Heartbreak for Midlands girls in Gaynor Cup final

THE girls of the Midlands Schoolboys/girls League were denied an historic SFAI Gaynor Cup title when they were defeated by the Carlow League.

SFAI Gaynor Cup Under 14 final

Carlow League 0

Midlands League 0 (AET, Carlow win 6-5 on pens)

In a match which went all the way to a penalty shoot-out, Carlow only prevailed when the Midlands missed a spot-kick in sudden death.

After losing last year's final to Dublin league MGL South, this season's Midlands squad - which included seven players from Offaly clubs - were intent on going one better and looked impressive as they battled their way to the decider in the five-day tournament in Limerick.

In the first half of the final this afternoon the Midlands were under pressure from Carlow for whom joint golden boot winner Ciara Milton and Ashlee Smith were impressive.

Caoilfhinn Brett had a chance for Midlands after the first half water break but was adjudged to be offside and earlier only a goalline defensive intervention prevented Carlow from taking the lead.

Carlow also went desperately close in the first half when they landed a corner on the Midlands crossbar.

Just before the half-time interval a free kick was swung in by Chloe Glynn of St Joseph's from the right flank and the Carlow defence let it bounce in the six-yard box.

Luckily for the Carlow girls their goalkeeper Carla Byrne dived to her right to push the ball away to safety.

In midfield there were several great contests taking place, especially that between Killeigh's Emma Mooney and Carlow's Siobhan Sinnott.

The match was still scoreless at the second half water break and already extra-time looked a possibility.

When play resumed for the final period of normal time the Midlands finally began to dominate and Brett received the ball in a useful position in the box but was swallowed up on the turn by Carlow defenders.

Then Christina Waldron followed up swiftly on a ball and reached it before opposing keeper Byrne but could not get her shot on target.

With the full hour of normal time running out a cross from Milton was slapped away by the alert Slattery and the Birr goalkeeper was alive to the danger again when she thwarted Carlow's Eimear Bolger.

In added time Mooney had the last opportunity for either side but her right-footed effort drifted left and wide of the post.

In the first period of extra-time, with Killeigh's Leah Stack prominent in midfield on a couple of occasions, Midlands had the edge and Sophie Byrne of Willow Park also continued to give Carlow problems in the central areas.

Just before the end of the first period a Milton free kick from 25 yards hit the underside of the crossbar and Siobhan Sinnott's shot from the rebound was net-bound until Chloe Glynn's dramatic clearance.

In the second period a free kick from Milton from wide on right could not find a Carlow head and right before the final whistle the Midlands girls could breathe again when a Milton shot from a very narrow angle skimmed the bar.

The penalty shoot-out was an incredibly tense affair with Byrne, Glynn, Stack, Alison Judge and Emma Mooney scoring for Midlands with the regulation first five kicks.

However, Milton, Smith, Doyle, Sinnott and Bolger did the same for Carlow, setting up the sudden death phase.

Midlands player Caoilfhinn Brett was the unlucky one, seeing her effort saved by Carla Byrne and then Birr goalkeeper Aoibheann Slattery could not stop Eimear Bolger from converting the decisive penalty.

Though it was a horrible way for the Midlands to lose, Carlow can justifiably argue that they shaded play for much of the match and went closest to scoring but the lack of a finish always left the door ajar for the Midlands.

Indeed, Midlands player Sophie Byrne was named as the player of the match in the final.

The top tournament in Irish Under 14 inter-league soccer was played at the University of Limerick and the Midlands reached the final by winning their group.

That put them straight into the semi-final where the girls defeated Sligo-Leitrim 1-0 with a goal from Sophie Byrne of Willow Park.

In the group stage, Midlands did not concede a goal, opening with a 2-0 defeat of Kilkenny, following that by beating Cavan-Monaghan 4-0, and then achieving a 1-0 victory over the Donegal League.

The prestigious annual competition kicked off on Monday and Nessa Trainor of Ballinahown and Hodson Bay's Caoilfhinn Brett were among the goal scorers on the first day.

On Tuesday Ballinahown's Leah Concannon and Killeigh's Emma Mooney found the net.

This year’s Midlands team was trained by manager and coach Glen Byrne along with coaches Padraig Glynn, Verona Smyth and Aisling Concannon. The head of the Midlands League delegation was Derek Collins.

Midlands squad - Aoibheann Slattery (Birr Town FC, goalkeeper), Chloe Glynn (St Joseph's FC), Christina Waldron (Bealnamulla LFC), Alison Judge (Killeigh FC), Roisin Bradley (Abbeyleix FC), Erin McHugh (Temple Villa FC), Leah Stack (Killeigh FC), Emma Mooney (Killeigh FC), Neasa Trainor (Ballinahown FC), Sophie Byrne (Willow Park FC), Leah Concannon (Ballinahown FC), Niamh Coughlan (Killeigh FC), Caoilfhinn Brett (Hodson Bay Celtic FC), Kacey-Lee Finnamore (Tullamore Town FC), Sophie Padden (Temple Villa FC), Ellen Gorman (Killeigh FC), Sarah Burke (Mountmellick United FC), Ciara Conroy (Mountmellick United FC), Lilly-Mae Conroy (Mountmellick United FC).

Carlow squad – Carla Byrne (goalkeeper), Ellie Maher, Anna Cullen, Grainne Grennan, Natalia Deka, Siobhan Sinnott, Aoife Bergin, Nicole Osborne (goalkeeper), Laura Malone, Anna Gurhy, Jasmine Doyle, Abby Kepple, Lucie O'Reilly, Cara English, Ciara Milton, Emma Malone, Eimear Bolger, Keelie Doyle, Ashlee Smith, Hanna Kerfah.

Referee: Dean Turner.