Powerful Pres book All-Ireland final spot with wonderful win

PRES (WEXFORD) 3-20 ST. JOSEPH’S (LUCAN) 3-5

ALL OVER the field Presentation (Wexford) simply proved too strong for St. Joseph’s (Lucan) as they advanced to the All-Ireland Colleges Junior ‘B’ camogie championship final in Ballycullen on Tuesday.

The opening 15 minutes usually aren’t the most important quarter of the game but they often tell a tale.

In this contest Presentation only led by 0-3 to 0-2 but there was a clear sense of the gulf between the sides.

Apart from the exceptional Laura Quinn, who took the game to the Wexford school with her controlled but direct running from deep, St. Joseph’s simply didn’t have the weapons to out-manoeuvre Presentation.

Every ball Lucan won in a ruck was contested, every dart they looked to make was blocked off, every time they seemed to have a window of opportunity a Pres defender stepped up and pulled the curtains shut.

Meanwhile, at the other end, it was so close to clicking. The Grogan’s Road girls created plenty of early chances but the St. Joseph’s ‘bend but not break’ defensive effort was just about operating successfully.

Every time Emma Dempsey got the ball, the first stride created separation, and likewise with Ailis Neville, the only scorer for her side in the opening quarter.

Then Aoibheann Mernagh and Andrea Fielding began to get more ball and it was the same story inside.

And then they started to turn the screw. It started with a low Neville free that took a ricochet off Lauren Dawson’s hurl and flew over the crossbar. Then Mernagh, the only first year on the starting 15, showed her explosiveness with a pair of quick points.

Dempsey and Sinéad Furlong pointed to make it 0-8 to 0-3. Moments later Neville and Fielding combined to find Glynn-Barntown’s Dempsey again, and she strode across goal and calmly fired low past Alicia Rooney.

When Aoife Dunne responded to Mernagh’s late point, Presentation held a 1-9 to 0-4 lead at the interval.

And yet, things still got sticky for a few minutes after the break. An experienced inter-county referee, Ray Kelly turned up with no umpires and his decision to put schoolgirls on three of the posts was always likely to cause problems.

Seconds after the interval, Aisling Smyth smacked a shot that Fiona Cousins seemed to stop, and a scramble ensued with the girls in St. Joseph’s uniforms pointing for a goal.

On the other side of the posts, the Pres-appointed umpire, the only adult, disagreed and looked bewildered but Kelly gave the goal.

Contemplate how crazy it is that a schoolgirl can get her side into an All-Ireland final with a questionable umpiring decisio,n and then be thankful that it didn’t matter in the end.

Lucan got back to within four (1-9 to 1-5) before Presentation went on a run of 1-10 in 21 minutes without reply.

Fielding started it off when she collected possession, burst out of a gathering of defenders and forced the ball over the line at the second attempt.

The Ibar’s attacker, along with Dempsey and Neville, shared all of the next ten points as their side roared away.

St. Joseph’s pulled a goal back when Aoife Gilbert found the net after Quinn’s shot came down off the crossbar.

However, Neville quickly replied in kind with a pulled effort. While Jessica Fitzgibbon majored late for a desperate Lucan, it matter little to the end result.

Presentation (Wexford) move on to the All-Ireland Junior ‘B’ championship final, looking to bring the title back to the county for the first time since St. Mary’s (New Ross) won it in 2012.

They will face Castlecomer of Kilkenny or Borrisokane from Tipperary in the decider on March 10, with full details to follow in due course.

The school is enjoying a memorable year on the camogie fields, with the Seniors also annexing a provincial title, so it would be the ultimate crowning glory if the Juniors can go all the way and bring the All-Ireland crown back to the school.

Presentation: Fiona Cousins (Buffers Alley); Catríona Kinsella (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier), Alibeth Moran (Glynn-Barntown), Nicole Harding-Kenny (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier); Cora Rowe (Glynn-Barntown), Aoife Whelan (Buffers Alley), Niamh Cogley (Glynn-Barntown); Eleanor Hammel (Buffers Alley), Sinéad Furlong (Buffers Alley, 0-1); Ailis Neville (St. Ibar’s/ Shelmalier, 1-8, 0-4 frees, 0-1 ‘45), Emma Dempsey (Glynn-Barntown, 1-5), Niamh Rowe (Glynn-Barntown); Aoibheann Mernagh (St. Martin’s, 0-3), Andrea Fielding (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier, 1-3), Rebecca Fanning (Glynn-Barntown). Subs. - Tara Murphy (Clonard) for N. Rowe, inj. (25), Lily Stout (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier) for Fanning, inj. (51), Rachel Murphy (Glynn-Barntown) for Neville (57), also Clodagh Whelan (Blackwater), Orna Corrigan (Buffers Alley), Kennedy Cullen (St. Mary’s, Rosslare), Grace Harding-Kenny (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier), Hannah Hearne (St. Ibar’s/Shelmalier), Sarah O’Donoghue (St. Mary’s, Rosslare).

St. Joseph’s: Alicia Rooney; Laura Sharkey, Lauren Dawson, Leah Concannon-Murray; Emma Ali Dunne, Siofra Byrne, Kate Carroll; Lauren Hanlon, Laura Quinn (0-1); Sinéad Daly (0-1), Ashling Smyth (1-1), Maria Kelly; Caoimhe Morris, Aoife Dunne (0-2, 1 free, 1 ‘45), Rebecca Flanagan. Subs. - Jessica Fitzgibbon (1-0) for Kelly (41), Laura Lawless for Carroll (41), Aoife Gilbert (1-0) for Morris (52), Shauna McCormack for Sharkey (54).

Referee: Ray Kelly (Kildare).