Duffry get the job done with fine replay display
DUFFRY ROVERS BALLINASTRAGH GLS 0-11 1-2
DUFFRY ROVERS produced a fantastic performance, at both ends of the field, as they claimed the Under-16 camogie Roinn 1B championship title after a game of two halves against Ballinastragh Gaels in Ferns.
The sides drew their first encounter seven days earlier and another tough and tight battle was expected here.
These gutsy teams didn’t let anyone down and produced a fascinating contest full of drama that the Coolree side were able to win.
Rovers were perfect in the group stages and they played like a team with that confidence in the first-half.
They had a partial crosswind helping and put the Gaels under intense pressure with their midfield and spine in powerful form.
Inside two minutes Katie Breen-Sherlock popped over a couple of points from inside the ‘45 to get her side off to a fast start.
Rebecca Codd forced Amy O’Sullivan into a sharp save as the early chances kept coming but Ballinastragh did settle.
Katlyn O’Connor helped with a crisply-struck long range free but the Duffry were keen to keep pushing on and building a lead they could protect against the elements.
Katie Bates notched two frees, Lauren Roban pointed, and Laura Conroy flipped one over as the lead swelled to 0-6 to 0-1.
Another free from O’Connor stopped the run late in the half but Bates replied in kind after Codd was felled to make it 0-7 to 0-2 at the interval.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the most important passage of the second-half.
The two points Bates scored within six minutes of the resumption to make it 9-2 were hugely vital to add a little cushion.
However, the way the Duffry defence shut up shop for the next 20-odd minutes was nothing short of remarkable.
Ballinastragh laid siege to the Rovers goal, and they threw everything they had at Róisín Dobbs, but the Duffry ‘keeper made save after save.
Tara O’Connor and Shauna Owley were denied, and the former then flashed into the side-netting as the Ballinastragh Gaels agony continued.
Somehow, it was the Duffry who registered next, through Codd in the 56th minute.
Bates made it 0-11 to 0-2 in the 59th minute but Ballinastragh refused to throw in the towel and grabbed a deserved consolation goal when Olive Curtis and Hanna Noctor combined to pick out Owley and she rattled the net.
Yet there was no denying the Duffry their moment and the fulltime whistle soon went to set off wild celebrations.
Duffry Rovers: Róisín Dobbs; Michelle Kearns, Emila Fortune, Heather Boyce; Nicola Dobbs, Aoife Dunne, Isobel Kavanagh; Katie Bates (capt., 0-6, 5 frees), Shauna Nolan; Rebecca Codd (0-1), Laura Conroy (0-1), Katie Breen-Sherlock (0-2); Abigail Cullen, Lauren Roban (0-1), Claire Doyle. Subs. (unused) - Lucy McCarthy, Katelyn Cowman, Aoife O’Leary, Jessica O’Donovan, Brianna Kavanagh, Ciara Tobin, Katie Bowen, Lauren Smith, Aine Redmond.
Ballinastragh Gaels: Amy O’Sullivan; Cliona McCarthy, Olive Curtis, Elsa Hughes; Róisín Noctor, Katlyn O’Connor (capt., 0-2 frees), Dervla Noctor; Tara O’Connor, Laura Ivers; Orla Bolger, Robyn Cousins, Aoife McGonigle; Aisling Fitzpatrick, Shauna Owley (1-0), Róisín Hughes. Subs. - Caoimhe Fleming for Cousins (31), Hanna Noctor for E. Hughes (37), Saoirse McDonald for Bolger (47), Kiva Kinsella for McGonigle (51), Emer Dooley for Fitzpatrick (58), also Bronagh Bolger, Riadh Murphy.
Referee: Mick Lanigan (St. Ibar’s/ Shelmalier).