Dublin Camogie Division 2 Championship
Round 2
Ballinteer St Johns v Faughs
Friday 6th September 2024
Marlay Park
A pristine Pitch 2 on a sun drenched evening was the setting for what turned out to be an epic battle between BSJ and their opponents Faughs. The game began in whirlwind fashion with both sides registering early scores after some impressive link up play from both teams. Graduallly the BSJ girls started to claw their way into the lead. Some goalmouth scrambles where we were unlucky not to raise a green flag resulted to 45s which Izzy dispatched over the bar with unerring accuracy. Eventually the Faughs defence was breached and after a very physical goalmouth scramble involving all three full forwards, Chole, Aoibhin and Millie, it was Millie who struck the blow which resulted in the first goal.
To their credit, Faughs came storming back into the game. An injury to Sophie in midfield meant that Eadaoin had to replace her and she picked up the baton admirably putting in a huge shift. Both our back lines came under immense pressure but under the leadership of joint captain Rebecca, and the sheer doggedness of our full back line of Aoife, Lauren and Anna, no goal was conceded. Our wing backs, Caoimhe and Ruth cleared ball to our half forward line where Sinead, Aishling sent quality ball to our roving forward Eve. The interplay resulted in a 45 which ultimately had a huge bearing on the game. Some robust jostling on the edge of the small square resulted in Aoibhin's marker conceding space and Izzy's 45 sailed through the gap and into the back of the net on the stroke of half time. BSJ ended the half with a 4 point lead.
The second half started as the coaches had predicted, Faughs came out of the traps extremely strongly and brought the game back to level pegging. It looked at stages that they might pull away but try as they might, some stunning saves from Sophie and a last ditch goalmouth clearance from Ruth denied them a goal. This brave defending caused the Ballinteer girls to reinvigorate themselves and once again the forwards started to grind out some scores. A series of tactical substitutions showed why Camogie is now a squad game. Jane, Juliet and Alex came on and made some incisive plays. Sophie, who had been injured in the first half, returned to the field. Some tense action in the Faughs square resulted in a point when a goal looked the likely outcome, but in a game of inches points would prove crucial.
Faughs started to turn the screw but our backs jst refused to yield. In the dying minutes, Faughs missed two frees which would ultimately prove crucial. BSJ moved the sliotar through the hands with a deft series of passes which resulted in Grace finding herself in possession 20 metres out from goal on the right hand side of the pitch. Undeterred by the presence of her marker, she had the courage to take on the shot from an increasingly acute angle and the ball sailed between the posts. A minute later the ref blew the whistle on what was an epic encounter.
BSJ by 1, a true squad performance.
Final Score:
Ballinteer St Johns 2-8 Faughs 1-10
Match Report - Dermot Nutty
