Strathearn School

118 Belmont Road, Belfast, BT4 2AU, Northern Ireland | 028 9047 1595

1st XI narrowly beaten in Ulster Schools' Senior Plate Final

1st XI narrowly beaten in Ulster Schools' Senior Plate Final

Strathearn's 1st XI made it through to the final of the Ulster Schools' Senior Plate having beaten Bloomfield and Royal School Dungannon in the quarter and semi finals respectively.  Ballymena Academy made it through on the other side of the draw and the final date was set for Tuesday 7th March just up the road at Civil Service.  When the day arrived the players were well prepared and so were the supporters with banners, loud hailer, drums and face paints!!  Ballymena supporters came prepared too and so there was a battle about to commence on and off the pitch and the atmosphere was brilliant!

When the match started Ballymena took control early in the game and put pressure on us in the circle winning a number of penalty corners.  Strathearn defended well and absorbed a lot of pressure but unfortunately at 15 minutes in we conceded a goal.  They kept the pressure on and we were lucky to keep the scoreline at 1 nil at half time.  Now it wasn't all one way traffic and we got our shape back in the latter stages of the half but were behind at the break.

The girls knew they had to turn this around and go out believing they could win and show Ballymena what we were made of and that they did.  Right from the whistle they applied pressure and looked a different team which paid off 5 minutes into the 2nd half when Harriet Platt stormed through the middle of the pitch to slot the ball through to Katie Wills who remained calm as she negotiated her way around the keeper and  slotted the ball into the goal.  

This lifted the team and we continued on attacking mode as much as possible but Ballymena also fought hard as the minutes ticked away.  It edged closer to full time and it seemed we would be in for extra time and strokes when with seconds to go Ballymena drove into our circle and squeezed a shot from a very narrow angle which just slipped in before the final whistle went.  Unfortunately that was that, the match stolen from us in the dying seconds and no time to respond.  But fair play to Ballymena for a fantastic match and a well taken goal at a crucial time.

Our girls should be very proud of their performance and showed great resilience to come back from a goal down to compete right to the end.  Runners-up in the Senior Plate is not a bad way to finish the season with a young team gaining valuable experience on the pitch.  The four U6 girls finish their 7 year school career with a silver medal and lots of fond memories, well done everyone on the team but especially Captain Sarah Brown, Vice Captain Bonnie Ramsay, Ailie McKinty and Kate Farrelly we will miss you next year!

08 March 2017

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