Success for St Patrick's College Ladies Soccer Team

2008 proved to be a most successful year for St Patrick’s College Ladies Soccer team, not only did they win the Leinster final but we also were promoted to the premier division.  This was a phenomenal achievement for Soccer in the St Patrick’s College and credit must be given to both the panel of players and to the management team.

Soccer was established in St Patrick’s College just three years ago and has to compete for players with Gaelic football and camóige, despite this a strong panel was formed and three new managers Mark Delahunty, Shane Maher and Philip McAdam.

The first game came very early in the year and resulted in a loss to Maynooth away.  Hard training ensued which paid off when the team overcame the remaining challengers; Drogheda IT, Trinity, UCD and Carlow IT.

It was then on to the Leinster semis against DIT after Easter.  This was a very tough match for the girls, as it had to be played on astro turf due to the bad weather.  Despite all the factors going against them the girls stayed strong and overcame their DIT opponents with a 3-2 score-line.  Now through to the Leinster final for the first time the girls had very little time to recover as they were set to play Maynooth in the final on the Wednesday of the same week.  Having played Maynooth at the start of the year the girls had a point to prove and even though were nervous, they were determined to win.

At a neutral venue in UCD the game saw many supporters traveling over to the game, including the senior hurlers and footballers.  From the start Maynooth were very confident.  St Pats started out playing against the wind and despite not scoring in the first half, they played and defended their goal exceptionally well and held Maynooth scoreless by half time.  On the restart the Pats girls were fired up with the aid of their management and supporters.  Pats going out strong fought hard for every ball and played exceptionally well as a team.  Finally half way through the second half all the hard work paid off when Grainne Houston hit the target leaving the Maynooth keeper with no chance.  Grainne scored again from a free kick and slotted the ball in the top corner out of the keepers reach.  Pats then held on and defended well for the rest of the match to win 2-0.  St Pat’s midfielder Eimhear Bradley was elected player of the match.

Now crowned Leinster champions the team had to go into playoffs with the other provincial winners; Queens, Athlone and the Munster champions.  Both Pats and Athlone were promoted to the premier division for next year.

Team: Orla Dwyer, Feena Byrne, Eimhear Bradley, Eileen Hegarty (Captain),Siobhan Nolan, Roisin Curneen, Marie Clerkin, Shauna McGarrigle, Fiona Bonham, Grainne Houston, Annemarie McDonagh, Annemarie Bratten, Annemarie Lardener, Michelle Flatley, Aoife Kennedy, Sarah King, Michelle Lehaney, Siobhan Coyle, Leona Martley.

Management: Mark Delahunty, Shane Maher, Philip McAdam.

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: Thursday May 08 2008