On Sunday the 7th of April, at the St Colmcilles Gaelic Football Club sportsfield in Leckwith, a group of young ladies from the Cardiff based club made history by playing their first competitive gaelic football game in the Warwickshire League against Roger Casements Ladies of Coventry.

The foundations for this year’s success had been laid over the course of the last 3 years. Great effort has been put in behind the scenes in Cardiff with the girls working hard recruiting players, organising training and taster sessions for new players, and introducing the sport to a whole new audience. The Cardiff Ladies made a huge breakthrough this year by travelling to Ventry, Co. Kerry in February to compete in the much-respected Paidi O Se Football tournament. Having been narrowly defeated by the Munich ladies team in this competition, the girls knew that they had all the tools required to make an impression here in the UK. This hard work has now borne fruit by enabling the ladies from the Cardiff club to finally take their bow in the Warwickshire League.

Cardiff, led by captain Teresa O’Sullivan and ably assisted by their trainer Martin Flood, took to the field against a much more experienced Coventry side and went ahead after the early exchanges. A goal from full forward Dee Hickey opened the scoring and before Coventry hit back with a few unanswered points of their own. Sinead Whyte who had a great game in goal for Cardiff showing safe hands on a number of occasions whilst under pressure from the Roger Casements forward line.

Cardiff’s Zara McEvoy and Amanda Broderick offered great composure and physicality in defence spoiling Coventry attacks time and again. They were well protected by a halfback line of Teresa O’Sullivan and Hannah Evans who worked tirelessly and made life very hard for the opposition. As the first half drew to a close, 2 points by Amy Bolton, who was a constant threat throughout, meant that there was a 3 point gap at the break in favour of Roger Casements.

A quick brace of goals following the half time break put Coventry firmly in the driving seat and ensured that the Cardiff side would have it all to do in order to get something from the game. Elaine Gibson won a lot of possession at midfield for Cardiff and Sinead McKeown led by example by displaying great ball carrying skills. Aimee O’ Callaghan and Sarahlou Rea made it hard for the Coventry defenders by their constant movement, creating the space which resulted in Amy Bolton tacking on another point for Cardiff in the dying minutes.

A final score of 3-7 to 1-3 doesn’t tell the full story of this game in hindsight. Cardiff competed very well and were on top for long periods of the game. The difference on the day being the accuracy of the Casements forward line, who were very precise when in scoring positions. Cardiff were not found wanting for effort or creativity, their downfall rather being due to a lack of composure in front of the posts. This is something that will come with more game time and experience and given the strides that these young ladies have made in such a short space of time, they can be very pleased with themselves and hopeful of the direction in which they are going. You have got to crawl before you can walk, and Cardiff are finally up and running. Warwickshire beware.

Date Added: 7th April 2013