Three In A Row! Claregalway, Here We Go!
The INTO\GAA West Connemara Girls Mini Sevens was held in Clifden on Friday on 19th October 2001. The following schools took part in the girls’ competition; Cleggan, Clifden, Eagles Nest, Leenane/Tully (amalgamation) and Lettergesh/Letterfrack also an amalgamation. We beat Tully/Leenane 4-3 to 0-1 in the semi-final, with Lettergesh/Letterfrack beating Clifden in the other semi-final. We played poorly for much of the final and trailed by 2-0 to 0-2 at half time. A disastrous opening to the second half saw us fall ten points behind with six minutes to go. The amalgamation was now leading 4-0 to 0-2 and dreams of a historic three in a row were fading fast.
However Eagles Nest has always been famous for its great fighting spirit and was it more needed than on this occasion. We clawed our way back and managed to keep our focus. We played a brilliant last five minutes to take a dramatic lead in the last minute. To their great credit Lettergesh/Lettergesh mustered up one last attack and Natasha Booth, their star performer on the day fired over the equalising point. A pulsating encounter had ended, Eagles Nest 4-4 Lettergesh/Letterfrack 5-1. Eagles Nest dominated in extra time but spurned several scoring opportunities. A replay looked likely as Tara Flaherty lined up a last free wide on the right. She held her nerve brilliantly to curl it accurately between the posts.
When the ball was kicked out there was time for no more and history had been made. We had qualified for the County Galway finals in Claregalway by the skin of our teeth. We hope we go all the way in 2002. No school from West Connemara has ever won the County INTO/GAA Mini Sevens title since this competition was started a number of years ago. We would love to be the first.
Written by Sixth Class.
Behind the Grand Gate
Summer 2002
