Kilcullen v Moorefield, Ladies U13 GAA

On a bitterly cold day Kilcullen met Moorefield in the Ladies U13 Division Final at Moorefield GAA in front of a capacity crowd, writes Conor O'Toole. 

A strong northerly wind could not disrupt the quality of play on a perfect pitch and the early stages were tight and low scoring until Kilcullen broke the deadlock with a hard earned point from Ellie O'Toole. She followed it up later with a low drilled shot to the net and it seemed Kilcullen would take control of the game.

But Moorefield recovered well and midfielder Kate Hannon began to bombard the Kilcullen fullback line to create several points for her dangerous forwards. Kilcullen midfielder Lisa Aspell helped out in defence where fullback Laura McMahon broke up wave after wave of attacks and was ably assisted by Eleanor Trainor and Abby Murray at halfback. 

Niamh Garrett and Amy Barker worked very hard in the forwards and their efforts paid off with a swift counter to Nancy Murphy who found the net again for Kilcullen to restore a big lead. But back came Moorefield and when they won a turnover on the 45, a slick passing movement saw their inside forward expertly finish the ball to the net. A series of  points just before halftime for Moorefield left just 2 points between the teams at the break.

Kilcullen made some changes. In came Brona Dooley at cornerback where she put in a tigerish display alongside her terrible twin Tara Murphy. Grace O'Toole moved to centreback and hoovered up possession with her rangy runs on the 45. Roisin Robinson battled hard at righthalf back to repel Moorefield charges down that wing. 

The home team started well on the restart and only a brave pointblank save from goalkeeper Avril Doyle stopped them from taking the lead. An outstanding Lisa Aspell gradually started to take control of midfield and interchanged passes with Nancy Murphy to set up Kilcullen attacks one of which led to another goal from Ellie O'Toole. Katelyn Hegarty Kelly made some great runs from centrehalf forward and one pacey run along the sideline had the Kilcullen supporters in full voice.

Emma Keane and Abby Smith in the forward line sniped two well-worked points and the matchwinning score came with 10 minutes to go with a lofted pass from Grace O'Toole to Nancy Murphy who put Ellie O'Toole through to blast into the roof of the net. Kilcullen's deft changes saw the introduction of Sydney Sheridan,Emily McGlinchy and Leanne Clifford in the backs and Molly Aspell, Holly Duff and Sally Murphy up front all of whom threw themselves into the game with gusto. 

Moorefield battled on gamely but in the end ran out of time to leave Kilcullen relieved victors at 4-8 to 1-7.