Saturday, October 6th...

 Well done to our U12 footballers who finally enjoyed their reward for all their efforts when they defeated Rockban in the East Cork championship final, played at Buck Leary's Cross. This was a tight game with the scores level at half-time but the Rovers got the crucial scores in the second half. Congratulations to a fine panel of players and to all the mentors who guided them from the start of the year to the finish.

 U12s finish their season in style

Our under 12 girls finished their football season in some style with a hard earned victory over a strong Rockban team in the East Cork u12 final at Buck Learys cross last Saturday. This Rockban team had beaten us earlier in the year in the county qualifier and went on to contest the county final, so we had our work cut out for us.
We tore into the game from the very start and our full back line of Emily Larkin, Sarah Murphy and Sophie Dorgan were under pressure from the off from the Rockban forwards but they played magnificently and cleared nearly every ball that came in to them. They were well supported by the excellent Anna Murray in goal. Our half back line of Aislinn O' Connor, Siobhan o Sullivan and Cliona Kearney worked extremely hard to keep the hard won clearances from our full backs moving up to our forward line. Emma Barry and Arianne o Flynn in midfield covered huge ground for the team and controlled midfield for most of the game.
Our half forward line of Katie Quirke, Lauren o Dowd and Fiona Barry were making good headway against a strong halfback line and our full forward line of Sinead Kearney, Lucy Hicks and Rachel o Flynn were making it difficult for the Rockban backs to clear their lines.
We lost both Sinead Kearney and Lauren o Dowd half way through the first half through injury but the strength of our panel came to the fore when their replacements Abbey Lyons and Chloe Murphy went on to have outstanding games.
The first score of the game was a point from Rockban but was cancelled out soon after by a point from Katie. Scores were hard to come by with both defences on top and the half time score was a point a piece.
From the start of the second half we played with more urgency. It was obvious that the first goal was going to be vital to the outcome of the game and thankfully we got it. It began in our backline with a wonderful save by Anna Murray, one of two outstanding saves she made on the day. The breaking ball was picked up by Sarah Murphy and passed to Aislinn o Connor who played it up to Katie Quirke. Katie carried it forward before playing a great pass to Abbey Lyons and she finished in great style by chipping the goalkeeper. The cork seniors wont score a better goal in Croke park!!
That score lifted us and Katie added a point soon after. Rockban came back at us but our defence were magnificent and held strong. Emily Larkin, Sarah Murphy and Cliona Kearney had easily their best performances all year. Emma Barry won a great ball out on the sideline, played it to Arianne and she sent it on to Katie who in turn sent a great ball in to Rachel o Flynn. Rachel finished it brilliantly with a blistering shot to the back of the net. Katie added another point to put us 2-3 to 0-1 ahead. At this point we introduced Sarah Geaney and Bronagh Cleary to the game and they showed our great panel strength. On the day Caoimhe o Sullivan and Ciara o Flynn didn`t get to play but both have contributed hugely to getting us into the final. They are both still under 10 and have many great years ahead. A special word to Siobhan o Sullivan who played at centreback for us and did a great job marking Rockban's best player and keeping her under wraps.
Well done girls. You deserved the victory. A special word of thanks to Cynthia Buckley and Aisling Hartnett for the hard work done with the girls earlier in the year.

Caption for photograph : Bride Rovers U12 Footballers pictured with the trophy after their East Cork final win over Rockban. (For more pics see Ladies Football/Camogie photo gallery.)

 Congratulations to Bride Rovers players Eleanor Ahern, Grace Kearney and Jennifer Barry who were on the Cork Senior panel which won the All-Ireland Final in Croke Park on Sunday, October 7th. There was great support from the club in Dublin this year and everyone had a great day out.

 The next clothes collection is on Friday, October 12th at Rathcormac Community Hall.

Bride Rovers were extremely honoured to win the Tesco Homegrown Club of the month award last week. Thanks to the judges who selected us on this occasion and thanks to everyone in the club who made this possible. Tesco are fantastic supporters of Cork ladies football and we thank them very much for their generosity.