The Roche U13 girls team headed out to Lordship (Wednesday evening) to take on the St Pats in their first Championship match of the year. 

The dry, cool conditions on offer were perfect footballing conditions and fortunately for the sizeable crowd present, both teams didn't disappoint.

The Pats got into their groove from the off and put the Roche defence under pressure only for tigerish defending from Ffonn Dolan and Courtney McNamee to keep them at bay. The girls in blue and white finally got a grip in midfield and after great work from centre forward Suranne Robinson, the ball was passed to sharpshooter Zoe Treacy who crashed the ball to the net for the opening score of the match.

The Lordship ladies upped the effort but with both defences on top and scores at a premium, a solitary point was their only return for the half.

The second half continued in a similar vein with the Pats laying siege to the Roche goals. Finally an expertly taken shot by Megan Hynes found the net to give the Pats the lead for the first time. A well taken point further extended their lead. But Roche, buoyed on by the vociferous away support, were not finished yet. A series of superb aggressive tackles by Aoibheann Reilly and Evanna Corcoran led to the ball being moved to Nicole Murray. The brilliant centre back commenced on a barnstorming run up the field which culminated in an outrageous point from her booming left foot. This gave the girls the impetus to drive on and when the ball fell to Treacy again the crowd held its breath as she unleashed a thunderbolt which almost burst the Pats net. 

Referee Paul Drumm blew the full time whistle as the kickout was taken to give the Roche girls the victory.

Final Score: St Pats 1.02 Roche 2.01.

The girls will hope to continue their winning streak as they welcome Stabannon to Roche on Sunday morning.