Seven up for magnificent Moville 03.02.12
U-16 Schoolgirls Ulster Final

Moville Community College...7 Crana College...0 Deirdre Houghton reports from Lakeside. Photos: Herbie Barr. The girls of Moville Community College are in seventh heaven this week after sweeping aside the challenge of Crana College at the Lakeside to earn a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals. Sally-Anne Mc Fadden’s U-16 girls, the defending national champions, were rarely troubled by their Inishowen counterparts on Monday afternoon and will now be targeting national glory in the prestigious schools competition. Despite the fact that they battled gamely throughout, Gerry Casey’s Crana College girls were never really in the running against a Moville CC team brimming with talent. The Lakeside proved a happy hunting ground for the Moville team once again as they have successfully won two Ulster finals in the space of just six days at the pitch.

Last Friday, the Foylesiders crushed Loretto College with an even greater winning margin, 9-0. On the same day, Crana College travelled to Monaghan, where they impressively overcame Loretto 2-0. The first-half of last Monday’s final saw Moville in complete control of the ball, as they dominated possession throughout. Kathy McLaughlin scored the first goal within ten minutes, coolly slotting into the corner giving Crana College keeper Amy Casey no chance to make a save. A rare Crana College threat on goal came from Niamh Devlin soon after but her attempt was thwarted by an impressive save from Moville keeper Amy Canning, who dived well to gather the ball. In the next twenty minutes, fine strikes from Shannon McDonald and Eimear Lafferty effectively ended the game as a contest as the Foyleside girls began to find their groove. Lightning striker Sarah-Jane McDonald then weighed in with two more goals, one a superb header to end a fine move, as the Moville girls cruised to the break five goals clear of their Crana counterparts. The second-half of the one-sided final didn’t fare much better for Crana College as magnificent Moville added another two goals to their massive tally.

Crana College did not give up however, battling gamely throughout the second period, closing down space and harassing Moville in the tackle. With Niamh Devlin catching the eye, Gerry Casey’s girls managed a few threats from free-kicks but were unable to penetrate the Moville defence to any great effect.

Early in the second period Shannon McDonald unleashed another powerful effort which was well saved by Amy Casey in the Crana College goal. Ten minutes into the half Moville notched up goal number six when Charmaine McDermott picked out Sarah-Jane McDonald, whose shot crashed off the post before Aine McLaughlin followed up to sweep the ball home. Irish international Gemma McGuinness displayed her scoring prowess with ten minutes to go in the contest, firing in a seventh goal to rubber stamp Moville’s victory. Through to the last four in the country, the Foyleside girls will now be in confident mood of going all the way for an historic Inishowen victory in the competition.

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