Our u14 ladies played Castlemartyr in their County Championship semi final in the park last Saturday afternoon. Fresh from winning the West Cork final the girls in blue were now looking to build on their success and reach this year's County final. Playing against a strong wind in the first half Bantry opened the scoring with a Sophie o Donnell pointed free in the third minute.Castlemartyr replied two minutes later with a goal but Bantry replied immediately with a well taken point from Emma Harrington.Castlemartyr were moving the ball well with the wind and another goal on nine minutes saw them push ahead but two lovely points from Sophie o Donnell kept Bantry in touch and when she scored a cracking goal on fifteen minutes Bantry were right back in it.Both teams traded points before Castlemartyr again goaled on twenty six minutes despite the best efforts of Bantry goalkeeper Layla Rose Kingston Fitzgerald and when Castlemartyr pointed on twenty nine minutes it left the girls in blue trailing at half time on a scoreline of 3.2 to 1.5. Bantry now had the wind at their backs for the second half but it was Castlemartyr who opened the scoring with another goal in the fourth minute to push them further ahead but Bantry's reply was instant with great points from Sophie o Donnell,Noelle Hurley and Emma Harrington reducing the deficit. Bantry were now playing some lovely football and were defending superbly to limit Castlemartyr to few scoring chances with Caragh McCarthy and Ann Keohane putting in a serious effort alongside the rest of the Bantry backs.Sara Murphy was now dominating at midfield alongside Hailey Hegarty and Emily o Neill was winning a serious amount of ball for Bantry.A Sophie o Donnell goal on eighteen minutes was no more than Bantry deserved and now, as in previous games,Bantry introduced fresh legs off the bench to try and close out the game. Another fine goal from Emma Harrington on twenty one minutes saw Bantry well in control and further points from Sophie o Donnell and Sara Murphy saw Bantry finish the game strongly to win on a scoreline of 3.14 to 4.2. Well done to each and every one of the girls on a great win and they can now look forward to a County final in two weeks time. Scorers for Bantry Sophie o Donnell 2.8(3f) Emma Harrington 1.4 Noelle Hurley 0.1 Sara Murphy 0.1
