U16 Girls 5-1 Passage 5th October 2014

Bandon’s first home game this season was a top of the table clash verses old rivals Passage. With lots of overhead rain the visitors had started stronger forcing Bandon’s back four of Nicole O’Sullivan, Niamh McGrath Nicole Quinn and Robin O’Mahony to be alert. A positional swap by manager Adrian Buckley saw Nicole Quinn being swapped with Maeve Lynch. This seemed to work immediately as Bandon went 1-0 up Quinn picking out Niamh Calnan on the wing as she whipped in a hard shot which was spilt by the Passage keeper and Alison Murphy poked the ball into the back of the net after 15 minutes. Bandon seemed to settle and gain confidence from this as they started to play very good attacking football and defended well. It only took 7 minutes for Murphy to add to her tally as Nicole O’Sullivan sent a fantastic ball up the line to Nicole Calnan and she passed it to her cousin Niamh this time Calnan crossed it as Murphy hit it in top corner. 5 minutes after that Bandon got their 3rd goal some excellent defending from Robin O’Mahoney who then cleared it up the line to Ciara Barrette  who layed it off to the inform Quinn who then passed it to Ciara McKeown who gave a lovely through ball to Murphy who curled the ball around the Passage keeper in the bottom righthand corner. Passage then responded to this as they crossed in a brilliant ball which was headed strongly towards Bandon goal. Thankfully for Bandon, Leah Buckley was alert to the danger and pulled of a great diving saved from just under the crossbar. Bandon then pushed on from this and had a couple of great pieces of attacking play. 6 minutes from half time Ciara Barrette pulled off something that can only be called a moment of brilliance! It started off by good defending from Bandon’s two centre backs Niamh McGrath and Maeve Lynch. Barrett then got the ball on the left wing she ran at the Passage full back put the ball from her left foot to her right then back again to her left as she struck a thunderbolt of a strike into the top left hand corner.

For Bandon the second half was backs to the wall as Passage looked for a way back into the match. Bandon defended well with two new additions to the backline Fionnula Murphy and Shauna Molloy who replaced the injured Nicole O’Sullivan and Robin O’Mahony the two substitutes held their own against a strong Passage attacking line. Bandon made more changes as Nicole Calnan came back on for Fionnula Murphy. This saw Roisin O’Sullivan slot into right back as she did superbly against a Cork U16 winger from the 2014 Gaynor cup. Bandon defended well all throughout the second half only conceding one goal against a strong Passage side which came in the 52nd minute with a powerful strike from a Passage midfielder which flew in to the top corner. In the 70th minute Bandon had a great counter attacking move which saw Murphy add to her tally to make it four for her and Bandon’s fifth goal. Barrett picked up the ball and passed a perfectly weighted ball to McKeown who was unable to finish. McKeown did not give up and pressed the strong Passage center back into a poor clearance which saw Murphy slot the ball into the right hand side of Passage’s goal.

 
Best for Bandon:

Nicole Quinn – very strong game in midfield and centre back for Bandon making vital tackles and interceptions.
Alison Murphy – four goals today. Always looked threatening with the ball and willing to defend when her team needed her.
Niamh McGrath- Worked well with Maeve Lynch in centre back . Very comfortable in possession and defended excellently all day.

Match Report by Kate O’Donovan