Chaotic traffic jams around Clan Na Gael caused by city centre protests gave Google Maps a nervous breakdown and saw this game start 15 minutes later than planned. Luckily, the hosts had floodlights, and it was worth the delay as we were treated to an exciting game. Coming to Clan Na Gael is always a challenge as they have a young team with some fine players.

Mick O’Dwyer once said, “Winning is a habit and the more you win now the more you tend to win in the future.” So it was very satisfying for the team to come away with a second league win under their belt, though they had to dig deep. There is depth in the squad with several line-up changes and minor players stepping up seamlessly in a changed team list from the previous week. Despite the change in personnel the team played a similar nice style of football with good spells of patient possession, intelligent use of kicking and good conversion of chances created. BSJ dominated the first ten minutes, and this reporter thought all the signs pointed to a comfortable win. Leading by 2-03 to 0-02 points at this stage, helped by a brace of Laura Dunne goals, the Clan Na Gael coaches had their work cut out.

Maybe the BSJ girls took the foot off the pedal a little but as the clock ticked Clan Na Gael showed their teeth and scored a super goal followed by sweetly struck points. “We have a game on our hands,” said a parent on the sideline. Nodding heads. Our defence needed to perform as the Clan Na Gael ladies had now established a foothold in the game and weaved their way up the pitch like surfers on the waves. There were some very timely interventions by the BSJ ladies to hold onto a 2-05 to 1-05 lead at half time. Given we had an estimated 65% of possession it was a little too close for comfort. I dared to question Paul’s scorekeeping, but as usual he had it 100%.

After the restart Clan Na Gael picked up where they left off, growing in confidence and suddenly the game was a cliff hanger with just one point separating the teams. 2-06 to 1-08. The heat was on. While BSJ were still playing reasonably well, we were just not converting in the red zone with several mistimed passes at the crucial moment. 

Just when Clan Na Gael sensed that the game might be there for them, BSJ sprung to life again creating and converting 2 goal chances within a 4-minute period to seemingly kill off the game again. Entering injury time a 6-point cushion felt comfortable but a “softish” goal conceded made things very nervy with the referee showing no signs of blowing it up. With pressure on the kick out Roisin executed perfectly, the BSJ girls won possession and a super individual score by Katie Mae Leonard followed which proved to be the insurance score. 

A big shout out to MVP Lauren Burke who put in an impressive performance over the hour.

Two wins from two is a great start to the league for the BSJ team. A week off now before the next game versus Skerries at home on the 22nd of April at 7.15 in Marlay. All support