On a sunny, breezy Sunday afternoon, what a difference from Saturday, Malone faced MU Barnhall, from Co Kildare, in the Women’s All Ireland Junior Cup, at Gibson Park, east Belfast.
From kick off Malone attempted to run the ball out of defence. Ava Gleeson intercepted and ran unopposed to the line. Ciara Faulkner’s conversion put MU Barnhall 7-0 up in the 1st minute.
Malone steadied, winning territory and possession. After a series of moves between forwards and backs, Hannah Beattie drove over in the 13th minute to reduce the deficit to 5-7.
MU Barnhall responded almost immediately. Brooke Fagan found space on the left and ran round the Malone defence to score wide out to push the score up to 12-5.
Not to be outdone, from a lineout maul Beattie grabbed another try to bring Malone back to 10-12.
On 33 minutes Rebecca Francis scored midway out on the left, after a break and a series of forward drives. Faulkner’s conversion gave MU Barnhall a 19-10 lead.
On the stroke of halftime Malone replied when Mia Ferguson got over in the corner, despite a heavy tackle, to leave Malone down 15-19 at halftime.
After the break it was all Malone. They camped in the MU Barnhall 22 but couldn’t break through a a very stubborn defence.
MU Barnhall eventually lifted the siege and following a lot of play in midfield, scored the 2nd half’s only score, when Faulkner got in, under the posts. Orfhlaith Murray conversion put MU Barnhall 26-15 ahead.
Both teams sought a further score, but the clock ran out on a 26-15 victory to MU Barnhall.
Match Gallery
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