Castleknock narrowly beatten in epic final battle

It was a beautiful sunny day when Castleknock and WFTA lined out for the under 12 girls NDSL cup final. It was clear that this was going to be a tight battle, becuase the teams had drawn in the qualifying rounds. However, neither side played a defensive game with both teams attacking constantly.

Both sides had plenty of shots on target in the first half.

Niamh O'Donovan and Catherine Leahy kept the WFTA defence busy, but WFTA were the only team to score with a well taken shot from the edge of the penalty box in the 10th minute.

The second half was only a few minutes old when Emma Boyle levelled the score 1-1. Both teams battled hard to break the deadlock. AnneMarie Troy and Lucy Hanlon played a great game in defence, but Hayley Dixon still had a worrying number of chances to show off her goalkeeping skills. Nevertheless, the game ended without any further scores.

Since, this was the cup final, we went to extra time. Toward the end of the first half of extra time, a cross into the box took a lucky deflection off the back of a WFTA player into the Castleknock net. Castleknock threw their entire team into attack but were unable to pull back level.

WFTA were worthy champions, but Castleknock can be rightly proud of coming runners-up in their first season in Ladies soccer. Well done everyone!!!