Rush N.S: 3                    Scoil Mhuire Sandymount: 1

Players and fans alike must have felt the Gods were not with them as they awoke to driving rain on the morning of the game, and this after three full weeks of balmy sunshine. They need not have worried. By kick off time at 1:30, the rain had cleared. The stiff breeze, however, did favour the Sandymount girls in the opening half.

Rush got off to a golden start. The game was a mere three minutes old when Grace Dowling latched on to a loose ball on the left edge of the six yard box. She clinically finished across Aisling Ryan's goal placing her shot just inside the right upright. "That's the way uhu uhu we like it" chanted the ecstatic Rush fans, in competition with a screaming jet.

To their credit, though rocked by this explosive start, the Sandmount girls did not let their heads drop and dominated play for the remainder of the opening half. On six minutes Kate McErleen beat the offside trap and forced a good save from Shauna McGuinness. Throghout this period of intense pressure Olivia Leonard was getting through Trojan work and, though operating in the engine room just behind a lone striker, she was frequently found defending on the edge of her own box. In this hour of need Sarah Louise Brogan also performed sublimely, sweeping across the back, she averted much danger.

The inevitable equaliser came in the eighteenth minute. Diminutive Katie Lambe latched on to the ball over the top. She exposed to Rush lack of pace at the heart of the defence and when Shauna McGuinness hesitated on her line, Lambe made no mistake from ten yards. Game on!

The seasiders were now finding it very hard to lift the siege and any time they did, there strike force failed to hold the ball up. So far Niamh Leonard and Gemma Thorne, among others, were under permorming. The best effort and the second for Rush came in the twenty-seventh minute. Olivia Leonard stepped up to a free twenty-five yards out on the left. Her stinging shot left the defence stranded and pinged off the left upright and wide.

Some crucial re-shuffling took place at half time. Many players must have responded to the sharp tongue of Donnelly as they emerged a hungrier snappier team in the second half. The introduction of Jane Butterly played no small part in this transformation. The re-awakening of Niamh Leonard played another. Niamh heralded her impending danger as early as the first minute, forcing a fine save from Ryan. On seven minutes Grace Dowling came close to her second when found by the hard working Rebecca Jones.

The breakthrough came eleven minutes into the half when Niamh Leonard struck a unstoppable blast with her left to the keeper's right. In the sixteenth minute Olivia Leonard brushed past Rachel Joyce on the right. She hugged the end line for three strides and then flashed a pacey cross back into the six yard box for sister Niamh to foot wide. By now the Rush girls were piling on the the pressure but Sandymount with outstandingly brave performances from Laura Montogomery and particularly Amy Behan were refusing to give in.

Three minutes from time Rush applied the "coup de grace". The previous four minutes had seen Scoil Mhuire concede three successive corners. Something had to give. A superb cross from Eadaoin McGuinness was side footed home in classic style by predator supreme Niamh Leonard. Two for Niamh, three for Rush. Champions for second successive year in what this writer would describe as the best game of girl's football he has ever witnessed

Team and Player Ratings 

1. Shauna McGuinness       8

2. Gemma McGuckian        7

3. Dervla Ryan                 8

4. Sarah Louise Brogan      9

5. Ciara Flynn                  7

6. Eadaoin McGuinness      9

7. Grace Dowling              8

8. Gemma Thorne             7

9. Olivia Leonard (CAPT.)   9

10. Rebecca Jones            9

11. Niamh Leonard            9

Subs

12. Marijka Bardin            

13. Niamh Conway

14. Jane Butterly (For Flynn) 9

15. Megan Kelly

Cailín an cluiche : Olivia Leonard