The Railway 7s were a new team this year. It turned out to be a successful year and we enjoyed every minute of it....!

The 2005 season started with several weeks of hard training for the new side - Railway 7's. 'Lucky' temporary coach Chis had 30 wonderful, enthusiastic, intelligent, capable (need I say more?) girls to train while the club frantically searched for a permanent coach. A training trial was held by Laura Fox, an old Railway player who, fortunately for us, decided to coach 7's for the rest of the season.

We had a late start to the league so our first game of the season was the first round against Weston. An amazing penalty flick by Julianne Morrissey on the final whistle wasn't quite enough to win going down 2-3! A few days later good news came through that we were to have a replay because the match was played for 30 minutes each half instead of the required 35 minutes... so, another chance for the 7's! The replay went to full time with the scores locked 0-0. Extra time was played and still 0-0 and so a penalty shoot-out followed. Our goalie Joanne Turner kept a cool head and a clean score sheet. The pressure built to our last flicker Jean McBryan. All Railway players and supporters celebrated as it flew past the right side of the keeper. Railway 7s 1 - Weston 0! The second round of the 'Cup' match saw Railway 7's play Corinthians from division 11 and unfortunately we went down 0-4. In the league, we won our first match against Diocesan 1-0 which was a fantastic start for a new side!

During the season we won 5 (2 walkovers), drew 3 and lost 4. Our most exciting match was against UCD – we were down 0 -1 most of the game. With seven minutes left Railway 7's scored to make it 1-1 and with time running out Laura Duggan scored a smashing goal from a short corner. We snatched the match 2-1.

Being in the same league as the Railway 6's, we knew we had would have a very tough intra-club challenge match. For most of the season we had the 6's captain Carly and coach Chis worried because the 7's were placed above them on the league table. The game was fairly even, with the 6's very eager to score while the 7's found it hard to keep the ball in the attacking half. In the end it was a low scoring match with the 7's going down 0-1. Although we had never played as a team before, some had never held a stick, while others were not familiar with the rules or positional play; we tried hard and worked together as a team all year. Everyone had a most enjoyable time and we look forward to next season with great anticipation. On behalf of the team I would like to thank Laura Fox for giving up her free time to stand in the freezing cold and wet at both training nights and matches and being a huge encouragement for us. We shall miss her greatly next season. A big thank you to Chis, Hilary Grumley and Mary Kirwan for their extra coaching.