MINOR D LEAGUE OPENER

Castlemartyr 01-04 (7). Banteer 02-02 (8) We welcomed Banteer to East Cork this evening for the opening round of the Minor D league. Weather conditions were good but the pitch was a little heavy underfoot after the recent rainfall. Both teams were evenly matched and after early exchanges we opened the scoring after 2 minutes with a well taken point from Sadhbh Beausang. Banteer seemed to settle quicker and had scored a goal and two points before we scored our second from a expertly taken free from Aisling Murphy in the 21st minute. We added 1 more point from a free before the interval to leave us trailing by 2 at half time. We upped our work rate in the second half and with some positional changes began to trouble Banteer's defence. Scores were hard to come by for both teams and it took 10 minutes before Banteer added a second goal to their tally. Not to be outdone, after some exceptional hard work from Aisling Harty, Grainne Lynch, Zara Bowles and Ellen Hayes Nally in defence and midfield our forwards began to make headway. After a great passage of play, a loose ball was pounced on by recent substitute, Faye McGrath, and with cool composure deftly passed to unmarked Sadhbh who drilled the ball to the back of the net. There was still 15 minutes to play and it was anybody's game. Aimee Morgan in goals made some excellent clearances under pressure and denied Banteer adding to their score for the rest of the game. Aisling Harty converted a 45 on 25 minutes leaving us trailing by a single point with 5 minutes to play. Although we continued to pressure their defence, they held firm till the final whistle. Full team Aimee Morgan, Saoirse Coughlan, Aisling Harty, Ellen Harty, Zara Bowles, Ciara Steele, Ellen Hayes Nally, Grainne Lynch, Faye McGrath,Aisling Murphy, Molly Beausang, Saidhbh Beasuang, April Cousins, Fia Carey Hurley (capt), Lucy Keneally & Sarah Crowley.