Hat-trick hero Emily inspires Ballinrobe to Mayo crown

By Patrick Hennelly

A hat-trick from Emily O’Gorman helped propel Ballinrobe Town to some much sought after Mayo Under-11 Girls Cup vctory at a well-attended Milebush Park today, overcoming Castlebar Celtic by 4-0.

The Robesiders stunned their opponents by taking the lead just 25 seconds into the contest, as Thabi Ncube’s long-range thunderbolt rustled the back of the Celtic net.

Castlebar regrouped and they almost plundered the leveller on six minutes. A neat attacking foray ended with a chance being conjured up for the industrious Amelia Ahern, whose strike forced an alert save from Anna Healy.

The red and white’s link-up play was impressive and one such move ended with the south Mayo girls doubling their advantage on 13 minutes.

Both Caoimhe Varley and Ncube played a vital role in setting up Emily O’Gorman and the latter bustled her way past the Castlebar defence before unleashing a tidy finish past the Celtic ‘keeper.

Ballinrobe were also very adapt at playing the ball out from the back whenever they had a goal-kick, and their defenders were cool and calculated when receiving possession from their custodian.

The leaders then trebled their advantage on 20 minutes, when a neat pass from Ncube teed-up O’Gorman and the latter’s cool finish delighted the Ballinrobe supporters.

Celtic almost received the perfect half-time tonic, but Sienna Whyte’s thunderous free-kick was just inches over the crossbar.

The opening quarter of the second half was keenly contested, however, Ballinrobe added a crucial fourth goal on 43 minutes.

Ballinrobe’s industrious right-back Varley set-up O’Gorman and the latter applied a tidy close-range finish to record her hat-trick and help secure the victory for her team-mates.