Familiar face thwarts F.C.J.
established a foothold and led by 0-6 to 0-2.
Jordan Morrissey and Lee Dunne had given the locals the early initiative before an off-theball tug on Cathal Doyle led to the F.C.J. opener in the seventh minute, scored by Eddie Black whose signing for the Waterford F.C. Under-19 squad along with Mikey Carroll of Enniscorthy’s Shamrock Rovers had been announced earlier in the week.
F.C.J. drew level with a neat score in the tenth minute as wingback Ciarán Murphy latched on to the break from a kick-out and soloed for goal, playing a one-two with Josh Martin before making it 0-2 each.
Unfortunately, it was the sole piece of attacking promise shown by the Wexford side in that firsthalf, as they failed to register again whereas Carlow added five points on the trot from captain Ross Dunphy, Evan Lowry (two frees) and Gavin Healy (two, one free).
F.C.J. did step it up on the re-start as two Eddie Black frees narrowed the gap to 7-4 by the 39th minute. However, in between they had relied on goalkeeper Jack Quinn to keep them in the game, as he made an unbelievable save from Lee Dunne who had been put clean through by a super pass over the last defender by Gavin Healy.
A half-chance for a goal at the other end came to nothing when full-forward Edward Dunbar fisted past advancing netminder Ger Kirwan but the ball went wide.
Carlow then made an inspired substitution, with new arrival Cathal O’Neill claiming two points within three minutes.
Sandwiched in between was their decisive goal, and this time the roles were reversed and with a different result. Lee Dunne turned provider as it was his pinpoint pass inside the defensive cover which released Gavin Healy, and the corner-forward made no mistake (1-8 to 0-4).
After O’Neill’s second point, and an Evan Lowry free, F.C.J. were staring at a nine-point gap and a potential rout, but they stuck gamely to the task and made the champions sweat before the finish.
Substitutes James Lawlor and Maurice Ging had goal attempts blocked, with a ’45 arising which Lawlor fisted over from Eddie Black’s delivery.
A Black free and a second from the hard-to-manage Lawlor made it 1-10 to 0-7, with their consolation goal arriving more than three minutes into added time.
Black floated another delivery into the square, and when it broke out Cillian Redmond was on hand to drill it to the net seconds before the finish. TWO STARS in the making condemned Loreto (Wexford) to a heavy defeat in the Leinster ladies’ football Post-Primary Schools Junior ‘A’ championship final in wet and windy Tinryland on Thursday.
While the Wexford girls were at home, preparing for one of the biggest matches of their lives on the previous weekend, Emma Lawlor and Erone Fitzpatrick played the full game for Laois as they opening their National League Division 2 campaign with a win.
Lawlor, who ended this final as ‘player of the game’, actually scored the last two points for her county, breaking an injury-time tie, to bring her scoring total to four raised white flags.
It’s no wonder that Scoil Chríost Rí were so impressive, so difficult to stop.
Just one week before they picked up the Leinster Schools Senior ‘ A’ title, with both girls playing starring roles again.
Whatever slim hopes Loreto possessed against this juggernaut slipped away when they lost the toss and were pitted against a strong first-half wind. Not that it proved too much of a hindrance in the opening six minutes.
They looked the better team immediately after the throw-in. Attacking into the elements, they won a penalty when Portlaoise goalkeeper Aimee Keane scooped up the ball while on the ground. Eve Hession stepped up and calmly drilled home the spot-kick.
The next time Loreto scored was three minutes into first-half added-time, when Mollie Bates flashed over the crossbar. In between it was wave after wave of Scoil Chríost Rí attacks, led by the deadly duo.
Both were already on the board when Fitzpatrick’s long-range free found the net in the tenth minute (1-2 to 1-0). A string of points followed before a second dead-ball from the lively centre-forward beat Sally Walker.
Not to be outdone by her teammate, Lawlor, who looked so natural off both feet, raced through to net in the 23rd minute. She could have claimed another had Ciara Byrne not poached one, punching home a shot that was already heading to the rigging four minutes before half-time.
From 4-11 to 1-1 down at the interval, things almost got worse for Loreto. Lawlor cracked the upright, Walker saved from Jenny O’Connor-Murphy, and Amy Byrne nailed the post as Portlaoise looked to put the game to bed.
The champions would later add a pair of Isabelle O’Toole points, but Loreto gave a good account of themselves for most of the second-half.
Sophie Boxwell clipped over a 36th-minute point after being found by Bates from a Ciara O’Connor long ball.
O’Connor forced Aimee Keane into a smart save and Niamh Dunne fired narrowly wide as Loreto went searching for goals. Bates was next to be denied by the Portlaoise ‘keeper as time began to run out.
Anna Hennessy flashed over in the 59th minute, after good work by O’Connor, Dunne and Hession. On an otherwise miserable day for Loreto, they also had the final say, with Ciara Banville drilling high to the net in added-time to leave a slightly fairer look on the scoreboard.
Loreto: Sally Walker; Caitlin Carroll,