commitment to weekly long travel for matches to get Ballymackey over the line for this fantastic double success.

Ballymackey's season is not over, the June Bank Holiday weekend will see them travel to take on Athenry in the last 16 of the FAI Women's Shield.