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Inspirational Hegarty
leads Donegal to victory
16.07.08
U16 girls hammer
Kerry
Report: Inishowen Independent
THE MANAGER of the Donegal girls under-16 team who
hammered Kerry in Tuam on Sunday has praised the
team captain, Moville’s Ciara Hegarty, for leading
her team to victory with an inspirational
performance.
Speaking after Sunday’s emphatic 6-14 to 2-3
victory, an ecstatic Griffin insisted that Hegarty
had been superb in the centre of the field and had
inspired her team-mates to a victory he claimed had
helped Donegal ladies football ‘come of age.’
“Ciara Hegarty in midfield was absolutely fantastic,
it was a brilliant captain’s performance. I’ve
always said that a captain should lead by example
and by God did she ever lead today.”
But Griffin was full of praise for his entire panel,
suggesting that the victory was one of the best ever
for a Donegal Ladies team. |
“Kerry were just blown
away, I never thought I’d see the day that a Donegal
ladies team would beat Kerry at all, never mind beat
them by such a score. It was a fantastic performance
really I’m just over the moon.”
The Donegal manager maintained that his girls had
followed the game plan to the letter and had never
allowed Kerry to get a way into the game.
“We stated before the start of the game that we
would go out with all guns |
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blazing and by God we
went out with all guns blazing. My full forward
Geraldine McLaughlin, just back from Spain, scored
4-1 and the corner forward Lorraine Molloy had a
quiet game and still scored seven points.”
Suggesting that Kerry were just blown away by the
performance, he said he was delighted for the girls
who had put in a huge effort over the past few
seasons.
“The girls are playing together for a few years now,
I know them all well and they are great girls but
today Donegal football came of age. To beat Kerry
like they did is just fantastic, I’m absolutely
delighted.”
The win sets up a mouth-watering clash with Cork in
the semi-final in two weeks time and while the
Leesiders also chalked up an easy win over Kerry in
the Munster final, Griffin insists his team will
relish the game.
“I spoke to the Kerry manager and he told me had
four players missing for that Munster final, but
they all played against us and it didn’t make one
bit of difference, in fact he said he’d be surprised
if we didn’t beat Cork.”
The Donegal manager said the players would work hard
over the next fortnight for what he fully expects to
be a real good battle.
Inishowen was well represented in Sunday’s starting
15 with Leonie Furlong (Moville) lining out in
defence, Roisin McDonald (Carn) and Ciara Hegarty
(Moville) at midfield, and Niamh McLaughlin
(Moville) and Kayla Farren (Urris) in attack. |
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