LGFA NFL Division 3
Fermanagh 3-9 Antrim 3-10
A point in injury time from Theresa Mellon sealed victory for Antrim as they maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard earned win over Fermanagh in Tempo on Sunday.
Antrim senior ladies travelled to Tempo on Sunday to take on reigning all Ireland junior champions Fermanagh. Both teams went into this game unbeaten but it was the Antrim girls who took the 3 points home and remain top of the table.
Antrim came out of the blocks flying and with ten minutes on the clock they found themselves 2-3 to 0-1 ahead. Maria O’Neill opened the scoring with a point and from the resulting kick out the ball fell to Laura Agnew who blasted to the net and gave the keeper no chance. Theresa Mellon then scored a brilliant individual goal and she followed it up with a point soon after as the Saffrons dominated the opening exchanges.
Fermanagh then got themselves back into the game with points from Blaithin Bogue and Eimear Smyth but after a great interception at the back from Niamh McIntosh the Antrim girls broke to the other end and Lara Dahunsi took a great point.
Antrim’s third goal came from Dahunsi who beat the keeper from 20 meters with both teams then exchanged scores leading up to the interval with Fermanagh finding the net through Sinead Barrett and the Saffrons scoring 3 points through Maria ONeill, Theresa Mellon and inspirational captain Bronagh Devlin who was exceptional throughout.
The second half was a completely different story as Fermanagh showed exactly why they are all Ireland champions and with ten to go the Saffron girls lead was down to the bare minimum.
Maria O Neill and Lara Dahunsi added points apiece but Fermanagh hit back with a goal from Aoife McCabe and a point from Eimear Smyth to take the lead with 2 minutes of the 5 minutes added time remaining.
This Antrim group have got a bit of steel about them however and their resilience and character really showed as they stared defeat in the face. Aoife Kelly with a defence splitting pass found Lara Dahunsi and she struck the ball over the bar to level the contest.
It looked like both sides would have to settle for the draw but there was one more piece of drama and from the resulting kick-out Ana Mulholland won possession in midfield and she found Theresa Mellon in space and she kept her cool to fire over the winning score, seconds before the final whistle.
Indeed Ana showed great commitment in playing the game after a very few tough days with a family bereavement.
All in all it was another 3 points and the character within this group was what got them over line when they were starring defeat in the face.
Joint managers Micky and Chris said after the game “That was a brilliant advert for ladies football. Both teams really went at it and the resilience our girls showed was unreal. We were absolutely superb at times but at times we put ourselves under pressure. There is nobody here getting carried away however.
We are still very much in the building process and together we are all learning week by week. Quite a lot of what we are about is very new to the group and together we are all working hard to develop and steer the group in the right direction”
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