Ballymackey u13 Major girls made the short trip to our neighbours in Knigh for a breezy 1pm kick off. To say the home team got off to a fast start would be an understatement as straight from the kick-off Knigh took the lead as with three passes they had Ava O'Rourke picking the ball out of her net after 9 seconds. Despite Ballymackey pleading "ah ref, can we not start again?" the goal stood. Ballymackey were certainly up against it for the rest of the first half but good defending especially by Ballymackey player of the match, Ava Quigley, ensured the visitors stayed in the contest. Minutes before half time Knigh doubled their lead following a corner which hung up on the wind and deceived everyone as it looped into the net. Indeed even the referee was reliant on the Ballymackey players honesty and fair play to admit the ball did actually cross the line.

Feeling hard done by at half time Ballymackey came out all guns blazing and were rewarded as Sadhb Connolly halved the deficit with a calm finish just 5 minutes after the restart. Game on! Confidence was up and with midfield battles being fought by Ella Frend and captain for the day, Shauna Looby, Ballymackey pressed for the equaliser. With 5 minutes to play a result was still within reach but breaking ball from a free kick fell kindly in the box and Knigh finished the Ballymackey fight back. A cruel 4th goal came with literally the last kick of the game as Knigh cemented their win.

So a 4-1 defeat but the cliche of the score not doing justice to the performance was rarely more applicable. 100% effort was given by the entire squad and that's all any coach can ask. Today's squad was: Ava O'Rourke, Shauna Looby, Jenna Hackett, Ava Quigley, Lisa Fitzgerald, Alannah O'Dwyer, Hazel O'Donovan, Sadhb Connolly, Grace Quinn and Ella Frend.