Write a comment
Bosco Junior Ladies travelled to St. Johns on Saturday evening to play rivals Saul in the Semi – Final of the Junior Championship.
The Newry girls went into the match as slight favourites but missing several key players and having to travel into East Down for the third tie in a row Mo Rooney was very aware of the task that lay ahead of his team. Saul had crushed St. Michaels in the ¼ final and indeed Rooney was quick to play down his teams tag as favourites and insisted that this match would be a battle from start to finish. Bosco started the quickest and pointed early doors and extended their lead after several minutes of dominance. The first major talking point occurred when the referee red carded a player from each team and this seemed to unsettled the Bosco girls and Saul took control for the last 10 minutes of the half and slotted over some fine scores to leave the score at the interval Bosco 0-9 Saul 0-4.
The 2nd half started with the Bosco extending their lead but Saul fought back again and narrowed the Newry girls lead. Things finally looked to be going the Bosco’s way when full forward Niamh Monaghan fielded a high ball and smashed home a great goal but from the resulting kick out Saul stormed up the field and when the ball was in the box the referee gave a penalty which even the Saul players seemed bemused at the reward of the spot kick which was duly converted to leave 3 points in the game.
The tension was high in St. Johns and whilst both team managers exchanged pleasantries Bosco,s Aio Downey was sin binned for 10 minutes for tackling too hard but Mo Rooney re-shaped his team and shored up his defence against Saul,s attack and when Downey,s 10 minutes was up Nicola O,Gorman seen the side line for the remainder of the game which meant the Bosco had to play the last 10 minutes with 13 players but credit where credit is due the girls never gave an inch and repelled every attack Saul could throw at them.
As the final whistle blew jubilant scenes erupted on and around the pitch as the players, management and supporters hugged in what was more a relieve that the game was over and a county final had been reached.
All of the Bosco team must be praised for a magnificent performance on the night and it would be unfair to single out any 1 player as the entire panel battled for a brilliant victory.
The Ladies now await the winners of Bright v Loughinisland to see who they will play in the final on Saturday 1st September, time and venue to be confirmed.
Bosco U12 Girls Tournament – 25th August 2012
The annual Bosco under 12 Girls Tournament takes place next Saturday in Jack Mackin Park commencing at 10.00am.
Bosco will have two teams involved Bosco “Blue and Bosco Yellow and they will be competing against Clonduff, Saval, Rostrevor, Shane O’Neills, Warrenpoint and Burren
Following the great success of the Junior Ladies team in reaching the Junior Championship Final why not pay a visit to Jack Mackin Park next Saturday and see the next generation of Bosco Girls.
Bosco U14 boys
Following their league triumph, Bosco U14 Boys had a convincing win against Tullylish in their opening game of the South Down Championship.
