Gorey get their Senior rewards
Joy after four final defeats
NAOMH EANNA RATHNURE
RELIEF WAS the prevailing feeling at full-time in St. Patrick’s Park on Saturday where Naomh Eanna finally secured the Intermediate camogie championship trophy with an emotionally-charged 3-12 to 0-4 victory over Rathnure.
Whatever about the validity or otherwise of the ‘Mayo curse’, Gorey have definitely suffered a lifetime’s worth of misfortune in recent years, as they had lost the previous four county finals in this grade.
But they didn’t let past heartbreak get in the way of making history, and they will now hope to emulate their male counterparts by making waves in Senior for 2018.
Seldom has a county final been won with such conviction either, as they limited the black and amber’s second string to just a solitary point from play.
In addition, two of the three frees they converted came near the end when Gorey had already secured the honours.
Gorey had four points on the board by the seventh minute, with Ellen Roche knocking over two frees and Louise Stafford scoring two neat efforts from play, including a well-worked move involving Roche and recent county Minor Orla Molloy.
They may well have found the net during this spell too, only for Rathnure’s Louise Jones to deny Aine Doyle with the first of a number of interventions from the over-worked netminder.
Róisín Higgins was Rathnure’s only scorer, and she pegged a point back for her side on nine minutes.
But they would be playing second fiddle by the break as the victors accounted for the next four points without reply, with Róisín Egan and Doyle nicking scores from play to leave them sitting pretty by 0-8 to 0-1 at half-time.
Doyle extended that gap further with a point from an acute angle on the resumption, and they really stamped home their authority with three goals in as many minutes.
Doyle set the ball rolling when she hooked a defender before burying to the net on 43 minutes, while substitute Orla Crowe netted from her second touch a minute later.
And when Stafford nabbed possession in the left corner after 46 minutes, she confidently tucked away to effectively seal a famous day for a progressive club.
Naomh Eanna: Marie Kennedy; Aoife Hughes, Lorna Cushe, Aoibhean Doyle; Emma Doyle, Siobhán Doyle (capt.), Molly McGuckin; Orla Doyle, Catríona O’Brien; Orlagh Hall, Ellen Roche (0-7, 5 frees, 1 ‘45), Ríona O’Sullivan; Louise Stafford (1-2), Aine Doyle (1-2), Róisín Egan (0-1). Subs. - Orla Crowe (1-0) for Hall (43), Aisling Mythen for Stafford (49), Aisling O’Dwyer for Egan (54), Jennifer Deering for O’Sullivan (58), Róisín Wheatley for A. Doyle (58), also Denise Deering.
Rathnure: Louise Jones; Bridget Murphy, Anne Marie O’Connor, Katie Lennon; Lara Conran, Aishling O’Leary, Ashling Breen; Lizzy Whiteley, Lisa Martin; Andrea Creane, Róisín Higgins (vice-capt., 0-4, 3 frees), Jackie Carr; Grace Hearn, Niamh O’Connor, Mary Kate Doyle. Subs. - Lisa O’Connell for Conran (27), Emma O’Connor for N. O’Connor (39), Eva Mooney for Doyle (39), also Kelly O’Connor, Julie Conran, Shauna O’Leary, Fiona Guiney, Noelle Barron, Megan Roche, Mackenzie O’Leary, Eimear Byrne.
Referee: Mick Lanigan (St. Ibar’s/ Shelmalier).