Classy Clonee cruise to title
Attackers in excellent form
CLONEE GLYNN-BARNTOWN
A CLASSY Clonee side turned on the style, putting on an impressive attacking display to comprehensively overcome a gallant Glynn-Barntown outfit in the ladies’ football Under-14 Division 1 championship final in Oylegate on Saturday.
Direct running through the heart of the Glynn-Barntown defence reaped huge dividends for the north county side, and they created numerous goal chances during a dominant 60 minutes.
Glynn-Barntown got the first point on the board through Sinéad Kirwan after just 15 seconds but once Clonee found their stride there was no stopping them.
Their opening goal came on nine minutes when Eilish O’Rourke fisted the ball to the net after Eimear Fitzgerald floated a delivery into the danger zone.
After a succession of near misses the second goal eventually came on 26 minutes, when Amy Tobin-Cosgrave’s shot was blocked by goalkeeper Lizzy Walsh and Nadine Fortune was quickest to react, sliding the ball over the line.
The talented full-forward had the green flag waving again deep into first-half injury time, arrowing a fantastic strike beyond Walsh to give them a 3-6 to 0-2 half-time advantage.
The pattern continued after the interval with the fourth goal coming just three minutes in. Eilish O’Rourke collected a pass from Fortune and applied a clinical finish.
Zoe Tobin-Cosgrave then got in on the goal-scoring act, burying a penalty to the roof of the net, and Nadine Fortune completed her hat-trick in the 43rd minute, racing on to a pass from Emma Tomkins and giving goalkeeper Lizzy Walsh no chance.
Eilish O’Rourke also helped herself to a trio of goals, grabbing her third major when she followed up to steer the ball home after Shauna McGovern’s shot had been saved by Walsh.
The Gorey District outfit continued to push until the final whistle and finished the game in style when Emma Tomkins burst through the Glynn-Barntown defence and rifled a shot to the net.
Clonee: Aoife Kinsella; Kate Butler, Edana Mimnagh, Niamh O’Rourke; Eimear Fitzgerald (0-1), Rachel Kavanagh, Róisín Scallan; Karen Tomkins (0-3), Eilish O’Rourke (capt., 3-0); Amy Tobin-Cosgrave, Emma Tomkins (1-2, 0-1 free), Aoibha McSweeney; Zoe Tobin-Cosgrave (1-0 pen.), Nadine Fortune (3-3), Shauna McGovern. Subs. - Amy Doyle for McSweeney, Ellie Mulcahy for McGovern, Abbie Walsh for Z. Tobin-Cosgrave, Kate Doyle for Scallan, Lisa Crawth for Fortune, Amy Kehoe for K. Tomkins, Aoibhin Hayden for A. Tobin-Cosgrave, Cáit Byrne for Fitzgerald, also Ellie Murphy, Ellen McCabe.
Glynn-Barntown: Lizzy Walsh; Aoife Clarke, Rachel Murphy, Aisling Comiskey; Sophie Dawson, Gia Coyne, Rachel Gough; Ciara Butler (0-1), Sadhbh Neville (capt.); Alanna Wogan (0-1), Sarah Carroll (0-2 frees), Gráinne Ní hAilín; Libby O’Connor, Sinéad Kirwan (0-1), Caitlin Garnett. Subs. - Emma Lucas for Gough, Jessica Fitzharris for Coyne, Alanna Kelly for Garnett, also Ella Kavanagh, Emma Nolan, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Nina McGuire, Sarah Taaffe, Shauna Bradley, Sinéad Barron.
Referee: Eric Molloy ( St. James’).