Ballymackey Women came away from Athlone with a share of the spoils following a 2-2 draw with Willow Park. Willow started the match well having lots of possession, with Ballymackey leaving lots of space in the middle of the pitch. Despite the home side controlling the play in the middle third they were not overly creating goal scoring chances and Ballymackey looked dangerous when they did manage to get the ball forward. Ballymackey indeed did take the lead in this period of minimal possession, good build up play down the left was followed with the ball been switched to the right for the incoming Allison McDonnell to strike home from just inside the box. From the midpoint of the first half Ballymackey got to grips with the game in the centre of the pitch and started to enjoy more possession themselves. Ballymackey had a great shout for a penalty but a clear handball in the box went unpunished and it was 0-1 at the half time break. Ballymackey upped the ante in the second half creating multiple chances with several going a begging before Seonaid McGuigan doubled the lead. Ballymackey spurned some guilt edged chances to put the game away but they were made to pay for their misses, Willow got themselves back in the match with a cracking goal and with the game just rolling into stoppage time they grabbed an equaliser. Ballymackey reacted positively to the set back and with a fair few stoppages in the second half there was a decent bit of stoppage time to be added and Ballymackey pushed for a winner. Ballymackey laid siege to the Willow goal and forced a succession of corners which Willow defended valiantly with all 11 players in the box. On the 4th corner of the sequence the ball broke to Lisa Toohey in the box and she was taken down from behind but the referee elected to take the option of blowing for full time rather than award the penalty. Disappointing to be caught for the draw from having been in a good position but a draw on the road against a good side is not a bad result particularly with a couple of big calls not breaking Ballymackey’s way. The strength in depth of the squad is promising, with Ballymackey travelling without a few stalwart quality players who were unavailable to travel, the underage players in the squad are making a huge difference and there is fearce competition for places on the team. Nicole Ryan and Karen Hogan were very prominent in the back line, Joanne O Brien ran herself into the ground in the middle of the pitch and our player of the match was Amber DeLewis who was simply unplayable throughout. There is still an awful lot of football to be played in this Combined Counties Football League Women’s Division that has yet to reach the halfway point and their are several excellent sides that will feel they will have a big say in the outcome of the league but Ballymackey have made a good solid start and will hope to hold in there and be in the reckoning at the business end of preceding.
