Emmets are champions again
was all about Siobhán McGrath, as the 17-year-old beat three defenders and drew a fourth before passing to her teammate, who made no mistake.
Hannon provided the perfect riposte though. A two-time All-Ireland winner with Offaly, the centre-forward, who finished with a game-high tally of 1-7, drove through the middle and though her initial shot was saved by Yvonne Lyons, she was on hand to knock home the rebound.
Hannon converted a couple of more frees to bookend scores from Niamh and Orlaith McGrath and then equalised after Siobhán McGrath slotted her second free, her latter effort coming after a smart stop by Lyons from Josie McMullan.
Thatsenttheminlevelatthe change of ends and it remained extremely competitive as the rain made conditions more difficult early after the restart.
Cannon and Mellon, and Siobhán McGrath and Hannon inched the scoreboard forward but still they could not be separated.
That was when the key moments occured.
By now, Tara Kenny had begun to reduce, if not completely eradicate Hannon’s visibility in general play but Dougan stood out in reprising the deep-lying role that proved so effective 12 months ago, while Graham moved into top gear with a rampaging second half display.
In defence, Bróna Ní Chaiside in particular was a considerable presence at full-back and once Slaughtneil had established pri- macy, they never looked like ceding it. Rachel Murray did launch a brilliant point on the run and Éilís Ni Chaiside made a good stop from an attempt at goal by Cooney from a free in injury time.
But Slaughtneil were not going to let this slip and the Bill & Agnes Carroll Cup will be spending another year with the Robert Emmets’ contingent. SLAUGHTNEIL scorers: T Hannon 1-7(05fs); L Dougan 1-0 (pen); T Mellon 0-2; S McKaigue 0-1
SARSFIELDS scorers: S Cannon 1-1; S McGrath 0-3(fs); N McGrath 0-2(1f); O McGrath, R Murray, M Cooney (f) 0-1 each SLAUGHTNEIL: J Bradley, C McGrath, B Ní Chaiside, Dervlagh McGuigan, E Ní Chaiside, A Ní Chaiside, G O’Kane, D McGuigan, L Dougan, S Graham, T Hannon, S McKaigue, T Mellon, J McMullan, S Mellon. Subs: C McEldowney for S Mellon (52), A McGrath for Denise McGuigan (56), B McAllister for T Mellon (60+2) SARSFIELDS: Y Lyons, R Murphy, L Ward, A Spellman, T Kenny, C McGrath, E Leslie, K Gallagher, N McGrath, M Cooney, O McGrath, S Spellman, S Cannon, S McGrath, R Murray, S Mellon.
Sub: K Donohue for N McGrath inj (40), E Larkin for Leslie inj (60+4)
Referee: C Egan (Cork).