On bright morning in Ballyhar our u13 Girls kicked off their league campaign against Tralee Dymanos. The opening 15 mins was a nervous affair with both teams testing each other out. The first big moment came from the visitors when a fast ball foward looked to have let former ballyhar player Lucy Wynne in to score for Tralee, but the effort was rightly ruled offside. Ballyhar's defence stayed solid with great displays from Kate O'Connor, Anna Fitzgerald,  Emily O'Callaghan and Faye O'Brien. Debutant Ella Mitchell in goal was a revelation for Ballyhar, and she played a long range kick out towards stalwart Niamh O'Sullivan, she surged through to put the ball into the back of the Tralee net just before half time. H/T 1-0

Tralee put Ballyhar under immense pressure from the start of the second half, but were countered by unbelievable work rates from our midfield. Emma O'Callaghans tackle rate was immense along with covering the full pitch helping out all over, Maria Scanlon was rock solid in the centre and the covering play of both wingers Joanna Cronin and Clara Dower, making her Ballyhar debut, was second to none. However, the hot day played its part, with Ballyhar visibly tiring as the game entered it's final few minutes. That's when a momentary lapse in concentration allowed a Tralee forward to get off a fine shot from the edge of the box that flew into the top left hand corner to equalise. 1-1 To their credit Ballyhar kept going as they pumped balls forward to striker Molly O'Connor who worked hard. Another fantastic long range clearance from Ella Mitchell found Niamh O'Sullivan who in turn played a long ball forward, forcing the Tralee keeper to rush from her line. Ballyhar forward Molly O'Connor surged forward leaving the ladies in the red jerseys in her wake and her final shot looked to be sailing into the bottom right corner of the goal, but unfortunately it went agonisingly wide.
F/T 1-1
It was a very promising first game of the season for our U13 Girls with lots of positives to take from the game. Too hard to call for player of the game but best on the day were Ella Mitchell, Kate O'Connor, Emma O'Callaghan and Niamh O'Sullivan.