DELIGHT IN DERBY
Fancied Bunclody see off Kilrush
BUNCLODY KILRUSH 2-11 1-11
BUNCLODY’S UNDER-16 camogie team came out on top in their Premier championship final meeting with rural neighbours Kilrush – but only after being given a stern examination of their credentials at Farmleigh.
Having beaten Sunday’s opposition earlier in the summer, the eventual champions were the obvious favourites to take the spoils from this encounter.
But, as it turned out, there was only a puck of a ball at the end of the day between two teams who served up a tasty combination of skill and effort.
Kilrush served early notice of their readiness to compete when Lorna Fortune tapped over a free awarded for a foul on Amy Tobin-Cosgrave.
However, as the camogie continued brisk and free-flowing, Bunclody appeared to take charge with a couple of long-range scores from Aoife Mahon, followed by a goal.
Deirbhile Ní Cheallaigh was the one who found the net behind Rebecca Kavanagh as she created enough space for herself to dispatch a shot out of a crowd on her reverse side on nine minutes.
Kilrush wasted no time in retaliating in kind at the other end of the field a few seconds later, with Emma Tomkins providing the handpass from which Rachel Kavanagh expertly delivered the three-pointer.
The score triggered a period of sustained and occasionally brilliant attacking play from the less fancied side, with Tomkins at the heart of most of the moves as they rattled off five points without reply.
The quicksilver number 11 not only knocked over a couple of scores on her own account but also drew the foul from which free-taker Fortune slotted over yet another point.
Bunclody broke the sequence with a Maeve Sinnott cúilín, but further efforts from Kilrush’s Amy Tobin-Cosgrave and Aoibhe MacSweeney had the pace-setters 1-8 to 1-3 ahead at the interval.
And that proved to be the high point of their afternoon, as a freshening breeze and a positive start to the second-half delivered the goods for Bunclody.
By the time Kilrush added to their interval tally on 41 minutes, they were already in arrears and proved unable to make up for ten match-deciding minutes.
It was Ní Cheallaigh who stabbed over the first point of the half, within seconds of throwin, with a goal to follow shortly afterwards.
The score was created by the increasingly influential midfielder Aoife Mahon, picking out Maeve Sinnott with a long pass that bamboozled the Kilrush defence at a stroke.
Then corner-forward Muireann Doyle bustled in on the act, be- fore Sinnott picked off the point of the day from far off on the left touchline.
Further scores by Ní Cheallaigh and the big-hitting Mahon eased their team further ahead, building up a lead which their rivals proved unable to eradicate. Though Kilrush rallied with spirit in the closing quarter, Mahon’s immaculate striking ensured that they were unable to bridge the gap.
The goal they probably need- ed never came, though Amy Tobin-Cosgrave went mighty close when ‘keeper Rachel Kehoe tipped her thunderous effort over the bar.
Bunclody: Rachel Kehoe; Naomi Kavanagh, Yvonne Kelly, Pauline Farynik; Jacqui Kehoe, Lisa Kelly, Aisling Cowman; Aoife Mahon (0-6, 4 frees, 1 ’45), Kayla Nolan; Róisín O’Sullivan, Deirbhile Ní Cheallaigh (1-2), Maeve Sinnott (1-2); Rebecca Murphy, Aoife Farrell, Muireann Doyle (0-1).
Kilrush: Rebecca Kavanagh; Niamh O’Rourke, Edana Mimnagh, Emer Fitzgerald; Zoe Tobin-Cosgrave, Eilish O’Rourke, Karen Tomkins; Lorna Fortune (0-4 frees), Elizabeth O’Sullivan; Hermione Murphy, Emma Tomkins (0-2), Rachel Kavanagh (1-0); Naoise Hennessy, Amy Tobin-Cosgrave (0-3), Aoibhe MacSweeney (0-1). Subs. - Abbie Walsh (0-1 ‘45) for Murphy (38), Sadbh Buttle for Hennessy (38), Eimear Byrne for O’Sullivan (53).
Referee: Joe Kelly (Naomh Eanna).